It's 9 a.m. Monday morning and about a dozen residents are busy at work in a storage unit in northeast Aurora restoring a big piece of the city's history.

Armed with several cans of paint, a tool box, and of course, coffee and doughnuts, the volunteers laugh briskly and share conversation with one another as they work to make Trolley Trailer #610 look like new again. They've met here every Monday morning for more than two years to restore the old trolley, which is being housed in a space near Beck Recreation Center, 800 Telluride St.

 "I just enjoy working on old things and figuring out how to make old parts look like new parts," said Morey Miller, a volunteer who's lived in Aurora since 1966. "How often do you get a chance to work on something that's part of the history of the community?"

 Trolley Trailer #610 served an important role in local transportation when it ran down East Colfax Avenue from 1913 to 1932, said Jennifer Kuehner, co-director of the Aurora History Museum. The trolley ran from Galena Street in Aurora to Broadway in Denver, she said.

 "It was the light rail of its day," Kuehner said.

By the early '50s, however, trolleys had become so obsolete they were sold to the public for only $50 apiece. Aurora resident Edwin Perrott bought a few of the trolleys, including #610, which he moved to his farm near East Colfax Avenue and what is now Airport Road.

A home was actually built around the trolley before it was "discovered" in May 2006 by a local police officer. Though Mother Nature had clearly taken its course on the trolley, especially on the exterior and front end, a group of volunteers with the Aurora Museum Foundation quickly formed and launched an effort to restore it to its original glory.

 "It's such an important part of Aurora history," said volunteer Ruth Fountain. "It's been a challenge, but it's also a labor of love."

 One of the major tasks, she said, has been removing the old varnish from the trolley's wood panels, a process that required endless sandblasting and several coats of paint thinner. Volunteers also fastidiously cleaned hundreds of the trolley's signature brass screws to make it look as historically accurate as possible.

 The trolley's roof has already been completely replaced, along with many of the windows. Volunteers are currently building replicas of the wooden benches once used for seating, in addition to adding new wheels to the bottom.

Once the restoration effort is completely finished, the group hopes to find a new home for the trolley at the Aurora History Museum, 15051 E. Alameda Parkway. The museum foundation currently is raising money to fund an estimated $500,000 expansion of the museum that would provide space for the 18,300-pound trolley.