Does your town have mystery tracks running down the middle of Main St.? Do you see old photographs of streetcars operating on city streets that are today entirely dominated by (slowly moving) passenger cars? Join the club.

According to Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, virtually every American city was designed with the streetcar in mind, which is why it is hard to believe that up until two years ago, not a single streetcar was manufactured in the United States in over 50 years. But Portland, Oregon-based United Streetcar is aiming to change all that and hopes that our newfound appreciation of light rail and the Obama administration's support of mass transit will help bring a streetcar manufacturing boom back to the U.S.

Listen to more about the promise and pitfalls of a revitalized streetcar industry at Weekend Edition Saturday on NPR.

Photo: By Steve Morgan/Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons