Pair hopes to give streetcar a fresh face

LEWISTON – A transportation history buff is hoping to restore an 84-year-old trolley that once connected residents of Lewiston and Clarkston.

For just seven years until 1929, the Lewiston Clarkston Transit Co.’s No. 8 streetcar clacked along tracks between the two Snake River towns before it was replaced by a motor bus.

Now, Don Rice, of Lewiston, has rescued the aging trolley from a field, where it spent years decaying after having been converted into a makeshift mobile home in a trailer park.

He and a partner, Bill Miller of Clarkston, aim to enlist members of local antique car clubs to restore the green paint, varnished wood and glass to its original luster.

“We’d like to form a group that will help restore it,” Miller told the Lewiston Tribune.

After it was no longer needed as a trolley, wooden house doors replaced the original bifolds, through which passengers boarded for a four-mile loop from 21st and Main streets in Lewiston to 13th and Highland in Clarkston. Windows were taken from their wooden frames and replaced with paneling. A partition was installed to separate the car into two rooms.

A tiny closet was put in one corner, and Rice believes a corner was curtained off – to be used as a bathroom.

With a few exceptions, however, all the pieces are there, he said. Empty window frames still slide up and down and latch. The vents on the peaked roof are there. Even a large “8” can be clearly seen in the cracking paint, as can the fading “Ride with us rain or shine,” and the single word, “Fare.”

“Nothing they did hurt its integrity,” Rice said. “They didn’t hurt any of the structure. That’s the cool part.”

It took two years of pleading with the owner of the field where the trolley was resting before Rice finally persuaded him to give up the car. Then, Rice and his wife had to tow it away by installing a pair of axles.

“Just dodge whatever falls off,” Rice told her.

Now, Miller and Rice are looking for a place to store the 27-foot-long, 10-foot-high car.

In addition, they’re hopeful news of the planned trolley resurrection will prompt some local community member who may have the missing trolley lights – or at least a photo of No. 8 in action – stored in a dusty corner of their basement.

The trolley could eventually become the centerpiece of a display – or even an atmospheric coffee stand.