A legacy BART car prepared for its next act: A vacation rental in the Sierra foothills
The legacy car is pictured on the back of a flatbed truck driving on the freeway beside a Fleet of the Future train running on the track.
There is now a BART car you can snooze in for hours without fear of missing your stop.
After a busy career shuttling millions of passengers around the Bay, this BART car has retired to the idyllic Sierra foothills, nestled among the streams where plucky prospectors once panned for gold. And soon, you’ll be able to rent it for a peaceful, transit-forward vacation.
Michael Lin is the mastermind of the Sierra Train House, a short-term rental featuring a decommissioned legacy BART car that will start taking reservations in 2026.
The project, which Lin describes as “a metaphoric train station that blends the space age, modern aesthetics of BART with a cozy cabin,” is now one big step closer to completion. In mid-March, the historic A car traveled more than one hundred miles on the back of a flatbed truck from BART’s Hayward Yard to its new home in Jamestown, an old gold mining town outside of Sonora. The BART car’s journey to Jamestown was not a short ride in both miles and time. Lin first responded to BART’s call for proposals to repurpose legacy cars back in 2021. Twenty individuals and organizations submitted proposals, and Lin was one of eight selected to receive a car.
The remaining legacy cars, which served the Bay Area for more than fifty years, were retired in 2024, then dismantled and recycled. BART is unable to keep a heritage train on property due to limited funds, storage space, and equipment needs, but is supporting the Western Railway Museum in its efforts to create a Rapid Transit History Center. The museum received its first of three legacy BART cars in August 2024.
Michael Lin smiles in front of his legacy car at Hayward Yard on transport day.
Once his proposal was accepted, Lin started searching for suitable homes for the car. Jamestown had the qualities he was looking for: access to outdoor activities, reservoirs, great hiking, and history. Old mining towns abound in these foothills. Though the gold is mostly gone, you still have a chance to strike it rich – a casino was recently constructed two miles down the road from Lin's property. Yosemite National Park is about 45 minutes by car.
The Sierra Train House property backs up to railway tracks still traversed by 19th-century steam trains that carry tourists from the depot at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. “The Movie Railroad” has appeared in more than 200 films, tv shows, and commercials, beginning with the 1919 silent serial The Red Glove. The park that houses the railroad is home to an authentic roundhouse with an operating turntable, functional blacksmithing area, and a belt-driven machine shop.
“It felt right to be near a rail town,” said Lin.
After he purchased the property, the permitting process began, followed by some significant sprucing up of the land.
Before the car could be delivered, Lin said the property needed a lot of tree work, and the driveway required repaving so a flatbed could drive down it. Next, foundation was laid for the car and the tiny home that will connect to it. Lin laid a couple of 39-foot-long train tracks purchased from a railway supply company onto the concrete, which the train car now rests upon.
The less-than-1,000-square-foot tiny home has two bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths. The BART car itself will have a fine balance of “retaining its integrity but making it more intelligible,” Lin said.
Left: A crane lowers the legacy car onto the tracks at Lin's Jamestown property. Right: The car is soldered to the tracks.
When you enter the car from the back door, a small bedroom will be to your right. The middle of the car will include a bathroom and a room with bunkbeds. Then the front third will be an open space for hanging out, complete with a coffee table arcade game. A few days before the car delivery, Lin bought a Pong-themed table from a guy on Craigslist. Incidentally, Pong came out in 1972, the same year BART opened.
The car’s cab will remain more or less intact. Lin wants to rig it so people can push the control panel buttons and hear BART sounds, like the horn and station announcements – “The doors are closing. Stand clear of the doors.”
All told, the property will accommodate eight people comfortably. Lin pictures this the sort of place you stay with a group of friends or families, which will also help keep the cost down. This is a unique rental, Lin stressed, and it will be pricier than a run-off-the-mill accommodation, though he wants to make sure it’s still accessibly priced. He’s not sure exactly how much he’ll charge for a stay.
But it will be worth the price, Lin said. H has even more plans for the property, including activities like a bocce ball court and foot bridges constructed from rail.
A financial advisor by day, Lin studied architecture as an undergrad at UC Berkeley and is a serious tinkerer, especially with Lego. Residents will see some of Lin’s Lego art inside the Sierra Train House.
The Sierra Train House is the definition of a labor of love, and Lin intends to build the property so that it lasts for a hundred years and beyond, just like the Railtown nearby. History, he said, is not something he takes lightly.
“I have a sense of responsibility to preserve this train car,” Lin said. “It’s neat to save a train.”
Keep up with the progress of the Sierra Train House on Instagram and Facebook.