A few years ago I went to Seattle for a conference and was looking forward to riding on the streetcar line they had there. I am a busy person and had been out of contact with the news of their shut down. I was wondering what became of the two Melbourne trams they had running there? Are they still there? Have they been sold to someone else and are hopefully running? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

AC

Last I knew they were in storage in Seattle. There is still a dream that the line will run again someday.

They are in storage in/near Seattle. (I don't recall the exact location).

The existing line will be pretty much destroyed during the "Big Dig 2 - Bigger and Badder in Seattle" Tunnel Project. The carbarn was already removed for the sculpture park. While streetcars have returned to Seattle, and in fact a new project has just started. the chance of these cars ever running again is slim to none.

If you search the news of the last 5 years, this is one of those stories, duplicated in other cities, where the tourist trolley was eclipsed by the genuine return of real rail transit.

Actually, there are x dollars available for rail transit. Now that LRT is proven working and popular, neighborhoods are clamoring for that money to put LRT into their neighborhood. So, no money is left to restart the tourist trolley.

A lot of towns built tourist trolleys because support could not be gained for a real transit system, and some thought the tourist trolley would "prove" that transit was a failure. See Charlotte, Dallas, and Tuscon. Charlotte and Tuscon are victims of their success. So successful they were disassembled for replacement with modern LRT.

Not as much in this case. The Waterfront Streetcar started as a tourist attraction, but became an integral part of Seattle transportation system, especially once the original track was extended from the waterfront to Union Station, where it connected with what, at that time, was the bus tunnel.

I was the track inspector for many years, and saw traffic consistently improve and continue during the slow months of winter.

There is no direct replacement for this line. The light rail tunnel roughly parallels it, but it doesn't really serve the ferry dock, which accounts for a lot of commuters.

So why was the line removed? The viaduct tunnel project was the death of the line. The viaduct is being replaced by a gigantic underground tunnel, and the streetcar line ran right smack through the middle of the whole mess, including a long stretch of track right next to the viaduct supports.

The Olympic Sculpture Garden required relocation of the car barn, but since the viaduct project was scheduled to start soon, they decided against a temporary barn. There was a proposal to incorporate it into a building in Pioneer Square that got pretty well along, but ultimately didn't occur.


Sadly, Seattle's transportation policy is a dis-jointed mess. We have trains, streetcars, light rail, monorails, a section of underground light rail that looks a lot like a subway, ferry boats, regular buses, hybrid buses, trolley buses, and dual mode buses. Unfortunately, many of the systems don't connect well, requiring long walks to change modes.


They may eventually restore streetcars to the waterfront, but the Melbourne cars are pretty tired, and while tourists loved them, Metro would most likely go with a more modern replacement.

Well, I'll be back that way in May for business and was hoping to get a picture of them. Does anybody know where they are currently being stored? I've heard rumors that they're under an old bridge. Does anybody know which bridge?

Thanks,

AC

I have no personal knowledge of any of this, but FWIW the following message was posted on the Save Seattle's Streetcar Facebook page a couple of months ago:

"Heard the nasty rumor today from someone in the know that KC Metro is going to soon get rid of the 5 George Benson Waterfront Streetcars currently stored in the "Gulf" building directly west of Atlantic bus base. They are to move them out quietly without fanfare. Hard to do that when they had to tear walls down of the building to place them inside and then rebuild the walls."

Last I heard, the trolleys were stored inside a warehouse, completely hidden from public view. However, I do know that, at least for awhile, a parts unit (basically a metal shell painted primer gray) was stored in one of the bus yards (The one on the North side of South 120th place, the dead end road that intersects with E. Marginal Way S.). I don't know if it's still there, but it might be worth a look. I think this the same bus yard where the historic metro bus collection is stored.

You can clearly see the streetcar in Google Street View.

I'm pretty certain that's a spare car that was purchased but never restored. If you zoom to overhead, you can see there's just one.

The line had multiple cars, I think a total of 5? They're stored indoors.

I have no idea where it is stored, but supposedly the system also owns the body of a Seattle Birney which is considered part of the MEHVA fleet of historic vehicles.

Here is the stored Melbourne car
http://www.flickr.com/photos/viriyincy/3367817211

And info about the Waterfront line. FYI the Vancouver BC line is also dormant and likely to die given local politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfront_Streetcar

Somebody just told me that the streetcar track along the viaduct was recently removed.

Can anyone confirm this? It's possible they got it confused with the BN or UP tracks a bit further south, but they're a fairly reliable source.

It looks like a body on cribbing.

Wesley

The Seattle Municipal Archives posted this photo today.