Car 850 to Promote New Orleans Tourism

Forever New Orleans

The Streetcar Named Desire, Car 850 in the collection of the Shore Line Trolley Museum, is about to roll out of the restoration shop, and into the national spotlight!

When this streetcar first arrived at the museum in the mid-1960s, few would have imagined that it would one day be featured on nation-wide television to promote tourism in the city which it had served since 1922. Indeed, the car lay idle for many years until it received its turn in the museum's car restoration workshop. Now, after nearly ten years of painstaking work by the museum's staff and volunteers, and through the contributions made by the museum's members and by the National Railway Historical Society, car 850 is ready for its grand debut.

Car 850 was featured on the Good Morning America show on Tuesday, April 10, 2007, and was displayed right in the heart of Times Square for two days.

Car 850 is part of a nationwide campaign to revitalize New Orleans as a tourist destination, spearheaded by the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. The theme of this campaign is Forever New Orleans.

Car 850 was displayed in Chicago, at the corner of Michigan and Illinois Avenue on May 17, then returned to its home at the Shore Line Trolley Museum. The grand roll-out ceremony was on Saturday, June 2, at 1 PM, and featured the Galvanized Jazz Band and East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo.

Car 850 will be in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, October 25.