| Two vintage trolley cars that the Loop Trolley project bought from Seattle for $200,000 have arrived in St. Louis as work continues on the local line.
The cars, currently stored in a Metro rail yard, once ran on the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line in Seattle. The W-class electric trolley cars were originally brought to Seattle from Melbourne, Australia, where they were built by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board between 1923 and 1956, officials said. One of the trolley cars from Seattle that will join the Loop Trolley line in spring 2017.
One of the trolley cars from Seattle that will join the Loop Trolley line in spring 2017. A third car from the Seattle line has been shipped to Iowa for renovation, along with two trolleys from Portland, Oregon, officials said. Those three refurbished trolleys will go into service on the Loop Trolley system in spring 2017. The two other trolleys from Seattle will be backup cars, a spokeswoman said. The two trolleys from Portland are Brill-replica streetcars that served the Portland Vintage Trolley service. Designed to look like 1903 streetcars, the Portland trolleys were built in the 1990s. “The vintage Seattle trolleys are in beautiful shape, with wood-panel interiors and brass hardware,” Joe Edwards, chair of the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District and owner of Blueberry Hill in the Delmar Loop, said in a statement. “King County Metro Transit did a wonderful job of maintaining and storing them.” The intersection of Delmar Boulevard and Kingsland Avenue will close Monday for three weeks to allow workers to install the trolley’s west end terminus and track switch. The intersection is expected to reopen by the Fourth of July weekend, officials said. St. Louis Business Journal ©June 2016 |
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