The protective shed for vintage streetcars is almost done at Geneva Division. Today, the first streetcar, No. 1010, ventured inside to serve as a locator for the “track skates,” permanent wheel blocks to be welded to the tracks to keep a car from running into the wall. The “torpedoes” like No. 1010 have the longest overhang in the vintage fleet, so they’re the model.
Muni historic streetcar supervisor Karl Johnson’s comment is apt: “The building kind of overwhelms the car.” True enough, but at the same time, the car looks as snug as a bug in a rug.
We’ll let you know when the new Geneva Carhouse is open for business.
Comments: 6
Comments are closed.
Awww, it really does look utterly adorable, and its wonderful that the cars have cover, not to mention the skylights will make for nice photos. Please show pictures of the trolleys in the barn, because it will be hard to get shots of them from the street now. Also, I would like to know what the chances are of pole-equipped Boeings being added to the fleet.
So, I’ll ask again: Once the cars are all in the shelter, can we count on the tarps coming off the non-restored cars, like our own private (Muni) New Orleans car and other cars that are, at the moment, wrapped in trolley cozies? Even if they aren’t scheduled for restoration it would be nice if they were out in the open where people could see them, especially now that “out in the open” is more figurative than literal.
Will the Boat Car be kept here as well?
Boeings on the “F” line? Will they run with a tow truck escort, like the tugs that accompany the Jeremiah O’ Brien? (Snark snark…)
And this structure looks a lot more earthquake-tolerant than the original Geneva car house. It will certainly provide a better workspace for the Muni streetcar mechanics than the current open-air yard. How many cars will be safe and snug in Geneva version 2.0?
Since the car storage area is not open to the public, I assume by “people” you mean Muni employees. If a non-operational streetcar can be protected from the elements with a tarp, then it doesn’t make sense to take away a space from an operational streetcar for it. In fighting for this covered storage, Market Street Railway’s top priorities have been the open and canvas-roofed cars, which includes the vintage Muni cars: 1, 130, 162, the Melbourne trams, the (operational) New Orleans 952. The Milan cars also have wood and canvas roofs, so they would be candidates for covered storage.
Our ultimate goal is covered storage for all the vintage streetcars, so we would like to see at least another six tracks covered. Until the old brick Geneva office building and powerhouse on one side of the yard are fully rehabilitated, it is not practical to cover more tracks, so we look at this project, which protects at least 24 vintage streetcars, to be a good start.
Right now, there’s essentially no chance of rehabilitating Boeings and putting poles on them. Muni has only two, and at least one of these has been heavily vandalized. As Paul Tominac notes in his comment, these vehicles required excessive maintenance when they constituted Muni’s core streetcar fleet, and would almost certainly require even more now, because their old electronic circuit boards would be expensive to find and replace.
Glad to see the new carbarn is almost finished. I’m glad to see the continued improvements to keep those old trolleys running.