All Aboard!

By Leo Racicot

Our mother never learned how to drive. As she told it, the first time her Lowell High School driving instructor took her out on the road, she drove straight into a ditch and said, “Never again!”

As a single girl, she worked at Abbott Worsted in Forge Village, a section of Westford. Curious one day as to how she got to work if she didn’t have a car, I asked and she said, “I took the trolley.” I knew Lowell had had its own trolley system but until then never realized it took riders out-of-town to the suburbs.

Before the coming of electric cars, people wanting to get around did so either on foot or by horse-drawn carts and buggies. Horses used for transportation created no end of problems for large cities; for one thing, they deposited pounds of waste per day on city streets causing messes as well as health threats to the public. The lifespan of workhorses was brief; often the animal would collapse en route and be left in the road for days before being moved; yet another health risk.

A more efficient, sanitary solution was needed. At the end of the 19^th century, the newly-invented electric trolley came on-the-scene and was immediately embraced by commuters.

Trolleys not only served Lowell Proper but extended out to the countryside, to Dracut and Westford (how Ma was able to get to work). One line took passengers as far as Southern NH and Canobie Lake for people seeking weekend escape.

The electric trolleys thrived until the 1930s when they were replaced by automobiles and buses.

You can see replicas of the old trolleys on display throughout present-day Lowell. Some even take visitors on short rides so they’re able to experience what it felt like to ride these open-air wonders of transportation history. On weekends, The National Streetcar Museum at 25 Shattuck Street, across from  the Lowell National Park Visitors Center, opens for tours on Saturdays and Sundays,  11 am to 4 pm  Here, guests can view restored trolley cars and learn about their history and importance.

When we were kids, my friends and I made a game of trying to find trolley track remnants which could still be seen here-and-there around town, especially in the Middle Street area. I remember for years the remains of one piece of track was visible right on Fletcher Street just outside our home.

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Trolley Replica in Downtown Lowell

Trolley conductor portion of a mural

National Streetcar Museum on Shattuck St in Lowell

Horse-drawn carriage in 1899

Electric Street Railway model on Shattuck Street in Lowell

Downtown Lowell trolley cars in 1930

Abbott Worsted Factory in Forge Village

Remnant of trolley track on Middle St