RED LODGE — Lindsay and Trent Statton moved to Red Lodge in January and brought a dream to life - starting a trolley business in Red Lodge.
"This is just a little bit of our adventure, our next season," Lindsay Statton said Saturday.
Watch Lindsay Statton talk about Red Lodge Trolley:
The couple's vision was to turn back the clock and offer historical tours of the town.
"We thought, what a cute town to have a trolley in and do historical tours," Statton said.
The inspiration came from close to home — Lindsay's best friend's parents.
"We lived in a small town together and her parents actually started a trolley in Cody, Wyoming," Statton said.
But finding a trolley proved to be a challenge.
"It is not easy to find a trolley. We were able to get it from Wisconsin," Statton said.
Once the trolley — named Clementine — rolled into town, the hard work began.
"It came in three weeks ago, we've just been working on it nonstop and yeah, paint and mechanics and signage and wood has a lot of wood on it," Statton said.
Now, Clementine is ready to roll, taking passengers on a journey through Red Lodge's past.
"We've had a lot of fun hearing the stories from history all the way from the 1800s clear back to more recent 60s, 70s, 80s," Statton said.
Passenger Kelli Rabach soaked up the ride.
"All the people that have come through here that I've heard about in history books and on history channels," Rabach said.
She was also thinking about the next visit.
"I would love to bring my kids back again, and I would recommend other people to bring their families as well," Rabach said.
Visitors came from near and far, including Drew Flaagan from North Dakota.
"We spend a lot of time down here. Didn't know a lot of the history, got to see some stuff that we hadn't seen before, so it was cool," Flaagan said.
For Flaagan, the convenience was just as appealing.
"Just coming down here and trying to look online for things to see was a little inconvenient. Just hopping on a quick trolley and taking a tour, you get to see some of the parks and stuff like that," Flaagan said.
For the Stattons, connecting locals and visitors to the charm and history of Red Lodge is exactly the mission.
"To help people coming into Red Lodge from other places that are tourists to get to know our history and to highlight the beautiful parts of our history," Statton said.
The Red Lodge Trolley is open now through Labor Day and will run Tuesday through Sunday.
