SPRINGVALE — The photo of a trolley car teetering over the Mousam River by Sanford Tribune photographer Michael Shalhoup made national headlines, back in 1947.

No one was hurt in the mishap that took place when an axle was said to have broken on the trolley as it was crossing the bridge on Washington Street. And no one landed in the river ”“ everyone made their way to the back of the trolley car and got out that way ”“ but the York Utilities trolley line ceased to roll soon thereafter.

It was the end of the line for trolleys in Maine ”“ for all but one last ride. Sanford, according to local historian Harland Eastman, sported the last trolley service running in Maine in 1947 when the accident took place on Feb. 6. On April 1, that same year, York Utilities car #88 made its last run from Sanford to Springvale.

By that time, passenger train service that had begun in the 1870s had also disappeared from the landscape. No longer would folks make their way to the rail depot in Springvale ”“ located, of course on Railroad Avenue, to catch a train. While rail freight continued until 1961, passenger service had ended in 1932.

The automobile made its mark, and with the trolley service ending, public transportation in Sanford and Springvale had taken a significant hit.

But it wasn’t always that way. Passenger trains were popular ”“ and convenient, and allowed people to do what they couldn’t have otherwise done ”“ like travel daily to Rochester, New Hampshire to work in the shoe factories there, Eastman pointed out. And the trolleys made getting from Sanford to Springvale easy.

An exhibit called Trains, Trolleys and Airplanes opened at the Sanford Springvale Historical Museum Thursday and will continue for a year. It consists of photos and memorabilia of these modes of transportation that made their mark on the local community.

The trolleys began rolling through Sanford and Springvale in 1893. The Mousam River Railroad, as it was originally called, was organized by the Goodall family, of textile fame. The company was in the process of converting their mills from water power to coal, and moving coal from Pennsylvania by train was expensive. So they extended the trolley line to Cape Porpoise, where the coal was brought in by ship ”“ at considerable savings, Eastman said.

Dams along the Mousam River generated electricity to run the trolleys ”“ and the line was the only trolley service in America to produce its own power, he said.

The exhibit contains photos of steam locomotives and folks attired in their Sunday best, waiting for the train at the depot.

There are photos of airplanes, like one owned by the Goodall Mills, with advertising on the side for the Palm Beach suits they manufactured.

Eastman tells a tale about one of the aviators who stopped at the airfield now known as Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport.

Howard Hughes had landed an aircraft on the field, and when he was getting ready to leave, the plane wouldn’t start, Eastman related. No one could seem to figure out why ”“ until a young boy piped up and asked “did you check the gas tank?” and sure enough, it was empty.

While Hughes’ reason for touching down at the airport, which was developed by the Goodall textile empire to make it easier for them to visit their factories elsewhere in the country, is lost to time, history buff Paul Auger provided another story that also references Hughes. It appears that a plane once owned by the Goodall Mills was originally built for Hughes.

And of course, there are stories about trains and trolleys, too.

Auger’ s father, Gilles Auger, recalls that in the summer, kids would try to run and jump on the “cow catcher” on the back of the trolley and ride it all the way to Springvale so they could go swimming.

And apparently one fellow related to the elder Auger that back in the day, he and some other mischievous boys would grease the trolley tracks on River Street and then watch the trolleys spin when they encountered that spot on the track.

As to the trains, when the old steam locomotives switched to coal, some of it would spill among the tracks as it was shoveled into the firebox. Eastman recalls seeing folks take a bucket and walk along the track, picking up coal to keep themselves warm in the winter.

As a lad, Eastman remembered waving when the 5 p.m. freight train went by his home, and the engineer would blow the whistle ”“ a big deal to a young boy.

And he remembers too, being at the depot one day when the train was forced to come to a sudden stop and a load of watermelons cracked and smashed. The word spread, and young boys and girls and their parents too, made their way to the depot as the broken fruit was dispensed ”“ a welcome treat on a hot summer day.

Sanford Springvale Historical Museum, at 505 Main St., is open 2”“8 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324”“4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282”“1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].