This car’s exterior commemorates Birmingham, Alabama, which operated PCC streetcars from 1947 to 1953.

When streetcars were a new technology, around the turn of the 20th Century, it was common for systems to be owned by the local electric utility. So it was in Birmingham, one of only two southern cities (with Dallas) to operate the streamlined PCC car. When World War II ended, Birmingham Electric Company’s streetcar fleet was made up of 27 different types of streetcars, some dating back to 1901.

The company ordered 48 new PCCs to be used on the heavy lines that served steel mills, with buses slated to take over other streetcar routes. The new PCCs began service in 1947, but lasted only six years, when a new owner sold the PCCs to Toronto and ran buses on the lines instead.