Colorado Springs — Trolley Grant
Rail Transit Online, August 2002
The
Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation has been promised an $80,000
grant from the Colorado State Historical Fund to continue restoration work on
Car 59, built in 1901 by Laclede Car Co. for Colorado Springs. The foundation
must raise another $20,000 to activate the grant, which is due to be paid in
October. The all-volunteer foundation plans to install a two-mile (3.2 km)
downtown streetcar loop in about three years, if it can raise the necessary
funding, and operate Car 59 and another restored Colorado Springs trolley in
circulator service. “The idea is the streetcars will serve all the
entertainment and business points,” foundation Executive Director Howard Noble
told The Gazette. Work on Car 59 has already started, and an estimated $400,000
will be needed to complete the job. The Historical Fund grant will be used to
restore the wheels and axles and to manufacture castings that will replace
missing seat frames. The original streetcar system ceased operation in 1932. |
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