Bar Raising Seashore Trolley Museum Ice Cream Nights

Introduction

This guide is for Trolley Conductors during Ice Cream Night.

You will discover that the passengers for Ice Cream night have not been to the Trolley Museum before. You have a great opportunity to make a possitive impact on new customers.

While Boarding the Trolley at the Platform

The passengers have a pre-set time Trolley Ride time for 5:30PM, 6PM, or 6:30PM, so they will be very punctual. While the passengers are boarding, talk about the Trolley they are riding on.

Connecticut 1160

  • This Trolley ran in New Haven, Connecticut from 1906 to 1948 when it was acquired by the Trolley Museum.
  • Because the Trolley ran in the winter, the floor boards were saturated with salt, so we had to replace those.
  • Those slots on the floor boards are to make them easier to clean. Just a couple quick sweeps and right out the back door.
  • Notice the ads above your heads? The ads are period correct and location correct, so you will see a lot of ads for war bonds. My favorite ad is this one: “84 out of 100 women prefer men in a hat”. Which one is your favorite?

After receiving orders to Talbott Park

  • Advise the passengers to stay seated throughout the journey.
  • Ring the bell twice to be under way.
  • Count the passengers. Call Dispatch with the count.

After leaving Morrison Hill

  • Folks I direct your attention to the Burma Shave signs out the right side of the Trolley.
  • The passengers likely not be able to read the signs as you roll by them, so recite the ad: “Are your whiskers stronger than a two bit steak? Try Burma Shave!”
  • The Burma Shave company was a family business. In 1925 Allan Odell told his father he had a plan to boost sales, he only needed $200. Allan’s father gave him the money. Allan put up the signs and soon after, the sales soared! Next time you are driving down a highway, thank Burma Shave for inventing the billboard.

Just beyond McKay’s Crossing

  • Announce that you will be punching tickets: “Folks I will be punching tickets at this time. Please get your tickets ready.”

How a Trolley Works

Connecticut 1160

  • You may notice that this car is relatively spartan in design with only two long benches on the sides. The car is designed to maximize the passenger count by packing them all in like sardenes. The passengers would stand and hold on to these leather hand straps.
  • You may notice that there are two rows of straps! The second row is not for the passengers, it’s for me, the conductor. The straps allow me to walk up and down the Trolley and count the people: There’s two people; there’s three more people. The straps connect back to a people counter. At the end of the day, the people on the counter should match the nickels in my pocket.

All Trolleys

  • The Trolley is an environmentally friendly, green, vehicle!
  • The Trolley is powered by 600 volts of DC current coming in from the overhead powerlines, it is channeled in via our Trolley pole in to the controller and then in to our motors.
  • You may hear a “chugga chugga” noise. It is not a engine you hear, that is our air compressor. We use the compressed air for our breaks.
  • Watch our operator up front, you will notice that their left hand is on the controller which operates our motors. The controller works like your fan at home: If you want the fan to spin faster, you turn the dial up a point. If you want it to go faster, you turn it another point. Our controller works the same way, with a total of 5 points of power.

At Talbott Park

  • If you need permission to return, call for it. If you already have permission, do not delay.
  • Advise the passengers to stay seated. Then ring the bell twice.

Leaving Talbott Park

  • You can talk about the Atlantic Shoreline Railway.

Just past Meserves

  • Ask who is on the Trolley for the first time: thank them for coming. A good joke that gets some laughs is: “I’m always glad when we get new people because we sell a lot of merch”.
  • Thank you for joining me on the Trolley today everybody. It’s been my absolute pleasure to have you here. If you had a great time on the Trolley, my name is <NAME>, please leave us a positive review online. If you had a bad time on the Trolley, I made a mistake, my name is actually <ALT NAME>, and don’t leave us a review.
  • Come back and see us again. We have Daniel Tiger visiting in July, we have Dino Trolley in August, we have Pumpkin Patch in September and October, and then Christmas Prelude in December. If you are from away, take a plane back, our events are worth it.

Pulling in to Morrison Hill

  • Please remain seated folks. We will be back at the Visitor’s Center in just a few minutes where you will each be able to make an ice cream sunday!
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