Pictures 82 through 84.

Car 957 had its own odyssey after its retirement in 1964.  Though records are scanty, it appears that it went initially to the Trinity Valley Railroad Club in Weatherford, Texas, west of Fort Worth.  But that group was unable to continue to house the car, and sold it to the Spaghetti Warehouse Company for use in their spaghetti restaurant chain.  However, it was discovered that the car was too tall to fit into the intended building, and the plan was abandoned.  The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority in Dallas entered the picture, and traded the Spaghetti Warehouse two Dallas streetcars for the 957.  MATA workers then rushed to the scrapyard where the trucks and operating equipment were standing on a flatbed trailer waiting to be unloaded and dismantled.  Fortunately, the truck had gotten stuck in mud, and the equipment had not been unloaded.  MATA was just in time to save it.  When New Orleans RTA asked to buy the car back, MATA agreed, and used the proceeds to buy another streetcar and spare parts for its fleet.

Brought back to New Orleans in March 1986, car 957 was placed in storage.  In 1997, the decrepit car was brought out of storage and trucked to Carrollton Station, as seen in these pictures.  The second picture shows it passing the Riverbend corner of St. Charles and S. Carrollton Aves., where it had once operated along the rails.  Now, it is crossing them!  The third picture shows its arrival at Carrollton Station, after it had been unloaded and placed on the tracks. — Photos by Earl Hampton

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