The car barn at the Yakima Electric Railway Museum, home of the Yakima Valley Trolleys, is an incredible place. At front-left is YVT 298, a GE electric locomotive built new for the original Yakima Valley Transportation Company in 1922 and in continuous service since. In the back-middle is streetcar YVT 1976, originally built for Oporto, Portugal in 1928 and purchased by Yakima in 1974. At right is YVT 21, a two-truck Brill Master Unit streetcar purchased new by the YVT in 1930, where it served until 1947. This car (along with YVT 22 mostly hidden behind the 298) carries the name of Bob Hively, an enthusiast who saved these cars from the scrapper's torch and made their return to Yakima in 1989 possible. At front-right is one of the three generators from the adjacent power house.
Contents aside, the car barn itself is a wonder: The walls are constructed of large stones, and massive wood posts and beams support an overhead 15-ton crane. At left and back-right are locations of belt-driven machine tools, where a motor spun a lower axle upon which were mounted a series of pulleys; a clutch could be operated on the upper axle to engage the pulleys at that level which ran the shop machinery.
Thanks to the YERM staff for their graciousness in showing me around the facility.
