Market Street Railway

"Red Rocket" Joins the F-line Fleet

February 3, 2012

PCC No. 1074, the "Red Rocket", near the end of its testing period on The Embarcadero near Mission Street, signed for the future E-line. Jeremy Whiteman photo.

For decades, people in Toronto have called their streetcars “Red Rockets.” They ran all over town (their successors still do!) Now, a PCC streetcar painted in tribute to the Red Rockets is carrying passengers on the F-line, having just gone into revenue service for the first time.

PCC No. 1074 has actually been hanging around Muni for years, acquired eight years ago from Newark as one of 11 identical cars to help reduce crowding on the overloaded F-line. Several of these 11 have been in service for extended periods since then, but several, including No. 1074, never got into regular passenger service until now.

In the 1970s, Muni ran several ex-Toronto PCCs when they needed extra equipment to handle detours while the Market Street Subway was being built. But the livery of those cars was partly altered, so No. 1074 is the first to run in full Toronto Transit Commission regalia in San Francisco. (By the way, to those who grouse that these and other Muni tribute PCCs don’t have every exact decal the original did, take a deep breath. They’re running here, not there; they have to have some standard Muni signage. We encourage that to be kept to a minimum, though, and Muni has been great about getting as many details correct as feasible.)

This is the of the 1070-class to be put into service following complete rewiring. Nos. 1071, 1078, 1079. and 1080 preceded it. The rest are either being tested now or still being worked on at the contractor, Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania. The full streetcar fleet status list is here. And you can see which of these streetcars are on the F-line right now by looking at the cool map here.

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The C-line is back!

February 2, 2012

Well, sorta. For the blink of an eye.

Muni’s C-Geary-California line left California Street in 1949 after having the stretch from Sixth Avenue to 33rd Avenue on its route since 1915. (Before that, the stretch was part of its private competitor’s 1-California streetcar; after 1949 it became part of Muni’s 1-California trolley bus.)

Car No. 1, still part of the Muni fleet today, in service at the end of the C-line on California near 33rd Avenue in 1944. Will Whittaker photo, Market Street Railway Archives.

Now, at least a sliver of the old streetcar tracks are back, uncovered during road repairs. Check out the story and photo in richmondsfblog.com. A similar sighting occurred a few years ago a few blocks away, with the uncovering of tracks for the 31-Balboa streetcar line.

Interesting that in the Richmond blog’s comments, one poster called for just uncovering the tracks and bringing back the streetcars. Would that it were that simple, but a nice reminder that some people still want “their” streetcar line back, 63 years later!

By the way, the restored No. 1 is getting some finishing historical touches out at Cameron Beach Yard, in preparation for a ceremony welcoming it back to the fleet as part of this, Muni’s centennial year. No date announced yet, but we’ll let you know here as soon as we know.

Our next issue of our member newsletter, Inside Track, now at the printer, features a big story on the history of Car No. 1, with several photos never published before to our knowledge. It’s for our members only, but you can get it by clicking here to join us and helping us preserve historic transit in San Francisco.

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When We Actually Built Our Own Transportation

by Rick Laubscher, Market Street Railway
January 31, 2012

An article on BART’s new cars stirred up a hornet’s nest of comments lamenting that we don’t build anything here any more — specifically transit vehicles. We’re not going to wade into that discussion (but feel free to clink the link and comment there). Coincidentally, though, that news story appeared the same day a reader in Idaho, Noel Anthony Cimino, submitted this photograph to us for publication. Here’s what he wrote:

“This is a photo of my dad, Joseph L. Cimino, working on constructing a Market Street Railway Streetcar in the late 1920s. He’s standing to the right in the photo. It looks like he’s attaching the buzzer button that was used to announce to the carman that you wished to get off at the next stop. This photo was taken at the Elkton shops located at Ocean and San Jose Avenues.”

As some of our readers know, Muni’s old private competitor, for whom our non-profit is named, built 250 streetcars at the old Elkton Shops, using its own workforce. (For its part, Muni bought dozens of streetcars from companies who built them in San Francisco — Holman (1912-13) and Bethlehem Steel (1923).

We can’t tell which of Market Street Railway’s streetcars Mr. Cimino and his fellow craftsmen were working on. If it was the late 1920s, it wasn’t No. 798, which was built in 1924. No. 798 is the sole survivor of this “streetcar factory,” which employed many San Franciscans in good jobs for years (just as Elkton’s successor, Muni’s Curtis E. Green Light Rail Facility, does at that same location today). Both our non-profit and Muni have spent a lot of time bringing No. 798 back from the dead after it was rescued from destruction in the 1980s.

There’s still considerable electrical and mechanical work to be done on No. 798, but when it’s finished, this large, high-capacity double-ended streetcar will be one of the workhorses of the fleet — perfect for hauling crowds to and from Giants’ games, as well as carrying passengers in daily service on the E- and F-lines for decades to come. We portray No. 798’s future in our exclusive historic travel series image (available as a poster, matted print, notecard, or magnet online or at our San Francisco Railway Museum).

At the museum, you can also see a miniature streetcar of this class hand-built by the same Elkton Shops crafts workers who built the real things. Mr. Cimino may have even had a hand in that model. Surrounding the model, you can view a photo display telling the story of the old Elkton Shops and other operations of our namesake, Muni’s erstwhile privately owned competitor.

All cars built at Elkton Shops proudly wore this decal, preserved here on sole survivor No. 798: "This Car a San Francisco Product, Built in Our Own Shops. Market St. Ry. Co."

We’re all about preserving historic transit in San Francisco. We help Muni do that, but we’re not part of Muni, nor do we receive any government funding for our efforts. We count on memberships and donations. If you join our organization now, you’ll receive the new issue of our member newsletter, Inside Track, with its exclusive series on the history of America’s first public transit system — Muni — in this, its centennial year. And we’ll send you the last issue as well, with the first installment of that series. We appreciate your help in keeping vintage streetcars and cable cars as a vibrant part of the San Francisco scene.

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Before there were Muni Passports

by Duncan Moffitt
January 30, 2012

Years ago, on Sundays and holidays, one could buy an all day, unlimited use ticket for 50 cents, which was twice the base fare. I did this whenever possible, and spent most of the time on the cable cars and streetcars. While the layout and the wording of the ticket suggest that it was created during an earlier era, I bought this ticket on March 31, 1974.

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Photo of the Moment: Ride and Relax in the Rain

January 19, 2012

FINALLY some much needed rain today, and to greet it, the latest 1070-class streetcar to go into service following rewiring, with a little bonus.

PCC No. 1078 at the F-line Wharf terminal on its first day back carrying passengers, January 19, 2012. Click to enlarge.

PCC No. 1078 honors San Diego, whose original PCCs carried a special slogan above the windows: “Ride & Relax.” Their original PCCs did not have those little oval windows, called “standee windows” above the main windows, so on Muni’s tribute livery, the slogan was put on the lower panel of the door side instead, while other minor changes in the lettering were made to avoid confusion between historic San Diego transit routes and current Muni ones.

But when San DIego restored a PCC (ex-Muni, by the way) to run on their downtown San Diego Trolley loop with their modern LRVs last year, they found a way to fit the motto between the main windows and the standee windows. So, we did too, on the non-door side at least. Thanks to a contribution from one of our members and graphic work by our Dave Dugan, we created a decal design that closely resembles the original lettering. It was installed by the crew of Muni’s Carole Gilbert, just in time for No. 1078’s return to revenue service. Thanks to everyone involved, including Liz WIlmes, whose company has done a great job of making decals for cable cars and streetcars alike.

This is the fourth of the 11 cars in the 1070-class to return to service after rewiring. The fifth, Toronto No. 1074, should be joining them within a few days.

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Flood of New Faces on the F-line

January 16, 2012

PCC No. 1070, in 1953 Newark livery, testing on The Embarcadero, January 15, 2012. Copyright Jeremy Whiteman.

MLK Day Weekend saw a surfeit of unfamiliar PCCs on the F-line, as the 1070-class of streamlined streetcars showed up in force. Some were in passenger service, having been accepted by Muni from the contractor, Brookville Equipment of Pennsylvania, following complete rewiring, installation of some new propulsion components, and other work. At this writing, three of the 11 PCCs in that class have been accepted: Nos. 1071 (honoring Minneapolis-St. Paul, the first city this group of cars served, from 1946-1952), 1079 (Detroit) and 1080 (Los Angeles Transit Lines). On the verge of acceptance, having just passed its 1000-mile test period, No. 1078 (San Diego) was out on the F-line for final testing.

Also on the line being tested, Nos. 1070 (honoring Newark, where this group of cars ran from 1953-2003), 1072 (Mexico City), 1074 (Toronto).

At Muni Metro East on January 16, 2012, PCC No. 1076 tows its sibling No. 1075 off the trailer arriving from Brookville Equipment Company before taking its place for the trip back to Pennsylvania. No. 1076 is the last of the 11 cars in the 1070-class to leave San Francisco for rewiring at Brookville.

Meanwhile, the last of the 11 cars in this group left San Francisco for Brookville today. To get on the trailer for the trip, No. 1076 (Washington, DC) had to tow returning No. 1075 (Cleveland) off the trailer first. No. 1075 will go into testing soon, along with No. 1073 (El Paso-Juarez) and No. 1040 (Muni’s own), which both returned recently from Brookville. No. 1077 (Birmingham) is at Brookville now being rewired, completing this set of cars.

You can see when each car goes into passenger service by checking our exclusive streetcar fleet status page here.

One more note: Muni’s flagship Car No. 1 took a brief fling on Taraval Street last week, just for a little exercise. Contrary to one report, it was not testing. The car is waiting for its inaugural event in February on a date soon to be determined. We’ll let you know as soon as we do.

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Streetcar & Cable Car Photos on our Flickr Group

Third Rewired PCC on the Street

January 11, 2012

Muni PCC streetcar No. 1080, representing Los Angeles Transit Lines, has been accepted by Muni from contractor Brookville Equipment Company and is carrying passengers on the F-line today. For details on the rewiring program and other streetcars involved, click here.

You can always see exactly which streetcar is where on the F-line here. And you can see the status of every streetcar in the fleet here.

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San Francisco's Past on Tap in Two Unique Ways

January 10, 2012

Here in the world’s tech center, we expect to be amazed by new things. But it’s a special treat to be amazed by something old. Or in this case, two things that are old today but were once new.

Exhibit A, brought to our attention by Todd Lappin, Market Street Railway board member and curator of one of the city’s best neighborhood blogs, Bernalwood. Todd reported on this incredible collection of super-high-resolution aerial photographs that covered the entire city…in 1938.

Click to enlarge. Market and Van Ness, August 1938, zoomed-in aerlal photo from David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

For San Francisco history buffs, it’s a dream come true. For streetcar buffs, even more so. Here’s just one example: a screen shot, zoomed in on Van Ness and Market. You can see how Muni’s H-line cut across Market at a ridiculously oblique angle to connect from Van Ness to 11th Street. There’s a streetcar navigating the gauntlet now. You can also see the switches that connected Van Ness to the eastern side of Market. These were used to detour Muni J, K, L, M, and N streetcars up to Geary when downtown Market Street was closed for parades, and for cars assigned to Geary Carhouse to get in and out of service on the N-Judah, during the years it was based there.

Zooming in on other photos will give you a great closeup of the old Elkton Shops, where our namesake built and maintained streetcars, Fort Mason, showing how the H-line ran right through the Fort, and many other disappeared pieces of streetcar history. Or check out the freight yards at Mission Bay, the State Belt Railroad along the waterfront, and many other lost pieces of the past. It’s an incredibly engaging time-waster, for those so inclined.

More current and colorful is this film clip shared with the world by our good friend Rick Prelinger, who has done so much to preserve what would otherwise be lost footage of America’s past. This one is a real doozie: what amounts to a home movie, shot in Cinemascope! Note: we’re having intermittent problems with embedding this video. If you don’t see it immediately below, click here.

The 21-minute film was mostly shot from an automobile by Tullio Pelligrini, an amateur who, true to the literal definition of that word, apparently did it purely out of love for San Francisco. (The point of view concept is reminiscent in some ways of the famous Miles Brothers’ Trip Down Market Street film, shot from the front of a cable car on Market Street just before the 1906 Earthquake.) In fact, there’s an echo of that earlier film just after the 16 minute mark: “Iron Monsters” (the original Muni streetcars) sharing Market with the almost-new “Baby Ten” PCCs. Some great cable car footage follows.

If you like this film, you’ve GOT to sign up for Rick’s next showing of “Lost Landscapes 6,” his compilation of wonderful film scenes from San Francisco’s past. This will be included along with a wonderful WWII drive up Market and other scenes. It sold out the Castro Theater last month. The repeat show is Tuesday, January 24, at 7:30 p.m. at 300 Funston Avenue, corner of Clement. It’s a $5 suggested donation — a real bargain — and requires an email RSVP.

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