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Issaquah, WA — Trolley Rolls

Rail Transit Online, May 2001

May 19 is the scheduled kickoff of the one-mile Issaquah Valley Trolley connecting the city's historic train depot with Gilman Village to the north.  The service will be operated Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through the summer with one vintage Brill streetcar on loan from the suspended line in Yakima.  Power comes from a 70-year-old generator that was repaired at no cost by KJM Electric of Seattle and that’s been mounted on a push-pull trailer. The car was originally manufactured in 1927 in Philadelphia and shipped to Portugal, where it ran until purchased by Yakima in 1974.  It had been hoped to open the Issaquah line by last December, but the generator work and obtaining government permits took months longer than expected.  Volunteers have built a storage shed using an anonymous $100,000 donation and will make interior repairs, primarily replacing the torn rattan seat covers.  The city donated $1 million to buy the right-of-way and is negotiating with other jurisdictions over access to additional sections of track.  Fans and city officials are hoping the line can be extended two miles farther north to Lake Sammamish State Park and possibly even to Redmond, although the latter segment would be both expensive and controversial with residents. 

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