Babylon brings back popular trolley ride

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the electric trolley line that once ran from Amityville to Babylon Village, the Town of Babylon resurrected the route last year, using modern trolleys to take people on historic tours across four communities.

The tour was so popular the town’s Office of Historic Services is bringing it back again.

On two Sundays this fall, Sept. 25 and Oct. 16, the trolleys will make five runs between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Each trolley can fit about 30 people.

“The tour was such a success last year. We had a lot of people that came to us that couldn’t get on the tour,” said Mary Cascone, historical archivist for the town.

The tours begin at the Town History Museum, located in Old Town Hall on West Main Street in Babylon Village, and travel west to the Amityville railroad station, where the original trolley line started.

From there, the tour follows the trolley’s route through Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst and Babylon Village and ends back at the museum. The ride takes about an hour.

Cascone said the trolleys — which are actually small passenger buses made to look like electric trolleys — make frequent stops where historians point out notable places and describe what the area was like when the Babylon Railroad Co. operated the trolleys from 1910 to 1920.

“At that point, automobiles became more popular, and that basically ran the trolleys out of business,” Cascone said.

The tours will leave the museum at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. each day. They cost $12 for adults and $9 for children and seniors. Tickets will also be sold on the day of the rides, space permitting.

Reservations can be made by calling the town’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs at 631-893-2100 or the historian’s office at 631-587-3750.