This week, ground finally broke on a years-in-the-making project that will see a 1970s BART train evolve into a vacation rental.
Public transit in the San Francisco Bay Area hits differently. Using (and supporting and riding) City-maintained trains, buses, and trolls is as much a branch of one’s personality as it is a means of utilitarian pragmatism. In a car-centric country, riding BART or Muni is an act of defiance against the private automobile industry; it’s a functional protest that just so happens to better the planet and our lives, personally and collectively.
Nostalgia for BART’s vintage, retro-futurist trains from the 1970s have since garnered a cult-like following and magnetic adoration. It’s little wonder that when plans to convert one of the regional transit agency’s retired trains into a rentable vacation home, the announcement gained virality across the internet.
Plans are one thing; they exist in dreamscapes and numbness scrolling. Enacting those plans is an entirely different forte — one rooted in an actionable reality. At long last, those intentions finally had some literal foundation when the vintage train arrived at its home in the small, unincorporated community of Jamestown, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains.
“This is the beginning phase of an exciting multi-phase build where we’re transforming a retired BART train into an Airbnb experience — right here in Jamestown,” reads a post on Instagram cross-published by Sierra Train House and Longway Construction.
Michael Lin, the UC Berkeley architecture grad, employed the help of the latter-mentioned local construction company to see his dream come to fruition: repurpose a retired BART train into a liveable space. Ideas and intentions of the plan began swirling through shared emails back in 2018 when Lin poked BART to ask if they had any plans on a then-soon-to-be retired fleet of trains. The rapid transit agency responded … and, to Lin’s happy surprise, BART later donated the car to Lin after he showed concrete plans for preserving the train, albeit alongside additions like an upscale kitchen, full bathroom, and expansive sleeping space.
On Sunday, the “heavy lifting” began on seeing the BART train reinvasion when a crane and tuck team delivered the train to its new home (and atop of its own foundation, complete with compatible train rails) — “Huge shoutout to [at]bragg crane, Wacker Construction, and Gentis for making this milestone happen.”
Before the train arrived at Jamestown, the A-2 Train Car — “no. 1234! — traveled on a long bed truck. Drivers along the truck’s route took to Instagram and X, uploading their sightings of the vintage train en route. Lin has since posted a short reel of the moving day highlights; a scenic sequence sees the BART train backdropped by a picturesque vista of the Sierra foothills.
Once the lofty renovations are complete, visitors will have the rare opportunity to engage with the quirks of these retired trains that allude to rides, like, for example, using the old-timey train operating buttons.
“[You’ll] be able to push a button and have it say ‘the doors are closing. Please stand clear of the doors,” said Lin to KRON4, hoping his vision will bind future generations to this iconic piece of Bay Area history. Mind you, creating that tangible, analog connection won’t come for free; Lin expects the entire project to cost at least $500,000 when all is said and done. Unclear what those rental prices will look like yet.
Apparently, this exact BART train ran over the past 50 years on every line in the SF Bay Area over its lifetime. If you’ve ever ridden BART, there’s a hella good chance that you traveled on this exact train car. One day soon, there will be the option to revisit that old friend — high-end amenities and lush bedding, in tow.
