October 29, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher

Come Out of the Rain!

October 29, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher Muni News, Posts with Photos

The long-awaited shed at Geneva Division is covering its first streetcars tonight. Vulnerable canvas-roofed streetcars including 1914 Muni No. 130 and 1926 Johnstown, PA No. 351 (left) were joined by venerable 1916 work car No. C-1 in taking shelter under the new canopy structure, after the 600 volt overhead wires were activated today. Regular F-line revenue streetcars, including PCCs, Milan trams, and older vintage cars, are pulling into the shed tonight.Market Street Railway is working with Muni to schedule a formal dedication of the facility, which our organization has advocated for more than a dozen years, helping Muni arrange funding from the San Francisco Municipal Railway Improvement Corporation (SFMRIC), among other sources.What a warm sight on a rainy night! Congratulations to all at Muni who have supported this effort.

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October 28, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher

The Giants-Cleveland-F line Connection

October 28, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher News, Posts with Photos

Our friends at Curbed SF posted this photo as part of their Giants’ coverage. No doubt because of the orange and cream livery. Doubt they know that F-line PCC No. 1075 actually pays tribute to Cleveland Transit System! Wait, there’s actually a connection, though. Cleveland Transit System’s streetcars were painted in this livery in 1948, the last time the Indians won the World Series (one of only two teams with a longer championship drought than the Giants (the Chicago Cubs are even more hapless) . And it was in 1954 that Cleveland Transit System’s last streetcars stopped running, the same year that the Giants last won the World Series, beating — the Cleveland Indians! (But streetcars in Cleveland continued rolling on the suburban Shaker Heights line, with PCCs giving way to LRVs in 1983.)(The baseball futility scoreboard – most years since last World Series win: Giants 56; Indians 62; Cubs, 102 and counting!)And yes, Muni has a PCC honoring Chicago too. We’ll share a surprise about that one next week.GO GIANTS!

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October 23, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher

Muni Promotes F-line at SFO

October 23, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher Features, Muni News, Posts with Photos

When you’re asked to promote part of your transit service to visitors

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September 26, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher

175 Years of Rail on St. Charles Avenue

September 26, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher History Spotlight, News, Posts with Photos

It is the oldest street railway line in America, and it’s not in San Francisco. Market Street has had rail transit for 150 years now — the longest duration on a city’s main street — but today, St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans celebrates 175 years of rail transit.

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September 1, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher

F is for Fifteen: Happy Birthday, F-line!

September 1, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher History Spotlight, Posts with Photos

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August 30, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher

Pier 70 Development: Streetcars Included?

August 30, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher News, Opinion, Posts with Photos

The Monday Chronicle lays out an impressive potential future for Pier 70 on the Central Waterfront. What the article describes (accurately) as “the most intact 19th century industrial complex west of the Mississippi River” is being pitched by the city as a new and very attractive home for high-tech businesses. Mayor Newsom calls the 69-acre bayside site “an extraordinary asset that is vastly underappreciated.”We think so too. That’s why we have consistently advocated Pier 70 as the ultimate terminal for the future E-Embarcadero line (with Muni agreeing to at least keep the option open by including it on vintage streetcar roll signs).

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August 26, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

August 26, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher Muni News, Posts with Photos

The protective shed for vintage streetcars is almost done at Geneva Division. Today, the first streetcar, No. 1010, ventured inside to serve as a locator for the “track skates,” permanent wheel blocks to be welded to the tracks to keep a car from running into the wall. The “torpedoes” like No. 1010 have the longest overhang in the vintage fleet, so they’re the model.

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August 22, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher

Back to Milan’s Past for the Future

August 22, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher Fleet Updates, Posts with Photos

When the first “Peter Witt” designed trams appeared in Milan, Italy, in 1928, they were painted a most attractive golden yellow with black and white trim. Within a couple of years, they were all repainted two-tone green and stayed that way until the 1970s, when the “Ventottos” (“28’s,” for the year they first appeared) became solid orange. All ten of the trams Muni bought from Milan arrived in solid orange in the late 1990s (as did No. 1834, which came for the Trolley Festivals in the 1980s).

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August 12, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher

Meet Me in St. Louis…

August 12, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher News, Posts with Photos

St. Louis streetcar no. 1704 at St. Francis Circle in 1983

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August 10, 2010August 9, 2014 Kevin Sheridan

“Parting Thoughts:” The Final Act at the Transbay Terminal

August 10, 2010August 9, 2014 Kevin Sheridan Posts with Photos

12:15 a.m., Saturday, August 7th, AC Transit 4088 running on the Route O bound for Alameda left the Transbay Transit Terminal for the final time. This concluded 71 years of continuous operation of the terminal. 4088 rolled off the ramp where the likes of Key System Bridge Units, IER “Blimps”, and Sacramento Northern Interurbans once plied. One Frank Zepeda said, “Savor the Moment,” as our small group of transit fans walked out the door onto the Mission Street loop and said good bye.

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