When this now-classic image was snapped, car #3213 was indeed an endangered species; at this late date, scores of its brethren had already been scrapped, or, were sitting in scrap yards, awaiting their total demise. Note that, unlike the more modern "compromise"-roof cars, the deck roof cars (such as #3213) lacked a signbox (w/roller curtain) in the center of the clerestory. These cars featured a signboard that had to be switched whenever the car was assigned to another route.

These big 13-window cars were once commonplace sights on PSNJ rails; by late 1953, however, they were few in number, and living on borrowed time.

For awhile, after the ex-TCRT PCC's entered service on the City Subway, several of the older double-enders were stored in the old Cedar St. subway connector, in case of emergency. It wasn't too long, however, that even these few were removed from the subway and scrapped.

With the passing of these elderly streetcars, came the end of the era of conventional trolleys in the state of New Jersey.