Off my trolley

I've long been a fan of trolleys^*.  Safeway trolleys are usually pretty good, as are Target trolleys, but my favourite are in Ikea where you get a choice of several flat-bed or upright numbers.  Fascinatingly, North American trolleys have fixed back wheels whereas European trolleys have all four wheels rotating freely, giving high maneuverability but no control over which direction they go in.

So imagine my disappointment when the National Capital Trolley Museum featured none of these.  Instead it was filled with what any civilised person would refer to as "trams".  My complaints about mis-selling fell on deaf ears.

The streetcars on display kept DC moving through the first half of the 20th Century, the lines extending as far as Baltimore, before politicians and planners agreed it would be far more sensible to clog the capital with cars, mostly containing one driver apiece.  The museum has trams from as far away as Berlin and Toronto, and one very special one shaped like a boat that's from Blackpool!  The destination sign on this one was stuck somewhere between the tower and the pleasure beach - it's got a long way to go.

The main attraction is the specially laid track that takes you for a 30 minute ride out into parkland and woods.  Any trolleys that are in working order can be brought out, and today it was the turn of the Haagsche Tramweg-Maatschappij (HTM) 1329 which hails from The Hague, and is sunshine yellow.

The journey was bumpy but entertaining, including a stop and a talk by the driver (the whole place is run by very dedicated, trolley-loving volunteers), and I amused myself reading signs instructing me to "bij nood deur open" and "geen uitgang" and wondering what I should be doing.

Sadly our little holiday to the Maryland countryside was quickly over as we pulled back to where we started; back to the present, back to congested DC streets, and pretty soon back to pushing that other kind of trolley around Safeway completing the weekly shop.

* For American readers this translates as "shopping carts", but then my ingenious and hilarious wordplay would obviously be lost...

"I control everything!" says Pete.  "Just like at home."

Trams allowed.  Trolleys should be renamed.

Inspecting cars in the trolley hall.

A pretty good metaphor for the state of DC transit today.

All the way from Blackpool!



Where the trolleys live.

We "inganged" through the "kaartverkoop".  The "stempelautomaat" was shut.

Troublemakers taking the back seat.

Our driver and guide.

Sadly the actual stops were the end of the line and then back to the museum.

After a tiring day, Emily offered to take on the hard work of entertaining Pete before dinner...