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The horsecar when it appeared at OPT in 2023.

Post-Service History

Our car was somehow saved when the streetcar lines were electrified.  In 1933, when the electric streetcars were converted to buses, a parade was held and the surviving horsecar was brought out and operated in the parade.

For many years it was on display at the Witte Museum, but somehow ended up in the possession of the local transit agency, VIA. In 2019, they auctioned it off.  A local resident purchased it, and, unable to do anything with it, sold it to Scott Jones.

On Friday March 3, 2023, a friend of Eric Sitiko let him know that a mule-drawn streetcar had been listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $12,000.  Eric was aware of the car’s existence prior to it being listed for sale.  He saw and photographed it in 2014 in a VIA bus garage where it was stored. Eric sent OPT CEO Gene Caywood the link.  He consulted with some of the Street Railway volunteers and with Bob Schlanger, then asked Eric to contact the seller, Scott Jones.  Jones indicated that if it went to a local museum he was willing to let it go for $8,000, but if it went out of state the price would be $10,000. He was waiting for a response from a local museum to see if they could raise the money.  By Sunday, Jones became convinced the local museum wasn’t going to be able to raise the money, and he was also concerned that they didn’t have the facilities to protect the horsecar property or restore it, and thus wanted OPT to have it.  So on Monday morning, Bob contacted him and we became the owners of the car. 

San Antonio streetcars ran on 4-foot gauge track.  On initial investigation, it appears the wheels can readily be moved out on the axles enough to convert it to standard gauge. At this time, its structural integrity is undetermined and will require extensive investigation. Future restoration plans, if possible, are to replicate a mule-car that ran in Tucson around the turn of the 20th century.