The idea of a transit subway under Market Street goes back to the first years of the 20th century, but it took more than 70 fitful years to become reality. That’s a complex and fascinating story we tell in this companion post, which explains the compromises that harmed Muni’s subway operation from the get-go.
This image honors Philadelphia Suburban Red Arrow PCCs that ran in service from 1949-1982. Pin measures 1.625″ across and attaches with post & rubber clasp. Larry Hodson design. Read More……
Not only does San Francisco’s transit agency, Muni, have the world’s only multi-line system of street running cable cars AND one of the world’s most popular and varied daily vintage streetcar operations, it also preserves important pieces of its rubber-tire heritage in the form of vintage trolley buses and motor buses. (In San Francisco, transit companies have traditionally referred to buses as “coaches”, though the public calls them buses.)
Trolley coaches are a cross between streetcars and conventional motor buses. That’s why they were called “trackless trolleys” in some places. They run on electricity from double overhead wires, with one wire supplying the 600-volt DC power, the other serving as a ground to complete the circuit. (For streetcars, the track generally serves as the ground.)
Muni’s most popular streetcar, 1934 Blackpool, England Boat Tram 228, will be delighting passengers on The Embarcadero between Fisherman’s Wharf and our San Francisco Railway Museum (across from the Ferry Building) from October 7 to October 11, the key dates of Fleet Week 2021. Final operating hours haven’t yet been set, but we expect the Boat Tram to be in service from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m each day. We’ll have volunteer docents on the Boat to answer any questions you might have.
2022 is going to be a great year, right? Here’s a way to remind yourself of something good every day: our 2022 Museums in Motion wall calendar. It’s available now at our online store, or at our San Francisco Railway Museum.
On this Labor Day, we honor all vintage transit operators in San Francisco by sharing this story from our Member magazine, Inside Track, published in early 2020. Our nonprofit continues to advocate for more F-line service and restoration of the E-Embarcadero line, along with resumed service by vintage streetcars including the Melbourne and Brussels/Zurich trams pictured here.
According to our historian, the redoubtable Emiliano Echeverria, 125 years ago, August 10, 1896 (give or take a day), a new streetcar was delivered for service in San Francisco. Streetcars themselves had only become a viable transit technology eight years before in Richmond, Virginia. San Francisco had opened its first streetcar line only four years earlier, in 1892, but transit companies led by Market Street Railway Company were busy already, replacing some cable car lines with streetcars and building new lines with the electric vehicles.
In the early morning hours of August 2, 1873, Andrew Hallidie personally piloted his invention, the street cable car, over a precipice on Clay Street and launched a new era in street railroads. (There’s a free Zoom event August 2 at 6 p.m. talking about the cable cars and Hallidie. Details at the bottom of the post.)
Transit workers are our nation’s frontline warriors for urban mobility. And their workplace can be dangerous, with maintenance workers handling heavy machinery and large moving vehicles and operators facing traffic and, increasingly, unhinged and sometimes violent passengers.
