Old Yeller #14161

The Story

Stablemates in an old trolley graveyard, a PCC trolley from Pittsburgh’s PAT Transit sits next to green Boston T line streetcars. Made in the shade, they’ve come a long way to this final resting place to sit in apocalyptic decay here under the leafy green canopy.

There are around thirty old trolleys in the woods here, once destined for an operating museum their owner wasn’t able to get off the ground. Today, these machines give up parts to others that still run, usually in operating museums such as the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. There are also a few of these PCC cars sitting on static display around the country with one at the South Hills Station on the Pittsburgh trolley system itself. The city still has public rail transportation in a more modern form.

These streetcars date roughly from the fifties and have fully ripened to the height of dereliction. As you can see, things are very rough around the edges here after decades of sitting in the rain and snow. Only time and neglect can give such a perfect zombie ambiance.

#1771 is still surprisingly mostly lemon yellow, but its mechanical petticoats are now pure rust. Her edges are tattering and hanging as the paint lifts in handfuls. Windshield wiper arms are still up and ready at attention but there’s no glass underneath or anywhere else in the car, probably due to rocks that fly. Worse yet, the floor has given way and the entire old trolley has fallen down over its wheeled trucks onto the ground.

Yes, it certainly looks like the last streetcar stop has been reached.

For kicks, I’ve had this fairly funky image out for display hanging in the booth at art shows. Surprisingly, an older guy came in and said he had ridden this very same #1771 PAT Transit trolley to school growing up in Pittsburgh! Goes to show that you just never know. Did he buy it? Nope!

For another view of this trolley apocalypse out in the woods and more info, have a look a special panorama image made there called Green Means Go #14200. The place has its own gallery on this website too.

Location: near Windber, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks