Months of hard work by Market Street Railway and our allies has borne fruit. On March 2, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the F-line streetcars would return to service over the full length of their route, from Castro to Fisherman’s Wharf, in May. The Mayor also announced the resumption of cable car service on the Powell-Hyde line later this year, but definitely, she said, in time for the fall holiday season.
SFMSR
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Restart, then restop?
The resumption of F-line and Powell-Hyde service (story here) is great news for San Francisco’s economy, and hundreds of businesses along the lines. But much of this gain could be lost again for an extended period without concerted effort. Here’s a look at the threats to full vintage streetcar and cable car service in the coming years, and what we at Market Street Railway are trying to do to minimize service disruptions.
75 years ago: Big changes
In world history, 1941 is a year that will, well, live in infamy, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said upon asking for a declaration of war on Japan. Europe and Asia were fully engaged in bloody warfare the entire year, while the United States was inching slowly closer until Pearl Harbor on December 7.
Streetcar honors Harvey Milk
In a ceremony at the F-line Castro terminal on October 28th, PCC streetcar No. 1051 was dedicated in honor of Supervisor Harvey Milk in his role as transit advocate. Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk joined San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Executive Director Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr. and several other dignitaries including Market Street Railway Director Jamison Wieser in severing a ribbon across the car’s front door, after which guests streamed through the car to see a series of displays celebrating the life and work of Harvey Milk.
Cameron Beach
In 1963, a boy climbed onto a 41-Union line trolley coach in Cow Hollow. He noticed that the driver’s ‘gilley box,’ in view at his side, had a decal of a Muni PCC streetcar on the site. The boy asked the young trolley coach driver if he liked streetcars. “I told him I did,” recalls that driver, Art Curtis, now Market Street Railway’s secretary, “and that started a friendship that lasted literally to his last day.”
Philip Hoffman, 1930-2011
Philip Hoffman was a true San Franciscan, of a kind they are not making any more. He passed away on April 20 at St. Mary’s Hospital, where he was born 80 years ago. Death came suddenly and unexpectedly.
Jack Smith
Market Street Railway celebrates the life of Jack Smith, who showed exceptional skill and commitment to historic transit preservation in San Francisco, as a cable car gripman, streetcar motorman, and MSR director and volunteer.
How the Inside Track was born
By Grant Ute, San Francisco Railway Archive
Remembering Dave Pharr
“He is irreplaceable,” said John Stenson, a friend from Muni. “The kindest man I ever met,” volunteered Maryalice Reinmuller, long–time Market Street Railway member. These were among dozens of tributes offered at a November 8, 2003 memorial service for David L. Pharr, one of America’s leading streetcar restoration experts and a leader of Market Street Railway. The memorial service took place at MSR’s streetcar restoration yard at Market Street
and Duboce Avenue, which one mourner called “Dave’s true home”. At the conclusion of the service, Muni Executive Director Michael Burns and MSR President Rick Laubscher jointly unveiled a bronze plaque renaming the site the David L. Pharr Streetcar Restoration Facility to honor Dave’s life work.
Transit treasure turns 125
August 1896. Grover Cleveland was president of the 45 United States and William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley were squaring off to replace him in the White House. Adolph Sutro was mayor of San Francisco, ensconced in a palatial home near Land’s End, overlooking Ocean Beach and his moneymaking Cliff House and Sutro Baths. And a new electric streetcar hit the streets of San Francisco.
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