Three of the vintage Muni vehicles that will carry passengers November 2-3 for Muni Heritage Weekend. From left, 1950 Marmon-Herrington trolley coach No. 776, 1912 streetcar No. 1, and 1938 White motor coach No. 042. Click to enlarge.
A conga line of buses, Milan trams and PCCs lines up to turn around at Pier 39 while the Wharf portion of the E and F lines was closed for a parade on Sunday — one of the many challenges facing Muni on an extraordinary weekend.
Artist’s concept of a possible F-line stop on Beach Street at Hyde, with artists’ stalls right beside the stop, which would replace current automobile parking spots in the curb lane.
Two very different renovated streetcars were out for test drives on The Embarcadero today.1912 Muni Car No. 1 (yes, its very first streetcar) made its first test run outside the car barn, from 25th and Illinois up the T and F lines to Fisherman’s Wharf and back. It has been completely rebuilt by Brookville Equipment Company of Pennsylvania, whose engineers were on board, checking out some tweaks made on the car after it was delivered. It’s still some months from service.On this rainy day, somber gray “battleship” No. 1 met up at the Ferry Building with eye-popping yellow PCC No. 1071, the pilot car of a group of 11 ex-Newark New Jersey streetcars that is being completely rewired and given new propulsion components, again at Brookville. No. 1071 is also being tested before going into service. There are interesting stories with these cars, which we’ll share with our members in the next issue of our newsletter, Inside Track, which goes to press soon.
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.
Last weekend the LA Times ran a nice article in its Sunday travel section about the simple pleasures of the F Line, and how San Francisco’s vintage streetcar fleet adds such color to everyday life in the city. Author Caitlin Fitzsimmons writes:I always imagined a trainspotter as an English eccentric in an anorak,
Over the course of a few days last weekend, Muni replaced a large section of streetcar railbed around the intersection of 18th and Church streets near Dolores Park in San Francisco.
The project is part of the J Church Improvement Project, but the vintage streetcars of the F Line will benefit as well, as they too traverse this stretch of rail while traveling to and from their base camp at the Geneva Yard.
Happily, a few amateur infrastructuralists were on hand document the work, and it’s interesting stuff to see. Apart from the photos above, one neighbor also produced a short video of the project, which you can watch here:
Car No. 351 is a classic American trolley: a 1926 double-end, arch roof steel car from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, of a design very similar to cars once operated by the old Market Street Railway Company.
