There are all kinds of wheeled attractions in Connecticut, from trains to trolleys to go-carts. Here’s a two-day trip that takes in a handful of the best.
There’s always something going on at The Shoreline Trolley Museum in East Haven, paying a lively tribute to a mode of transportation once common in every American city. The museum owns nearly 100 vintage transit vehicles and thousands of artifacts associated with trolley travel. Best of all, you can hop aboard one of the cars to experience a trolley ride through miles of shoreline scenery.
Next, get everyone up to the Checkered Flag Raceway in Berlin to discover in person how the latest technology has come to serve the fun of go-kart racing. Here you’ll find three styles of go-karts for both kids and adults, computerized lap timing on the quarter-mile track, and a large track scoreboard that shows your lap times to one and all. It’s enough to get your competitive juices flowing.
For more in the way of wheels, head west beginning in early June to Thomaston, the home of the Naugatuck Railroad and the Railroad Museum of New England. The experience begins at the 1881 Thomaston train station (featured in the movie “Revolutionary Road”), where you’ll board restored vintage passenger coaches for a scenic ride along the Naugatuck River south to Waterbury and back again.
Next day comes a pleasant ride through the countryside of northwestern Connecticut over to Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, a big-time auto racing track (Le Mans style, not an oval) in a beautiful natural setting. Learn how much fun spectators can have at a car race when they can roam the grounds and watch from a grassy corner instead of a packed grandstand.