Story already in Flimsies:

http://www.2news.tv/news/local/13715282.html

Okay, folks, I think it's not a trolley. Anyone know what it really is? Did the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific have interurban cars?

I heard the story of this place years ago from a local rail historian but can't remember any details. I believe the building adjacent to the railcar had some function for the the Boise streetcar system, hence the name of the place. IIRC the car itself is an ordinary clerestory-roofed passenger car, possibly of Oregon Short Line/ Union Pacific heritage. Old, but no particular historical signifigance that I'm aware of. No known connection to the BA&P which was miles away in Montana. If you're interested in persuing the history of the Trolley Bar, please drop me an email, I'm more or less local to the area and could call a couple of people who should know.
Jeff

Jeff,

The suggestion has been made to possibly restore and use this on SVRy. However, as you and I know the Leviathan is very wide, albeit a narrow std gauge car. Anything wider presents problems. Take a few dimensions if you go to look at it.

All said, we still have the combine car to restore, so do we need another wide body to restore?

I was told by several crew members that during the Christmas Specials the Leviathan rode very smoothly and passengers really like it. She is a real beauty inside as well. Cheers to the donors and restorers of Leviathan (#100?)!

dan

Seeing this thread got me to thinking that I seem to recall that there WERE some standard passenger cars that got converted to electric propusion in the early days of electric railroading. I thought perhaps that the "trolley" in Boise might have been one of those. But if not, then do any of these other early conversions still exist?

Les

The first one that jumps to mind is Key System 1201, a line car preserved at Rio Vista (see photo at http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?june03/06-18-03/KeySys_LineCar_1201.jpg&redirect=1). It was built by Carter Brothers in 1895 as California Railway #21 but wasn't electrified until 1915. A brief history of the car can be found on the PNAERC site here: http://www.bera.org/cgi-bin/pnaerc-query.pl?detail=653

Frank -

My goodness, what an absolutely NEAT car!

Les

I used to live in Boise, and I seem to recall that there was a fire involving this car some years ago. Is that a recent pic?

Not quite "standard" railway cars, but Key System 561 and 563 (used on the Shipyard Railway during WW II) at the Western Railway Museum were originally un-powered elevated railway cars pulled by steam "dummies". They were built about 1888, and electrified circa 1902.

http://www.wrm.org/index.html

The Anaconda Copper Company ran a trolley service Anaconda to Butte for the transportation of it's workers at the smelter. Evidence of the operation still exists if you know where to look.

Update on the trolley car bar in Boise...

I visited this car last year, the interior was largely charcoal on the inside though it is fairly easy to make out how the interior was constructed. It could have been restored, though nobody was moving forward with it. Threatened with demolition by the city, a person stepped forward to save the car and will be moving it to a mall as a sales booth of some sort. "Restoration" is to take two months, so it probably will largely be renovation. The car is 9'10" wide and 54' long over the open platforms. It has deep windows on one end so it was probably an early observation car of some sort. Lettering visible on one side made me think it was originally from the Northern Pacific.

Here is a recent article in the Idaho Statesman:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/woodward/story/706470.html