Inspired largely by New Orleans’ surviving St. Charles line with its 1920s--era classics, streetcars are gradually making a comeback in American cities.

The Seattle Waterfront service in 1982 was the first, and streetcars of that era are now in year--round daily service there and in San Francisco, Memphis and Dallas. Replicas are running on new or restored lines in New Orleans, Tampa, Little Rock and Charlotte.

PCCs now approaching their 60s are also reappearing, and in Boston, they never left.

The old styles do attract tourists, but for most operations locals are the principal users.

But even obvious successes can be on shaky ground, as is now happening in Seattle. City Councilman George Benson was a very early streetcar advocate. With help from others he created the Waterfront Streetcar using five 1920s W2 cars from Melbourne, Australia. Opening in 1982, this was Seattle’s first streetcar service in 41 years.

Boardings of more than 400,000 a year are far higher than the bus service they replaced. The initial success along the waterfront led to an extension to a point near a station on the downtown bus tunnel. Owing to its attraction for tourists, 2004 daily boardings hit a high of 4,266 on August 21, but there are substantial numbers of year--round regulars. In 2002 it was renamed the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar. Mr. Benson passed away in 2004, and since early this year there has been a serious threat that his streetcar might not long outlive him.

The line’s attractiveness and usefulness apparently were not fully recognized by some in authority. The small streetcar barn at the north end of the three--mile line uses 2.5 city acres. The Seattle Art Museum is planning to build an outdoor sculpture gallery on 8.5 acres, including those now used by the streetcar. The museum had assumed that the barn would be torn down to provide an unobstructed view of Elliott Bay. There was no readily available alternate site.

Initially there seemed little concern on the part of officials that the loss of the barn meant the shutdown of the service. The announced solution was to substitute buses and store the streetcars for possible re--use sometime in the future.

That the loss of the streetcar could reduce the number of visitors to the museum or to a substantial number of other local attractions and businesses along its length seems not to have been addressed thus far. However, to attract riders, the buses might have a distinctive paint job, or rubber--tired “trolleys” might be used. There is to be major reconstruction of an auto viaduct in the area, and this was said to require a lengthy shutdown as well.

Not surprisingly, streetcar advocates went into orbit. Initially service was to have ceased early this year. Now the cars may run as late as November, and city, transit authority and museum officials have each made it clear that an end of service would be someone else’s fault, though all seek a solution.

Things seemed at an impasse until late March when Port Authority of Seattle Commissioner Paige Miller stepped in. She has offered -— and the Port Authority Board has approved -— paying for track and two new stations for a 1.2--mile extension beyond the present barn to a site on Port property. The extension would provide a new source of public transit for some 7,000 Port employees. Costs appearing in print vary, but apparently the Port’s contribution would be worth in the ballpark of $10 million for the extension, stations and barn site. About $9.4 million would still need to be raised by the county and city to pay for the barn and a substation.

Still, there are political implications. Commissioner Miller is a candidate for a seat on the city council in an upcoming election. Competing candidates favor saving the streetcar, but only Commissioner Miller has come up with a solution.

The next few months will tell whether the streetcar - and its sponsor — will meet with success.