Birmingham Electric No. 1077 followed by San Diego No. 1078 at Fisherman’s Wharf. Kevin Sheridan photo.
Egad. In the week following the formal finalization of the contract to rewire all eleven PCC streetcars bought from Newark, New Jersey, those streamliners seemed to be everywhere on the F-line. It was almost like they wanted to show that, “Hey, don’t send me to the hospital, I’m just fine…see?”
The “Notice to Proceed,” authorizing Brookville Equipment Corporation to start work on the $18 million contract to rewire these eleven cars and completely rebuild five currently derelict PCCs for Muni, came on October 14, and Brookville could start picking up cars at any time. (Muni will determine in what order they go away, but rumor has it that 1952 Muni PCC No. 1040, the last of some 4,500 cars of this type to be built in North America, will be among the first, along with Detroit No. 1079.)
Cleveland No. 1075 at Jones and Jefferson with streetcars 1075 & 1050. Peter Ehrlich photo.
Back to the ex-Newarks, which we refer to as the 1070-class, reflecting their car numbers. Besides No. 1076, in Washington’s DC Transit livery, which has finished its testing and entered passenger service today, Cleveland Streetcar No. 1075 and San Diego Streetcar No. 1078 have been in regular service lately as has fleet workhorse Birmingham Streetcar No. 1077, which has run up the most service miles by far of any 1070-class car.
This doesn’t mean that the cars aren’t still in need of rewiring. On all but 1077 and (still “new”) 1076, Muni has expended extra maintenance time because of repeated wiring problems. But we now have four of these eleven cars in service at once, as many as we’ve ever had. And the betting from here is that those four will be the last to go back for their wiring fix.
I am so happy to hear this. Glad to see at least four of these 1070 series cars are out and running. They have been in SF for over two years now. When I frist heard about these problems, doors opening on #1075 when it was running between stops. I thought the problem should be troubleshot, fixed and the car put back in service. Maybe that was done but, I understand why all the wiring has to be replaced and I’m happy the contract was approved. Maybe some more of this series will become “runners” before they go in for re-wiring. Hope so.
I can’t wait for 1070 to be on the road. Haven ridden the
cars quite frequently in Newark since their arrival in the
1950s, and the grey/white/blue paint scheme being a favorite,
I’d love to ride on that car as it runs from Jones all the way
to Geneva.
I passed by Metro East yesterday (Nov. 5). None of the cars there had been picked up. There are 3 Newarks–1070 (Newark-PSCT), 1079 (Detroit) and 1080 (Los Angeles Transit Lines “Fruit Salad”); 1008, and 1040. Also 1052 (Los Angeles) is there, but that has nothing to do with this contract.