TCRT #322, a restored PCC car in Minneapolis

Title:
TCRT #322, a restored PCC car in Minneapolis

Description:
The PCC car was commissioned in the 1930s by the Electric Railway Presidents Conference Committee, which understood that the old, boxy trolley cars were increasingly seen as noisy, uncomfortable and outdated; and that automobiles were becoming serious competition to public transit. The ERPCC hired engineers and designers from outside the railway industry, among them automotive engineers. The new streetcar that was thus created had a 1930s-style streamlined, all-steel body and many technological improvements which made for a very smooth and quiet ride. These cars were built by several manufacturers from 1936 into 1951, and they operated in cities from coast to coast. They were durable, and well-received by commuters. While the Second World War, with its shortages and rationing, gave public transit a much needed boost, the end of the war brought big changes. The prosperity of the 1950s, the popularity of automobiles, the rush to build more highways, and some shady backroom deals all helped to put an end to streetcars in most American cities. From the end of the war to the early 1960s, streetcar systems were scrapped in all but a dozen or so cities. Those very few that kept streetcars relied mainly on PCC cars to keep going. Streetcar lines continued to decline into the 1970s, albeit more slowly because there weren't many left anyway. The dwindling number of remaining PCC cars were bought, sold and traded among the few cities that still needed them. By the late 1970s, the remaining ones had outlived their intended lifespan, but some still kept running. In the 1980s, light rail transit began to appear. New light rail systems were built in some towns, and new light rail vehicles began to replace the aging PCCs on the older transit systems. This PCC car, #322, was built in 1946 by the St. Louis Car Company of Missouri. It was one of 140 built in three years for Twin City Rapid Transit of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In 1953, just before TCRT ended streetcar operations, the car was one of 30 sold to the operators of the City Subway in Newark, New Jersey. (The other PCCs in that Newark batch kept running until 2001!) In 1978 it was one of 4 sold to the operators of the Rapid Transit Lines in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In 1986 it was retired and brought back to Minnesota. In 2000, after a long and painstaking restoration by the Minnesota Transportation Museum (now the MN Streetcar Museum), it was returned to service (in its original TCRT colors) on the museum's restored portion of the old Como Harriet line in southwest Minneapolis. In this video it approaches 42nd Street at Queen Avenue during the summer of 2006.

Author:
cleostreet

Tags:
PCC, streetcar, trolley, light, rail, LRT, Minneapolis, Minnesota,