BRANFORD ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOC INC
17 RIVER STREET, EAST HAVEN, CT 06512 shorelinetrolley.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The mission of the Branford Electric Railway Association, Inc. doing business as the Shore Line Trolley Museum is to share with a diverse audience the story of the trolley and related forms of public transportation in their historical context.In 1983, the railway, along with the entire museum collection, was recognized as a National Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places. BERA is the organization behind the Shore Line Trolley Museum.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, BERA operated the following programs:(i)Curatorial & Exhibits:BERA maintains several collections which preserve the history and heritage of the Trolley Era. BERA owns nearly 100 vintage transit vehicles. In addition, BERAs archives contain nearly 30,000 photographic images, over 4,000 books and documents, and about 1,000 small artifacts such as tokens, hat badges and ticket punches. Some highlights of the collections are: 1 Line Car, 2 crane cars, shunter, Snow Plows Diesel Locomotive, and the donated PATH Car 745 which was buried during the 9/11/2001 attack. The pride of BERAs fleet is the CONN COMPANY 500. This car was used to transport the executives of the Conn Co all over the system and the furniture is original and equipped with a toilet. Also, in the collection are Open Cars that were used to transport people going to the Yale Bowl during Football season.(ii)Repair & Restoration Shop:BERA has an active program of repairing and refurbishing the antique equipment. 99% of the repairs and restoration are done in BERAs own shop. BERA has the necessary equipment to make the repairs and restorations from lathes, woodworking tools, sheet metal equipment to power and steam washers.(iii)Trolley Car Rides and ToursA standard public program includes a ride on BERAs historical railway on a trolley car, and a tour of some of BERAs collection stored in the car barns. For groups or individuals wishing to visit the museum separate from the general public, charters are available on a year-round basis.BERA allows guests to take the controls and operate some of the vehicles in the collection on specified "Guest Operator" weekends, after receiving instruction from a qualified instructor. Rapid transit (subway and elevated) equipment is run in conjunction with the trolleys on designated "Rapid Transit" weekends.(iv)Special Programmatic Events:BERA has several special programmatic events held during the year. These events include an antique auto show each year, a Halloween pumpkin patch, and a haunted Halloween trolley ride to a haunted trail with the Graveyard Express/Haunted Isle. Family events include visiting the Easter Bunny, Super Heros Day, Christmas trolley rides with Santa, and nighttime Holiday Light trolley rides. Also, BERA has an annual open house for members only on Members Day where cars of the collection rarely seen often run.(v)Reading Program & Home-School Program:BERAs Reading program & Home-School program provides an opportunity for children 4 to 8 years of age to listen to a story in a real trolley car. The day begins with a trolley ride and is followed by a visit to our Story Trolley to listen to each weeks childrens story, read by one of our volunteer educators, followed by time to explore the other trolley cars on display. In addition to the reading program, each child will receive a snack.(vi)Volunteer Program:Since its inception in 1945, BERA has been a volunteer-driven organization. There are over 1000 current members, many of whom are active volunteers in everything from running cars to restoring them to working on the tracks to tending the grounds. No professional training or previous experience is required; the museum's training department provides thorough, hands-on instruction. BERA offers the opportunity to volunteer to anyone over 18 year of age in the following areas: public operations (which includes the ability to learn to operate the trolley cars), car restoration, archives, buildings and grounds, track, line (power), signal, and exhibits.

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