As many of you know, the historic streetcar movement in San Francisco goes back more than three decades. The strong impetus for a permanent F-line built on a foundation of successful summer demonstration projects in the 1980s called the San Francisco Historic Trolley Festivals, initiated by the contemporary leaders of Market Street Railway and key folks inside Muni.
During construction of the permanent F-line, vintage streetcar service was suspended, with a few exceptions that lasted just a few days. The most notable event during this period was the celebration of the 1992 centennial of streetcar service in San Francisco. Streetcars from the city’s historic fleet paraded down Market Street two abreast by closing the street and using both tracks.
We were just invited by a new follower of this blog, Bob Docherty, to link to the video of the centennial celebration he posted on You Tube. Upon viewing it, we were excited by the variety of scenes, although it is not put together in a linear or chronological way. The 1992 scenes are intermixed with scenes from at least one of the five Trolley Festivals, maybe more (leased streetcars entered and left the city during that period, and we’d have to check the annual rosters to be sure, but 1985 is included for sure). And the initial title scene is confusingly dated 1995, which is the year the permanent F-line actually opened, though no footage of that appears to be included.
Little matter. There are some fabulous scenes here, including rare footage of Veracruz, Mexico, open-sided car No. 001 (dubbed the “Jumping Bean” because of its bouncy ride) and 1912 Moscow/Orel single trucker No. 106, “Streetcar Named Desire For Peace,” in its red livery.
Share your observations in the comment section below.
sad to see 1704 in such good condition as compared to now. overall great archival video.