A 2-mile trolley line. 50+ vintage streetcars. 100+ years of trolley memories. A museum with this much history needs a lot of help to make it come alive. Thankfully, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum has the assistance of our fantastic volunteers.
Just last Saturday, visitors had the chance to take an up-close look at the work of our team during our Volunteer Open House. As they toured our museum, they discovered the many volunteer opportunities located here at PTM. From preserving historic trolleys and transit artifacts, to maintaining our track, wire, and signals, to sharing streetcar history as a trolley operator or museum guide- there’s something for everyone to enjoy!
Just some of the many activities throughout the day included:
- Chatting with our current volunteers
- Exploring our collection in our Trolley Display Building
- Touring our maintenance and restoration warehouse, machine warehouse, and transit archives
- Watching our crane car and line car (our pair of bright orange maintenance trolleys) in action
- Learning how to operate a trolley themselves!
This recap would not be complete without a shout-out to our volunteers, who did a fantastic job talking to our almost fifty participants. Thanks for all you do!
Check out these pictures from the event to see more of the fun! Individuals interested in volunteering are welcome to attend our upcoming New Operator Training (February 24-25) or Museum Guide Training (March 2 or 10). Can’t make it or interested in another department? Fill out our Volunteer Application, and we’ll be in touch!
