THE NEW ORLEANS STREETCARS 

Cars 900 and 930 are survivors of the 73 streetcars built by the Perley Thomas Company in High Point, North Carolina for New Orleans between 1922 and 1924 that still operate on the Saint Charles Line today. The Thomas Company is still in business building school buses. The 35 surviving cars include cars 900, 903, 904, 905, 906, 907, 910, 911, 914, 915, 920, 921, 922, 923, 926, 930, 932, 933, 934, 937, 940, 945, 947, 948, 951, 953, 954, 961, 962, 963, 965, 968, 969, 971 and 972. By 1955, only 100 cars of the 800-972 class remained, all others having been scrapped. When the Canal Street line was finally converted to buses in 1964, several of these cars were sold or scrapped. According to the 2010 book "The Streetcars of New Orleans, 1964-Present" by Earl W. Hampton Jr., Car 913 ended up at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA for many years until acquired by San Francisco for renovation for the F-line. Car 922 was featured in the Tennessee Williams play and movie “Streetcar Named Desire” and is one of the cars still operating on the Saint Charles Line. Car 924 initially went to Atlanta in 1964 and was used as a tourist information office until 1985. Then it returned to New Orleans, was repainted red for the new Riverfront Line, renumbered 450 and ran until 1997 there until the line was changed from standard to wide gauge to match the Saint Charles Line. Car 919 had gone to the Texas State Fairgrounds in 1964 but returned in the 1980s and was repainted red for the new Riverfront Line, renumbered 451 and also ran until 1997; Incidentally 952, that is now in San Francisco, was also on the Riverfront line in red as 456 for a time until 1997.

 On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, seriously damaging all of the “new” twenty-four red Canal Streetcars and almost all of the Riverfront cars in service at the time. After cleanup and obtaining temporary power sources, the St Charles cars were used on Canal while the Saint Charles line was repaired and until the Canal Cars could be refurbished and returned to service. Car 930 became the test car for service on Canal Street and by Christmas 2005, car 930 and seven others were in service on Canal Street. They would service Canal Street until 2009.

Features:

• New injection molded plastic body
•  Window glass
• Operating roof poles
• Operating headlight
• DCC Ready with 21 pin plug
  
• Accurate painting and decorating
• Can motor drive with flywheel

Sound trolleys equipped with LOK Sound Decoders (DCC and Sound)

We do not recommend LOK Sound for use on DC (analog) layouts.

Bowser cars molded in USA, assembled,  decorated and packaged in China.