To be a volunteer at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, you should be well versed in carpentry, metal or electrical work. But, the only requirement for volunteering is that you love trolleys. More than 1,000 people have volunteered; traveling from around the world to the seaside resort made famous by the presidential (Bush) family who spends their summers only a few miles away.
The museum is home to more than 250 mass transit vehicles, including signature streetcars such as New Orleans' "Desire" and Montreal's elegant Observation Car #2 -- an open-air car used for touring the city. Each of the trolleys has been stripped and rebuilt from the ground up by volunteers who help raise the funds required for the renovation. "We often have a volunteer who has a certain affinity for a particular trolley and will collect donations to help fund their restoration work," says James Schantz, the chairman of the museum. "You'll find them up here every weekend and spending their vacation time working on a trolley. It's not unusual for the restoration to take ten or more years to complete." James has been volunteering at the museum for more than 50 years. The day DIY met him, he was refinishing the seats to a colorful Connecticut Company Yale Bowl car. "I started volunteering here on weekends when I was in college in Boston. After retiring as a school teacher, I figured what better than to spend my days around these wonderful old trolley cars." The museum welcomes visitors who can ride the trolleys and watch as the volunteers go about restoring these wonderful vehicles from a bygone era.
RESOURCES :
Seashore Trolley Museum
To find out more about the Seashore Trolley Museum, click here.
| 
)
)
)
)
)
)
