What could be the first car of a future Lancaster streetcar line was coming to the county today.
This former SEPTA streetcar was purchased by the
Lancaster Streetcar Company last week.
A former Philadelphia streetcar was loaded onto a flatbed trailer to be trucked here.
The streetcar is one of three purchased from the Baltimore Streetcar Museum last week by the fledgling Lancaster Streetcar Co.
The local group hopes to establish a 2.6-mile streetcar loop between the Amtrak station at the northern edge of the city and Southern Market Center at South Queen and Vine streets and the Lancaster County Convention Center.
Two refurbished streetcars — three at peak times — would travel the loop every 10 minutes.
The former SEPTA car was headed for the Gerhart Machinery Co. near Brunnerville this morning. The car will be getting a "cosmetic restoration" — or a coat of paint — before streetcar supporters plan to put it on display in the city in coming months.
Jack Howell, president of the Lancaster Alliance city redevelopment organization and a Streetcar Company board member, said the repainted car will serve as a "three-dimensional brochure."
Many people have not ridden streetcars, he said. Displaying the car will provide an opportunity to discuss plans for the line, which he would like to have operating in three years.
Eventually, Lancaster Streetcar Co. plans to send the 1940s-era PCC streetcar to Warren, Warren County, where it can be restored. A complete rebuilding will likely cost between $350,000 and $400,000, Howell 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.
"Our goal is to have something that looks like a PCC but uses new electronics and technology," he said.
An example of that technology is regenerative braking, Howell said. In a process similar to a hybrid automobile, when an electric streetcar brakes, power is returned to the line that can be used by the other car on the line, he said.
The three cars, purchased for $30,000, follow an uncompleted first purchase of a streetcar by the Lancaster group in an auction in December. That car was located on a disputed lot in Brooklyn, N.Y. That car was cut up for salvage after a New York judge gave the former owner an opportunity to remove the car, Howell said.
"An unfortunate situation of egos," Howell said of the dispute between the former owner of the streetcar and the property owner. "It's just sad to see one chopped up."
The three streetcars from the Baltimore museum are in better shape, having been kept under cover.
The first one has already been shipped to the restoration facility in Warren. It is being stored there while the money is raised for the work. The third car is now blocked in at the Baltimore yard. It will likely be freed and trucked to Warren by the end of the year.
Local organizers already have applied to federal and state governments for the $14.1 million they believe will be needed for system construction. 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.
Howell said getting the line operating may take longer than the two or three years he is shooting for.
"If it takes five years to do it right or two to do it wrong, we'll take five," he said.
Staff writer Bernard Harris can be reached at bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022.
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