Anyone know if the Yakima Valley Electric Line is still running?

It’s now the Yakima Valley Trolleys , and it does still operate.  

Is this in the Yakima Washington area?

Ron_S posted:

Is this in the Yakima Washington area?

Yup. Currently they are using a generator car to power the trolleys due to the cost of replacing the trolley wire that was stolen. They are working on securing funding to replace the wire, and have done work to design anti theft measures to go with it. The replacement of wire is  apparently below the restoration of the car barn and powerhouse when it comes to priorities for the museum. 

Scratching my head ... 

who buys stolen trolley wire, and to whom do they sell?  

Farmer_Bill posted:

Scratching my head ... 

who buys stolen trolley wire, and to whom do they sell?  

Since the overhead wire is copper, and VERY valuable on the scrap market,,,,,,,,,,,,,well draw your own conclusions. Why are there so many thefts of copper pipe in new house construction sites?

Farmer_Bill posted:

Scratching my head ... 

who buys stolen trolley wire, and to whom do they sell?  

Not sure how rural you are but copper theft is a huge problem. 

The drug subculture loves to sell scrap copper for money.  Anything but work.

In many places a valid government issued photo ID is required to pawn goods or sell scrap for this reason.

Photos as of August of this year. Slow and creaky but nice. Forgot the price.

They recover most of the stolen wire, but it was snipped into small segments.

Does this run downtown? The reason I ask, I lived near there for almost 40 years and never knew they had a trolley.

If you want to see a Yakima Valley motor run, make the trip to Perris, CA. The Orange Empire Railway museum occasionally runs their GE Steeplecab, Yakima Valley #297.

645 posted:

Why don't they leave the overhead wire energized? After a few thieves are zapped they might get the message and not bother trying to remove the wire in the future.

That doesn't work either. All the enterprising thieves do is, attach a cable or chain to a good ground (like the rail) and then throw the cable/chain over the trolly wire. Bang, the circuit breaker is tripped, and they then quickly go to work stealing the wire. The same think happened when the Milwaukee Road stopped operating, and the electrified Pacific Extension was quickly descended upon by copper thieves, even though the wire was still energized. Many, many miles of Milwaukee Road wire was still stolen. 

I rode the line decades ago when there was extensive tracks several miles long to an apple orchard and through the city. The City fathers made the unfortunate decision to rip up that line and the overhead. There was a despute with the owner of the tracks through the orchard, who saw insurance liability and no income from the organization that was running the streetcar. Then there was a proposal for the line to service a shopping plaza, but the developer died. The situation now seems to be on a wing-and-prayer. Many mistakes were made in bobbing the line from a tourist generating point of view. For example, besides ripping up the other end of the line to the Apple orchard,  the extension into Selah proper operated by the Union Pacific was ripped up in the late 1980's, (plan stupid), leaving the cars terminating at the edge of Selah, effectively in the middle of nowhere, instead of extending into town to furnish customers for antique shops and restaurants. So Selah merchants do not benefit from tourist traffic. Replacing those tracks would be expensive, if the right-of-way could even be repurchased.

I'll be attending the 100th Anniversary of the YVT Steeple Cab #298 Saturday (09/24/2022).  She'll be running on Pine St.  I will take pictures and make a video.

The YVT is fundraising to restore the Steeple Cab.  Link here: YVT Steeple Cab Restoration Fundraiser

I'm planning to go live around 12:30PM Pacific (3:30PM Eastern) or when the Steeple is running on the street.

Link to LIVESTREAM: