Located in Montgomery County, Maryland, the museum's primary mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the electric street and interurban railways of the National Capital region.

The site was provided by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and DC Transit leased trolleys for a nominal cost.

In the interim, the museum acquired a small fleet of European trams and a car from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

On Thursdays and Fridays each spring and fall, the museum hosts school field trips by advance reservation.

[citation needed] The museum receives most of its money from admission fees and revenues from its gift shop.

The State of Maryland, Montgomery County, and private donors provided capital funding support for the current relocation.

The NCTM collection has also included streetcars from Berlin, Düsseldorf, Graz, The Hague, Toronto, Vienna, New York City, Philadelphia, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Brussels and Blackpool.

Exhibits on the walls leading into the theater link the importance of movies and street cars to community life in the early part of the 20th century.

Visitors can use the controller handle to start the street car and can operate a dynamo to generate electricity for the lights in the buildings along the track.

Eight pieces of equipment, comprising about half of the museum's operating fleet and one-third of its total collection of street cars, were destroyed.