YAKIMA, Wash. — All aboard for a ride to the past.
“It harkens back to a simple time,” said Yakima Valley Trolleys president, Ken Johnsen.
The trolley is a gift paid forward from the turn of the last century.
“Having these streetcars was the cutting edge of technology in those days,” Johnsen said.
Johnsen and a team of volunteers saved the streetcar line more than 50 years ago.
“This is the last intact interurban railroad in the United States,” he explained.
They’ve kept it running ever since.
“It’s a small group, but we are very dedicated to it,” he said.
Last week, Yakima Valley Trolleys celebrated the 50th anniversary of its “newest” cars, imported from Portugal, marking the 1974 restoration of trolley service in the Yakima Valley.
The railroad has applied for National Historic Landmark status, a process that could take several more years and elevate it to the same protected level as San Francisco’s famed streetcars.
Motorman Joe Rief has been operating a trolley since he was 15.
“The youngest licensed motorman in the United States,” Rief said. “Before I got a car license I could drive a 13-ton trolley.”
Barbara Walker is currently completing her training to take the wheel.
“I am the newest woman motorman,” said Walker. “It’s actually a privilege.”
Yakima Valley Trolleys’ maintenance facility, known as the “car barn,” is a historic site all its own.
“Two streetcars in there were built new for Yakima in 1930,” Johnsen said.
The building’s original machinery still works, powered by buffalo leather drive belts.
“All built in 1910,” Johnsen said.
After more than a century, the railroad’s electricity is still supplied from another original building.
“We still have everything here that was 1911 powerhouse,” Johnsen said.
These dedicated volunteers will continue to rail against the passage of time.
“I plan on doing it until I can’t,” Walker said.
They’ve vowed to keep this priceless piece of Yakima's past, present, and future on-track.
“I think that’s what everybody likes, is you can touch and feel history here,” said Johnsen. “It’s really the last of its kind.”
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