| Railroad Name: | Manchester Street Railway |
| Locale: | Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire |
| Start Year: | 1864 |
| End Year: | 1941 |
| Electrification: | Electrified interurban light rail |
| Image Filename: | First Horsecar in Manchester, NH.jpg |
| Image Caption: | 1908 postcard entitled "Rapid transit in 1877 - First horsecar run in Manchester, New Hampshire" |
The Manchester Street Railway was a light interurban railway that ran from Manchester to Nashua, New Hampshire.[1]
The Manchester Horse Railroad Company was incorporated in 1864.[2] The company changed its name to the Manchester Street Railway in 1889, which in turn was renamed the Manchester Traction Light & Power Company in 1901. In 1903 the Goff's Falls, Litchfield & Hudson Street Railway Company was incorporated.[3] In 1905 the Manchester Street Railway's main car barn burned down, so they ordered 11 Laconia cars numbered 94 - 116 in even numbers.[4] Many of the Manchester Street Railway's cars were manufactured by the Laconia Car Company in Laconia, New Hampshire. The Goff's Falls, Litchfield & Hudson Street Railway Company was renamed the Manchester and Nashua Street Railway in 1907. Near the end, the railway couldn't afford to keep lines energized after hours, and scrappers would climb the poles and dismantle the lines. The Manchester Street Railway ceased operations in 1939, and most of their equipment was scrapped by 1941.
Manchester "Rapid" No. 38 was the Seashore Trolley Museum's second car (and first intact car, as the museum's first car, Biddeford and Saco No. 31, was initially acquired without trucks), was obtained from the Manchester Street Railway. This car was the last electric streetcar known to operate in Manchester under its own power, running off home rails and onto the transport bound for Seashore using its own motors.
There are several Manchester Street Railway cars preserved and operational.