Muni Heritage Weekend Sept. 21-22

FINAL UPDATE: The popular Muni Heritage Weekend is coming up on Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The traction (and bus) action will again center around our San Francisco Railway Museum, across from the Ferry Building on Steuart Street.

You’ll be able to experience transit at its finest from decades past…riding through the streets of San Francisco on vintage streetcars, cable cars, and buses that your parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents rode (if they lived here). Heck, even if they lived in several other places, for that matter.

Here’s a rundown of the history on wheels (or if you like “Museums in Motion”) going to be out and about over Heritage Weekend.

Muni’s very first streetcar (Car 1, from 1912), and an even older electric streetcar (1896), called the “Dinky” because of its small size and resemblance to a cable car) will both be on hand to carry passengers from the San Francisco Railway Museum to Fisherman’s Wharf. (They’re pictured below.)

The Dinky and one of the Boat Trams will shuttle back and forth between the museum and Pier 39, to serve the most wanna-be riders, while Car 1 and a 1928 Milan tram will go to the regular F-line terminal at Jones & Beach Streets. From there, it’s just a two-block walk to Hyde & Beach Streets, where the special cable car service known as the Hyde Ride will operate on both weekend days. This weekend, the Hyde Ride will feature the last operational cable car still wearing its original O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde Street livery from 1907 (photo farther down), climbing the same scenic hill it did until 1954, then looping to Chinatown and coming straight back to Hyde and Beach without going downtown. The best views on the cable car system on a unique cable car, a ride just 25 minutes long!

This year we have TWO Blackpool Boat Trams out and about, in celebration of their 90th birthdays this year. One will be cruising the waterfront again from the museum to Pier 39. The other will run from our museum to Castro up Market on the F-line. Take a break in the Castro and enjoy the great shops and restaurants and street life.

Other historic cars may follow the F-line from our museum to the Castro, depending on crew availability and rider demand, including a 1952 European PCC tram honoring Brussels. When not running to Castro, it’ll operate the shuttle to Fisherman’s Wharf as well. The rides on all the streetcars running the Embarcadero shuttle between the museum and the Wharf will be FREE all weekend. Additionally, the colorful vintage PCC streetcars of the F-line will be in regular service between Castro Street and Fisherman’s Wharf, stopping right in front of our museum.

You can ride, for FREE, vintage buses as old as a 86-year old model that Muni management of the day had delivered in orange and black, 20 years before the Giants even came to town! And for fans of the ’60s, both a Diesel bus and a trolley bus in that iconic Wings livery. Fans of later buses, you’ll have some great choices too! The electric trolley buses will follow the route of the old 41-line from our museum to Washington Square (the heart of North Beach) via the Financial District and Columbus Avenue. The motor coaches will take you directly to the Caltrain Depot at Fourth and Townsend Street, where Caltrain will be celebrating its first day of full electric commuter rail service to San Jose. Take a vintage bus to the most advanced electric commuter train in America. Not bad!

Last but hardly least, Sacramento-Clay Cable Car “Big 19”, the world’s largest and also the world’s oldest operating cable car, dating to 1883 (when it first ran on Market Street!) will be running on the California Street cable line all day, just a block from the museum, at the regular cable car fare. (It’s shown above next to O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde Car 42, which will be on the Hyde Ride all weekend.) Big 19 will be joined on California Street by the recently unveiled tribute cable car to Tony Bennett, Car 53. (Again, the bus rides and special waterfront vintage streetcar rides are free that weekend.)

On Saturday at 12 Noon, Muni leaders will gather at the museum to dedicate PCC streetcar 1059, which honors Boston, to the memory of “Mr. Boston”, the late Mike Delia, an F-line motorman who was a greatly loved ambassador for the F-line and for Muni. It will be a touching ceremony, open to all.

Beyond all this, our nonprofit will have some special merchandise on sale and interesting history displays at our museum (77 Steuart Street), and we’ll host a big transit book and memorabilia sale outside the museum both days. We’ll have book signings, other vintage vehicles, and displays from other transit advocacy and preservation groups.

Additionally, visitors will be able to share their thoughts and fantasies about the paint scheme that should go on the newest Boat Tram we just acquired for Muni. (The two operating now have authentic Blackpool schemes, one green, one red.) What should the newest one wear?

It’s a super family-friendly event…for every kind of family. And if you don’t have family nearby, you’ll find a warm welcome…to the family of transit fans! See you on September 21-22 at the San Francisco Railway Museum for Muni Heritage Weekend!

Questions? E-mail info@streetcar.org.