Marty, that car is looking real fine! I have always liked PCC's. The first ones I can remember seeing were in Toronto in 1956.

With the current resurgence of light rail systems in the U.S., I don't understand why they can't just build new PCC cars again. The new generation of cars seem SO EXPENSIVE and in many cases are an overkill to what is really needed. Sure, the extra passenger capacity is needed during rush hours, but PCC's certainly could handle non-rush hour, night, and weekend assignments. One could even argue that a fleet of PCC's running on a more frequent headway during rush hours could handle the passenger numbers required.

PCC's were fast, rode well, were economical to run and maintain, rebuildable at a reasonable cost and certainly long lasting. Why do we have to re-invent this wheel! Buses haven't changed all that much since the 1950's - why do streetcars need to be so different?

I'm not ready to buy into the crash-worthy arguments. I suspect that in the day of PCC's they had their share of collisions and other accidents, but I don't recall ever reading about any serious injuries or deaths of operators and/or passengers involving PCC's.

This ought to generate some interesting comments. Please, no flaming!