I talked about the 1910s-looking streetcar and how this is actually the more modern, standardized design. I liked the idea that back in the early days of rebuilding society and doing things differently, the first generation of streetcars here were genuinely a community project, that the city/public transit folks settled on some specifications and devoted their limited budget and manufacturing to producing standardized bases, (basically the bottom frame, wheels, motors, controls, and pantograph rig) and that volunteers built the carriages out of whatever they had access to. Each streetcar would be a unique, craft-built contraption, sort of ‘public transit by way of Weekend Wasteland.’ All kinds of crazy streetcars made from campers, boats, old school buses, whatever people had access to. City safety inspectors and a committee of local people with an emphasis on the disabled, would review each one and specify any necessary changes. This got them a fleet of ready streetcars quickly, allowing them to start providing services and prove the concept while more slowly manufacturing standardized ones to replace the most problematic of the home-built machines.
I also mentioned the slow standardization would be somewhat contentious within a community that took pride in building it’s own infrastructure, and in the art-like variety. They might chafe at standardization and formalization, like it’s a sign that society is stratifying again. Though the convenience of a more reliable transit network might help balance it out. As a nod to the artistic spirit and history of the fleet, the new vehicles are painted uniquely by members of the community.
A parade or other shot of a bunch of the old craft built streetcars is on my list to do some day.