Muni’s first streetcar storage and maintenance facility was the Geary Car House, at Geary Blvd. and Presidio Avenue. It opened with Muni’s first lines (the A and B) in 1912 and stopped being a streetcar facility after the Geary lines converted to buses at the end of 1956. Muni built its Presidio Division bus facility behind this carbarn at the end of the 1940s. Its offices sat above the streetcar storage tracks until the early 21st century.
We saw this shot on eBay but were not successful in getting the original. Still, it’s worth sharing because of the “friends” we found in the photo.
That’s double-end PCC No. 1006 on the left in the closeup, with a blank route sign and “Car House” as its destination. Chances are it had come in from the N-Judah, where the double-enders often ran in their early years. Next to it is Car No. 15, signed for the F-Stockton line, and then, lo and behold, Car No. 1, signed for the C-Geary-California line, which it often served in its waning days. Its destination sign, though, shows “Plymouth,” the end of the M-Ocean View line. That could easily have been a “barn rat,” a young railfan of the day, playing around. The ad on the end of one of the streetcars suggests the date is 1951. It’s certainly not later than that because the F-Stockton became the 30-Stockton bus at the end of 1951, and it’s not earlier than 1948 because that’s when No. 1006 joined the fleet.
We were delighted to see this photo, featuring two streetcar friends that are still with us, thanks to Muni’s commitment to preservation (with support from Market Street Railway).
Muni 1, before it became famous.