June 4, 1999

Contact: Phil Morse, Executive Director, Seashore Trolley Museum, (207) 967-2712, pmorse@gwi.net

O. R. Cummings has written a book titled "York County Trolleys". Below is a brief excerpt from the back cover of the 128-page book which includes approximately 200 photographs.

"Until hard surface, all-weather thoroughfares were constructed and private automobiles became numerous, residents of York County depended on trolleys for local transportation. Many people commuted regularly to and from work on the electric cars, which also carried children to school from September through June. In the winter, when streets roads and highways were buried under deep drifts, powerful snowplows swiftly cleared the street railway tracks after sever storms so the trolleys could get through. Maine's York County boasted more than 100 miles of trolley lines from 1907 through 1922.

The World War I years were difficult for street railways throughout the United States. Soon after the conflict ended, automobiles began rolling off the assembly lines at progressively more attractive prices. As the nation entered the "Roaring Twenties," more and more residents of York County acquired motorcars and no longer needed the trolleys that had served them so faithfully through the years. York County Trolleys takes us on a visual journey from Kittery to Old Orchard Beach, from Old Orchard to Portland, and inland to Eliot, South Berwick, and Sanford."

O.R. Cummings, a retired journalist, has been a trolley enthusiast since 1940, has been a member of the New England Electric Railway Society, Inc. (Seashore Trolley Museum) since 1942, and is the Museum Historian.

O. R. is scheduled to do a book signing on July 5, at the Seashore Trolley Museum, the 60th anniversary celebration of the Museum. The book is being published by Arcadia Publishing and retails for $18.99.

For additional information on the Seashore Trolley Museum please call 207-967-2800 or visit www.trolleymuseum.org.