The backyard railroad

It has been decades since a train car could be seen on tracks parallel to the Spokane River, but thanks to the tireless efforts of two longtime North Idaho residents, history has made a comeback.

Those boating along the river near Blackwell Island, using the Centennial Trail near Northwest Boulevard, or driving north across the U.S. 95 bridge, have the opportunity to see the newly placed train car now positioned on long-defunct railroad tracks in Karen and Mike Hansen’s backyard.

Karen said they purchased the property 12 years ago for two main reasons.

“It was right next to the liquor store and it had railroad tracks,” she said.

It is believed the tracks are remnants of the old Coeur d’Alene & Spokane Railroad Company, according to North Idaho Museum historian, Jordan Thomas. The train company installed an electric line that stretched from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene.

The building itself was constructed in 1972 and has housed numerous commercial tenants over the years, said Mike Hansen.

With the goal of placing a train car on their own personal rail line since they bought the property, Karen spent years scouring the country with little success.

“A lot of them are on the East Coast,” she said. “You can get a train car for a fairly reasonable price, but having it transported is what's really costly.”

It wasn’t until mid-2021 that Karen finally found a car that checked all the boxes. This specific train car was found in Newport, Wash., and was originally used to transport cattle, but had been converted to an excursion car for the local Lions Club. Painted Lions Club blue and yellow, Mike found it ironic that, to those unfamiliar with its origins, it would appear the car had been painted to show solidarity with Ukraine, which he said he is perfectly fine with.

With a car finally in hand, so-to-speak, the Hansens then had to deal with the logistics of transporting the newly purchased item to their backyard tracks.

“Just because you bought it, doesn’t mean you can move it,” Mike said with a grin.

Responsible for hauling the behemoth from Newport to Coeur d’Alene was the Montana-based Kalispell Movers, a group already acquainted with big projects in the local area and with Karen Hansen.

“My daughter and I are real estate agents,” Karen said. "So we were the agents for a man who bought a yellow house on Second Street (in Coeur d’Alene) and he bought it on one property, then he moved it a few doors down, so we had to hire a house mover to pick it up and move it.”

Once the mover had been locked down, next came the arduous task of transporting the car down an unfinished road that wasn’t owned by the Hansens and had a city sewer line being built underneath it.

Once the red tape had been cut through, there was then the simple, yet incredibly important, concern that the more than 100-year-old tracks would not be able to hold the train car’s weight.

This turned out to be a non-issue.

Believed to have been constructed between the late 1930s and early 1950s, the all-iron-and-wood car was delivered to the Hansens’ tracks on May 20 to much fanfare. Friends and family of Karen and Mike showed up to celebrate the momentous occasion and witness the impressive feat of engineering as the car was assembled, then lifted by a large crane onto the 100 feet of cleared tracks.

With the wheels finally on the rails, Karen was overjoyed and relieved to see her longtime dream finally become a reality.

“I’m a Karen, so I like to win,” she said.

For now, the plan is to have the car simply be, so passersby can admire the history the Hansens hope to share.

“I don't like to be a pessimist, but there’s been so many things here that could conceivably go wrong, but fortunately, she is really good at this and it has all come together,” Mike said. “We don’t know what we are going to do with it at all. Once it’s here, it’s the beginning.”