Bob Kindred has a dilemma. He's worried that Boise could lose a piece of history, and he can't afford to save it.

Kindred is the owner of what for many years was the Trolley Bar, at Rose Hill and Roosevelt. The vintage railroad car converted to a neighborhood tavern was damaged by a fire in 2006.

Last month, Kindred received a notice from the city saying it had received a complaint about the charred rail car's appearance and that he had 30 days to restore or remove it.

"I can't afford to do that," he said. "If I can't work something out with the city, my solution would be to tear it down and get rid of it."

That would be a shame.

Granted, the old rail car isn't much to look at these days. But it's part of our history, and railroad history as well. It was built in 1883, seven years before Idaho became a state. How many things in all of Boise are that old? It's one of a miniscule number of wooden rail cars still largely intact - and it was a Bench neighborhood institution for more than 70 years.

Shouldn't all that count for something? Or does the city place so little value on history that it forces its keepers to "tear it down and get rid of it?"

"To me, it doesn't look that bad," Kindred said. "It looks like a piece of history. If it was an 1883 pioneer cabin, the city would do everything it could to save it."

Car 182 was built as an executive rail car for the Oregon Washington Railway & Navigation Co., later part of Union Pacific, in April, 1883. Kindred has a photo of it being used as a caboose, with top-hatted passengers waiting to board at a frontierish-looking depot in Hermiston, Ore.

It was rebuilt in 1911 and retired in 1933.

Frank Rowe, a retired railroad worker, brought it to Boise in about 1934, set it up next to his grocery store and turned it into a neighborhood tavern. He named it the Silver Car, then renamed it the Tunerville Trolley after a cartoon he liked. That was later shortened to just the Trolley, the name we know today even though it was never a trolley car.

Through all its names, owners and reincarnations, Car 182 remained true to Rowe's vision of a neighborhood tavern. Its customers knew one another because most of them really were from the neighborhood. They knew each others' kids. They played horseshoes and cribbage together, hosted potlucks and barbecues together. The Trolley was as much an extended family as it was a bar.

It also claimed to have the coldest beer in town.

In other words, it was a unique combination of railroad history and Boise history - all of which could be lost unless a way is found to save it.

That won't be cheap. Estimates of the cost to restore it vary from $10,000 to make it presentable to many times that for a complete restoration.

"It depends on how historically accurate you want it to be," Depot-Bench Neighborhood Association President John Gannon said. "A complete restoration to the way it was in 1883 would be very expensive, and there aren't unlimited funds. But there are less expensive options, and when you have something that's 126 years old it would be sad not to do something with it."

Justinian Morton, a historical restorer, says the old rail car looks worse than it actually is.

"It had 18 to 20 coats of oil paint over varnish," he said. "The fire flashed on that, but the wood underneath didn't get charred much. The car had airflow under it, so it never rotted underneath. For a rail car of its time, it's amazingly intact."

Morton says he could stabilize the car, clean it up and put windows in it for $10,000, less if volunteers helped. Boise railroad buff Phil Ulmen added that recruiting volunteers wouldn't be a problem.

If Kindred doesn't meet the city's deadline for moving or restoring the car this week - which is about as likely to happen as Casey Jones rising from the dead - he could take his case to the City Council. The council isn't likely to fund an expensive restoration in these hard times, but it might be willing to consider some options.

Gannon thinks a cleaned-up Car 182 would make a nice centerpiece for the new Morris Hill Park, only a block away. It also could be a historical and educational coup for our depot - and would cost less to get there than Big Mike did. A lot less.

"If it's not a safety issue, I think we should give it more time," Depot Vision Committee member John Bertram said. "It would really be a shame to lose it. Maybe we need to give it a couple of years and explore lots of options.

" We've got Motive Power here. Maybe all we need to do is get the word out that we've got a historical old rail car. Who knows? Maybe people would step up."

Tim Woodward: 377-6409