Game Day Car

Connecticut Co. 303 (New Haven) at Seashore Trolley Museum

Connecticut 303 awaits passengers at Seahsore Trolley Museum's boarding platform. Car 303 was originally purchased by the Winchester Avenue Railroad Co. of New Haven in 1901. Ownership passed to the Consolidated Railway Co. in 1904 and to the Connecticut Co. in 1907. All these companies had ties or were owned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. In the general renumbering of 1915 it became car 615. Long after the Connecticut Co. withdrew open cars, such as No. 303/615, from regular service, the company used them in New Haven to shuttle football fans between the railroad station and the Yale Bowl on game days. The open cars also continued operating on excursions to the local beaches and on charter service including fan trips. The Yale service, however, was the reason these cars were not scrapped in the 1930s or earlier when many other systems scrapped their open cars. The last Yale Bowl open cars ran in the 1947 football season, and all New Haven streetcar service ended in 1948. A number of these open cars were donated to museums; Seashore Trolley Museum has four in its collection.