Loop Trolley

The Loop Trolley is a , 10-station heritage streetcar line in and near the Delmar Loop area of greater St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The line and its three replica-historic streetcars are owned by the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District and operated by the Metro Transit division of the Bi-State Development Agency, whose board has voted to continue running the trolley through 2028. The tracks start in western St. Louis, at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. They run north on DeBaliviere Avenue, with stops at MetroLink's Forest Park–DeBaliviere station and in the neighborhoods of DeBaliviere Place, Skinker/DeBaliviere, and the West End. They turn west on Delmar Boulevard to MetroLink's Delmar Loop station and cross the border of St. Louis County into University City, where they enter the Delmar Loop district and terminate at the University City Library just west of Kingsland Avenue. The line was built for $51 million (about $ in ), more than half of which came from federal funds. Its annual operating expenses of $1.3 million were to be covered mostly by a one-cent sales tax collected by businesses along and near the line but also by fares and advertising. The Loop Trolley opened for service in 2018. Ridership and revenue fell far short of expectations, in part because operations were limited to four days a week.…

The Loop Trolley is a , 10-station heritage streetcar line in and near the Delmar Loop area of greater St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The line and its three replica-historic streetcars are owned by the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District and operated by the Metro Transit division of the Bi-State Development Agency, whose board has voted to continue running the trolley through 2028. The tracks start in western St. Louis, at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. They run north on DeBaliviere Avenue, with stops at MetroLink's Forest Park–DeBaliviere station and in the neighborhoods of DeBaliviere Place, Skinker/DeBaliviere, and the West End. They turn west on Delmar Boulevard to MetroLink's Delmar Loop station and cross the border of St. Louis County into University City, where they enter the Delmar Loop district and terminate at the University City Library just west of Kingsland Avenue. The line was built for $51 million (about $ in ), more than half of which came from federal funds. Its annual operating expenses of $1.3 million were to be covered mostly by a one-cent sales tax collected by businesses along and near the line but also by fares and advertising. The Loop Trolley opened for service in 2018. Ridership and revenue fell far short of expectations, in part because operations were limited to four days a week. The line shut down in 2019, but service resumed in 2022 after federal officials threatened to require repayment of construction grants if the trolley did not run. Since then, the line has operated a no-fare service Thursdays through Sundays between April and October. ==History== ]] ]] ==Rolling stock== Loop Trolley service was provided by two faux-vintage streetcars acquired used from Portland, Oregon. A third vintage streetcar from Seattle was expected to join the fleet in 2019. In December 2013, the Loop Trolley district acquired from Portland transit agency TriMet two Gomaco-built Brill-replica streetcars which were then in operation on the Portland Vintage Trolley service, which use continued until mid-2014. Those two cars were designed to look like 1903 streetcars but were actually built in 1991 (car 511) and 1992 (car 512), and feature steel frames under their wooden bodies and more-modern propulsion equipment (including rebuilt 1940s trucks). For St. Louis, they were modified for wheelchair accessibility, to meet ADA regulations, with the installation of wheelchair lifts (one per side). Gomaco was hired to carry out those and other modifications, and the work began at Gomaco's Ida Grove, Iowa, plant in August 2015. In January 2016, it was announced that the Loop Trolley district had purchased three ex-Melbourne, Australia, W2-type streetcars from Seattle, which had operated on Seattle's Waterfront Streetcar line until it shut down in 2005. Only one of the three was planned for immediate refurbishment, modification and use due to funding limitations. The necessary modifications included restoring doors on one side of the car, restoring steps to the doors (Seattle's line used high-platform stations which didn't necessitate steps), installing two wheelchair lifts, one on each side, and replacement of the car's trolley poles with a pantograph. The three cars were moved from Seattle in early June 2016. Cars 482 and 518 were taken to St. Louis and put in indefinite storage for potential future restoration and use. Car 512 was taken to Gomaco in Iowa, which had been awarded a $676,750 contract to restore and modify the car. The operational fleet was to comprise three cars in 2019: two ex-Portland Brill replica cars (Portland Nos. 511–512) and one ex-Seattle, ex-Melbourne car (Seattle No. 512). Ex-Portland cars 511–512 were renumbered 002 and 001, respectively, and ex-Seattle, ex-Melbourne car 512 was renumbered 003. Car 001 is painted red and cream, Car 002 blue and cream, and Car 003 orange and cream. When the line opened in 2018, Car 003 was still at Gomaco's Iowa plant, with its renovation and modification more than a year behind schedule, partly due to delays in getting parts from Germany. Car 003 was delivered to the Loop Trolley's maintenance facility on January 29, 2019. As part of the effort to reduce operating costs, Bi-State decided to shrink the fleet from five to two cars. In 2024, Car 003 was returned to Gomaco along with Car 482 and Car 518. ==Maintenance facility== The Loop Trolley's administrative headquarters and maintenance facility are located at 5875 Delmar Boulevard, in a building that had been Delmar High School until 1980. ==See also== Streetcars in North America St. Charles City Streetcar St. Louis Metrolink ==References== ==External links==

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