 When Burlington Northern abandoned its freight railroad line from Portland to Astoria in 1996 , the city of Astoria purchased about 6 miles ( 10 km ) of BN right @-@ of @-@ way and track in and around downtown Astoria for possible future use , an action known as " railbanking " . The remaining 92 @-@ mile ( 148 km ) section of the Portland – Astoria line was sold by BN to the Portland and Western Railroad in 1997 and kept intact . After Astoria officials learned that a genuine vintage streetcar already in Oregon was not in use and was available for possible lease , they approached its owners and negotiated a five @-@ year lease . The car was ex @-@ San Antonio Public Service Company No. 300 and was owned by the San Antonio Museum of Art , but had been in Oregon since 1990 and had been used on the Willamette Shore Trolley line , in Portland , from 1990 through 1994 . In November 1998 , Astoria mayor Willis Van Dusen signed the five @-@ year lease , which specified a rent of just $ 1 per year , and car 300 was moved to Astoria the following month . Since 1995 , it had been stored in a closed museum near Gales Creek , Oregon , known as the Trolley Park ( and formally as the Oregon Electric Railway Museum until that museum moved in 1996 ) . Although the car had been in regular use until fewer than four years earlier , it had been stored outdoors since that time and was now in need of extensive restoration work . 
