Charlotte, NC — Historic Trolley Sidetracked

Rail Transit Online – May 2007

Original Charlotte streetcar No 85, delivered to the city in 1927 will not operate in regular service when the South light rail line opens because it has been deemed a safety hazard.  The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) had planned to run No. 85, which has undergone extensive restoration and updating, along with three Gomaco replica Birney cars in the downtown area as a tourist attraction and local circulator.  But despite $180,000 in publicly-funded improvements to many electrical and mechanical parts, CATS has determined that the old trolley couldn’t withstand a collision with a light rail vehicle and therefore will only roll it out for special events.  “It doesn't have the structural strength if it was hit,” CATS CEO Ron Tober told The Charlotte Observer.  “It would be very dangerous for anyone inside.”  The car, which was originally retired in 1938, was painstakingly restored in the early 1990s at a cost of $250,000 by Charlotte Trolley, a private-sector nonprofit organization.  In the intervening years, No. 85 had been converted into an office and later an apartment.  It ran again from 1996 until early 2006 on a short section of railroad track in South End.  Service was suspended when construction began there on the LRT line.