Founded in October 1940 in East Windsor, the Connecticut Trolley Museum is the oldest incorporated museum in the United States devoted to electric railroading. It preserves New England trolley history through exhibits, restored streetcars, and a 1.5-mile heritage railroad on the former Rockville Branch of the Hartford and Springfield Street Railway Company. That line once connected Hartford and Rockville, serving workers, tourists, students, and Piney Ridge amusement park before the company failed and the track disappeared by 1926. Fourteen years later, restoration work on the line began, leading to a museum that still operates historic cars and preserves equipment from several North American systems.