A lengthy stretch of WWII-era streetcars extends into the woods in Somerset County, Western Pennsylvania.
It’s one of the strangest places in the state, and it looks like something out of an apocalyptic horror film. This cemetery has about 45 trolleys/streetcars, largely from the 1930s and 1940s, that ran in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Johnstown, and Boston. The cars were flatbed trucked from Boston to this railcar repair business in Windber, a tiny coal mining town in the Pennsylvania highlands.
These are PCC Streetcars from the years 1936 to 1952. PCC stood for the Presidents’ Conference Committee, which was involved in the design of these vehicles. The PCC streetcar design was initially manufactured in the United States in the 1930s and was regarded as a model in the industry at the time for its performance and appearance.
It has proven to be a long-lasting symbol of streetcar design, with PCC cars continuing to use in numerous locations across the world. St. Louis Car Company and Pullman Standard constructed around 5000 of them before discontinuing manufacturing.
Vandalism has taken its toll on them, and scrap metal thieves have stolen auto components. The ‘wrecks’ were gathered by Ed Metka, a retired civil engineer with a love of streetcars who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and once repaired them. He bought a large number of these streetcars in the 1980s when rail companies were auctioning off their out-of-service PCC fleet.
He received them from other private entities as well. However, Metka allowed them to deteriorate over time, and many of them are now beyond repair. The trees that have grown in and around the rusted track attest to how long these ancient, rusted, and abandoned trolley hulls have been lying here.
Metka has yet to find a buyer for the old trolley vehicles, who will be restored or used as parts in the restoration of other vintage streetcars.