Seattle trolleys arrive in St. Louis for Loop Trolley
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
Two vintage trolleys that once ran on the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line in Seattle have arrived in St. Louis for use by the Loop Trolley.
A third Seattle trolley was shipped to Iowa, where it will be renovated and refurbished along with two Portland trolleys. The three refurbished trolleys will be put into service on the Loop Trolley system in Spring 2017.
“The vintage Seattle trolleys are in beautiful shape, with wood-panel interiors and brass hardware,” said Joe Edwards, chairman of the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District and owner of Blueberry Hill in the Delmar Loop. “King County Metro Transit did a wonderful job of maintaining and storing them.”
The Seattle trolleys currently are stored in a Metro rail yard but later will be moved to the Loop Trolley maintenance and storage facility on Delmar Blvd.
The W-class electric trolley cars were originally brought to Seattle from Melbourne, Australia. The trams were built by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board between 1923 and 1956.
The two Portland trolley cars are Brill-replica streetcars that were used on the Portland Vintage Trolley service in Portland, Ore. Those two cars were designed to look like 1903 streetcars but were actually built in the early 1990s. All of the working trolleys will be modified to meet ADA regulations.
The Loop Trolley is a 2.2-mile fixed-track vintage electric trolley system currently under construction linking University City and Forest Park, with a turnaround at the Missouri History Museum.
