The line ran along the former Norfolk Southern right of way between Tremont Avenue in the Historic South End in a northerly direction to its terminus at 9th Street Uptown.

[2] The return of the trolley came on August 30, 1996, running in the evenings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons for an initial six-month trial period.

The trial period occurred on a 1.8-mile rail line between the Atherton Mill trolley barn and Stonewall Street.

At that time, CATS purchased three replica trolleys similar to number 85, an original Charlotte car dating from the 1920s.

Service was temporarily halted on February 5, 2006, when construction began to convert the route into a light rail line.

[7] Service resumed on April 20, 2008, with the vintage trolley cars running on the same tracks as the LYNX light rail vehicles.

Following the system closure, Charlotte would rely solely on bus transit to serve its citizens until the opening of the Blue Line in 2007.

[15] Around late 1951, it was purchased for $125-150 by Daisy Mae Trapp Moore, a Huntersville resident, who moved it into her backyard and converted it into a mobile home to house relatives.

Its last occupant, construction worker Clay Thompson, lived in the former Car 85 from approximately 1972 to late 1987,[13][15] when the town of Huntersville condemned the makeshift residence as it lacked indoor plumbing.

[15] Original drivers' stools from the Charlotte streetcars and a period trolley bell were located and donated to the project.

Car 85 was housed in CATS' light rail maintenance facility on South Blvd until 2014,[1] when in order to make room for three replica trolleys intended for use on the CityLynx Gold Line, it was loaned to the N.C. Transportation Museum and displayed there for four years.