The Friends of the Benson Trolleys has launched a campaign to restore and re-integrate the George Benson streetcars into Seattle’s new streetcar network so they can operate on Seattle streetcar tracks and be placed in service alongside the modern cars. Of the five cars in Seattle, three cars have been sold to the city of St Louis and will be placed into service on the heritage trolley line that will serve the Delmar Loop district and University City, Missouri. The waterfront streetcars - originally operating along the Seattle Waterfront and the Chinatown-International District - have been stored in a warehouse in SoDo since being taken out of service in 2005. In support of the citizen-led effort, the City of Seattle has agreed to help store the two remaining cars for King County, who currently owns the vehicles. The City of Seattle is currently planning a Center City Connector primarily on 1st Avenue that will link the Westlake terminus of the South Lake Union Streetcar with the Pioneer Square terminus of the First Hill Streetcar. Seattle has indicated that it is open to a mix of vintage and modern streetcars, but does not have funds available for restoration of the vehicles. The city has agreed to store the cars for up to two years to give the Friends of the Benson Trolleys the opportunity to raise the money needed to upgrade the Benson streetcars to meet modern operating standards and ADA requirements.
