It may be years away — if ever — before streetcars again rumble through the streets of Lancaster City, but a group organized to establish a streetcar system has already made its first purchase.
This streetcar, now in Brooklyn, N.Y., was purchased at auction by the Lancaster Streetcar Company.
After rebuilding, it
could look like this one operating in Kenosha, Wis.
The non-profit Lancaster Streetcar Company has bought a 52-year-old streetcar with the intention of rebuilding it for eventual operation here.
"It's in rough shape, but it is salvageable," said Jack Howell, president of the Lancaster Alliance and board secretary of the Streetcar Company.
The streetcar, a PCC model built in 1946, is a former Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency car that has been rusting in a lot in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Howell said the Lancaster group competed against salvage dealers when they bought the streetcar for $1,500 at auction in December. Plans call for shipping it to a restoration company in Warren.
It will likely cost $300,000 to $400,000 to completely rebuild the car. The cost includes a new electronic and mechanical system, a wheelchair lift, air conditioning and body work. Once rebuilt, the streetcar should be serviceable for 20 years, he said.
"It will take a major make-over," he said.
The Lancaster Streetcar Company's plan calls for two streetcars — three at peak times — to travel a 2.6-mile loop between the Amtrak Station at the northern edge of the city and Southern Market Center and the Lancaster County Convention Center at South Queen and Vine streets.
The streetcars would be powered by a single overhead electric line and run on tracks in the street.
The streetcars would pass along the route about every 10 minutes for 14 hours a day, Howell told a group of Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry members earlier this week.
Riders, Howell believes, would be mostly city residents and downtown workers. More than 15,000 people live within a three-block radius of the proposed line, he said.
Organizers have already applied to federal and state governments for the $14.1 million needed for system construction funds. Although it has been passed over for funding once, Howell remains hopeful the project will be successful. The Streetcar Company would seek foundation grants and corporate sponsorship to operate the line.
Fares would be voluntary. Howell said the city of Dallas found when it put fares on a voluntary basis, fare box revenue increased. That payment system also did not slow the movement of the streetcars while boarding passengers fumbled for change, he said.
Like the streetcars that operated in Lancaster until the late-1940s, the proposed electric streetcar system would operate on rails embedded in the street. Unlike the old system, which was in place before automobiles were common, the rails will be on one side of the street. That would allow automobiles to pass in the other lane.
Modern streetcars would also be able to accelerate and keep up with traffic, he said.
The PCC streetcars, named for the Electric Railway Presidents' Conference Committee, an industry leaders group that designed them in 1929, were never in service in Lancaster, said Howell. The sleek, art-deco-styled streetcars were a replacement to the spartan Birney streetcars that operated in Lancaster after 1915.
Several cities have begun or revived streetcar systems. Some are using Birney cars, but those are high-maintenance and are used primarily as a tourist attraction, Howell said. Others have invested in new, European-built streetcars. Those cost about $2.5 million each.
"We're pretty serious. We've done our homework and we know that the PCC is the way to go," he said.
Even if the Lancaster Streetcar system never becomes a reality, Howell believes getting the streetcar was a good investment for his organization.
Other cities are buying them, he said, adding, "They aren't making any more of them."
Staff writer Bernard Harris can be reached at bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022.
