One of my earliest (and fondest) memories is of the several summer vacations , taken with some neighbors, when I was very young. We were very close friends with these neighbors, and they invited s to spend a week with them, in a small lakeshore cottage, in the little town of Goff’s Falls New Hampshire.
I don’t remember a lot about this, except that he cottage we stayed in was unusual-it was in fact an old streetcar. I thought it was cool-someone had moved it onto a concrete block foundation, and partitioned off the interior-added a kitchen and bathroom. It still had the front headlight-it looked cool!
Now, would any rural community allow something like this today?
I think so. There’s not likely to be anything that violates code. I’ve seen beach houses that are nothing but huts, and ratty trailers get approved as domiciles. I’ve considered rehabbing an old diner to use as an addition on my house and didn’t find any specific reason it wouldn’t be acceptable under local codes which are typical for suburban areas.
Not a street car, but in Northern Minnesota there is a rail car hotel.
Rural places don’t really give a shit if you have a temporary moveable building so long as they can tax you on it. Will you burn to death in it? NO. OK $200.
This side of the pond has plenty of houses made from railway carriages
I particularly like the thatched one!
Walnut Creek has a restaurant named Vic Stewart’s that incorporates a bunch of train cars.
San Francisco once had a neighborhood of a hundred or so houses made from streetcars, butthere’s only one left.
It used to be pretty common around here for someone to buy a small hobby-farm and put an old train car on it until they could build something more permanent.
There is a small farm I used to drive past a few times a year that had two of them placed in an ‘L’ shape to form a larger dwelling.
According to Google Maps they’re still there (-35.966384,149.162241)
Semi-related, here are some homes that integrate aeroplanes.
There is no town of Goff’s Falls, it’s a neighborhood of Manchester. Guessing it was one of the streetcars that ran to Pine Island Park? Cool.
In Victoria (Australia) there are many old trams and train carriages that have been developed into houses (and/or grannyflats).
In Rochester NY there’s a rail car that has been converted to a diner.
And in Falmouth, MA there’s a restaurant that has one seating section made from a caboose.
Thank you! Do you know the name of the little lake? Also, there was a mountain overlooking the lake-it had a dance hall type place at the top-is it still there?
Sure, that’s Pine Island Pond. It’s not very hilly there and all wooded. I suspect the dance hall is long gone.
This question pops up from time to time on train enthusiast’s message
boards. The answer is that yes, it can be done but can be difficult and expensive.
Dealing with the building permits can be problem with since this is isn’t an
regular sort of building. Transporting the car to your property can
be an issue also. Unless the car is in good shape (wheels in good condition,
the brakes work, etc.) the railroads will refuse to haul the car over
their tracks. Hauling the car from the tracks to your property requires a large,
heavy truck, plus permits to carry a large load over city streets and
of course more money.
It’s a neat idea though. If I had more time and money I wouldn’t mind
having a house like that.