If you’ve been following the news at all, you know that Australia is in the midst of historic flooding, following torrential rains that in turn followed an extended (and devastating) period of drought. Our hearts go out to all those affected. But the rain has also replenished reservoirs, brought salvation to farmers and ranchers, and given the country a good rinse — including its historic trams in Melbourne.<
On December 28, 1912, Mayor James Rolph, Junior stepped onto a streetcar platform at Geary and Kearny Streets. He deposited one of the first 40 nickels to be minted in San Francisco into the farebox and took the controls, piloting the streetcar westward out Geary to Tenth Avenue, to open America’s first publicly owned big city transit system. Here’s a picture of that first run, with the Mayor highballing across Jones Street. And as a 98th birthday present, Muni welcomes back that very streetcar, No. 1, from a total rebuilding at Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania. The work took longer than expected — the contract called for delivery in May, but the contractor took great pains to preserve the historic fabric of the streetcar. From initial observation, they did a fabulous job on the appearance of the streetcar. Of greatest importance, of course, is how it runs.One day short of its 98th birthday, it took its first tests after delivery in the Metro East yard, just running back and forth on a track inside the yard. It will not operate on its birthday proper — hey, you should get that day off! — but there is still talk of a ceremony later this week. We will let you know as soon as we hear anything.Market Street Railway is working with Muni on its 2012 centennial, where No. 1 will play a central role. Those wishing to volunteer to pitch in on events for the centennial should send us an email here.
Muni (and Market Street Railway) got the Christmas present of a lifetime delivered today. At 7:30 this morning, SIlk Road Trucking rolled up to the Metro East light rail facility at Cesar Chavez and Illinois Streets and unloaded a special gift, shrink-wrapped in white, just in time for the holidays. Naturally, like little kids, the temptation was too great to resist, so a little corner of the package was torn open to see what’s inside…and oh, my!!!!But we can’t spoil the surprise. For now, let it be said that this one may be unwrapped for the public as soon as next week in a special ceremony. Check back here for details.
Our friends at Streetsblog San Francisco offer some solid coverage of an offer Audi has made to the city: install two blocks of pedestrian amenities, including widened sidewalks and seating areas, on Powell Street between Ellis and Geary. We won’t duplicate what they wrote, but will note that beyond the pedestrian benefits, which could be considerable, this should make cable car operation in that area safer and more reliable.With parked automobiles and trucks in the curb lane, running board riders take the risk of getting whacked by vehicle mirrors if they let it all hang out just a little too far. And motor vehicles pulling in and out of the parking spaces can cause significant delays.We’re assured that the design shown above is only conceptual; final decisions will be made locally. We hope so. The concept of the Otis Spunkmeyer lookalike drinking some kind of green Caribbean cocktail on Powell is a tad jarring. To add to the somewhat surreal scene, there’s no cable car in sight, but riding the tracks we can clearly discern — a vintage VW Microbus! Did Ken Kesey design this?Seriously, if they actually intend to install benches like the ones “conceptually” shown, the people who actually occupy them probably won’t look like the folks in the drawing. Will the result be inviting to pedestrians, or will it turn into a gauntlet like you often find in the cable car passenger queue at Powell and Market?Just asking.With the right installation, though, this could be a huge plus for lower Powell Street, giving pedestrians much needed additional room to walk and clearing the way for at least a modest improvement in cable car service.Best of all, if this temporary installation works, it can help pave the way for something permanent, perhaps modeled on the existing one-block cable car plaza between Market and Ellis.The promenade is scheduled to be installed by April 2011. It is being managed by the Union Square Business Improvement District.
Another step forward for Muni’s program to get its 11 PCCs from the 1070 class into permanent, reliable service. Streamliner No. 1071, painted to honor its original (1947) owner, Twin City Rapid Transit of Minneapolis-St. Paul, operated under its own power from Muni Metro East, on the T-line at Cesar Chavez Street near Third Street, across town to Geneva Division some seven miles away. It’s believed to be the first time this streetcar, acquired by Muni six years ago, has operated a substantial distance under its own power.Pictured above on The Embarcadero connector track near Howard Street during its move on December 16, this streetcar is the first of its class to be returned to San Francisco following complete rewiring and installation of updated (but still traditional) propulsion components by Brookville Equipment in Pennsylvania. It is part of an $18 million contract that also includes the complete remanufacture of five additional PCCs.No. 1071 was delivered to Metro East on November 20, but some of the new components were out of adjustment and the streetcar would not operate. Muni towed it over to Geneva Division for a ceremony in conjunction with the dedication of the new covered storage facility for historic streetcars, then towed it back, where this week representatives from Brookville and its subcontractors have been making the adjustments. They will incorporate the lessons learned from the renovation of this “pilot car” into the work being done on other streetcars in this group. This streetcar will soon enter acceptance testing by Muni. Look for it on the N-Judah line as well as the F-line and J-line. After acceptance, it will start carrying passengers for the first time since Muni acquired it, as soon as a month from now. (Of the 11 PCCs in this class, acquired third-hand from Newark, New Jersey, only 5 have carried passengers so far in San Francisco.)
Muni is shutting down the California Street cable car line for an estimated six months starting in January, to replace a variety of mechanical components under the street and do some track work. They’ll apply lessons learned to try to make the next phases — covering the two Powell Street lines — go faster. Makes sense, since the Cal line has very low ridership compared to the Powell lines.
Thanks to cable car gripman (and Market Street Railway member) Val Lupiz, the Cal cable line is getting a spectacular sendoff. With the help of his financee and her daughters, he decorated Cal cable car No. 60 (the newest in the Cal fleet) for the holidays — and what a job they did! Enjoy Val’s photos…or better yet, take a ride on the car before the Cal line goes on hiatus. What could be a more San Francisco holiday trip — and of course, on California Street, no waiting in long lines (for passengers, that is — for the cars themselves at the Market Street end of the line, wellllll…..
A wrecking ball knocked the triple-track streetcar “hump” on the Transbay Terminal into oblivion today. The 71-year old building itself is next, really the final chapter in clearing the site for the billion-dollar terminal that will replace it, hoped to include stations for both high speed rail and Caltrain in addition to buses.The “hump” was a streetcar ramp built in front of the terminal between First and Fremont Streets, just south of Mission. When it opened on January 15, 1939, some of the streetcars that had been going down Market to the Ferry Building — both Muni cars on the outer tracks and Market Street Railway Company cars on the inner tracks — were diverted to the new terminal, but the operation was such a mess (photo, below) that it caused what is still considered the worst traffic jam in Market Street history.At first, there were two streetcar tracks, one for each company, southbound on First and northbound on Fremont, switching into three tracks on the hump. They brought passengers to the trains that ran across the Bay Bridge: three companies with trains that ran as far as Chico. But within a couple of years of opening, only the Key System trains serving the inner East Bay cities survived.After Muni and the old Market Street Railway merged in 1944, First and Fremont were reduced to one track each, with two tracks on the ramp. By mid-1949, Muni was sending all its streetcars to the terminal: the B and C Geary lines, plus the J, K, L, M, and N. That ended when Muni Metro opened full-time in 1982, though vintage streetcars used the terminal hump during the Trolley Festivals of the 1980s, then again when the permanent F-line opened in 1995, until the Wharf extension opened in 2000. The tracks on First and Fremont were torn up soon after, and only Muni buses have used the hump since.Now, there are only photographs and memories…
SFMTA CEO Nat Ford (pictured at the microphone above) led the cheers today at the dedication of the new Geneva Canopy project — the covered storage facility for 24 streetcars in Muni’s historic fleet. The building was erected under a $6.9 million design build contract with Shimmick Construction. An SFMTA press release put the total project cost at $10.1 million dollars, meaning that so called “soft costs” came to about a third of the total, despite the fact that design and engineering was wrapped into the construction contract. Market Street Railway President Rick Laubscher also spoke at the dedication, paying tribute to two former MSR board members, Art Michel and George Miller, for leading our advocacy efforts on the much-needed project for years. He also thanked the San Francisco Municipal Railway Improvement Corporation, a special purpose financing entity, which provided major funding for the project.A few streetcars have been using the facility on a test basis for the past month while the contractor was finishing up work. Now, it will be filled with F-line cars every night, just in time to avoid the coming storms.
It’s that time of year again…
There’s a case to be made that 75 years ago, San Francisco was the most interesting transportation venue in the world, however briefly. For it was three-quarters of a century ago today that the first Martin Flying Boat took off from San Francisco Bay, bound for Manila (photo, left, from Associated Press). That seaplane was named the China Clipper by its owner, Pan American Airways, a name that the public applied to every other Pan Am plane that joined it on the route. Our friend Carl Nolte tells the story wonderfully in today’s Chronicle. Nolte notes that the pilot on that first flight flew under the cables of the unfinished Bay Bridge on his takeoff. He would also have flown over numerous ferries still providing the only way to get directly between the City, the East Bay, and Marin. That made the Ferry Building one of the busiest transit terminals in the world, served by more than 800 streetcars in the afternoon peak period. (What? You didn’t think we would leave streetcars out, however tenuous the connection, did you?)When you consider that this first China Clipper flight came just eight years after Lindbergh’s New York to Paris flight, seen as a revolution in aviation, it is a stunning testimony to the speed at which technology developed, as well as a tribute to the guts of Pan Am for inaugurating what was a risky, but visionary, service. Though almost no San Franciscan could afford a trans-Pacific flight, which was priced at almost $30,000 round trip in today’s dollars, all appreciated that it cemented their city’s role as the undisputed commercial capital of the West Coast (for at least a little while longer).Personal note: when I was growing up in my family’s delicatessen on Market Street (“Laubscher Brothers: Famous for Fine Salads”), my great uncle, Carl Laubscher, would tell me that early in the China Clipper era, Pan Am came to him and his brothers and asked if they would supply box lunches for the passengers on the first leg of the flight. He said they turned it down, thus missing a chance to get in on the ground floor of what became the airline catering business. Thanks, Unc!
