Wonderful Trip
October 27, 2011
Editor's Note: This is a submission from a blog reader under our "Share Your Story" feature.
I visited San Francisco for the first time back in August of this year. My wife and I really enjoyed our visit. I could not wait to ride the cable cars and the historic streetcars. We are both natives of Philadelphia and when we rode the PCCs it really brought back a lot of fond memories of riding these cars back in Philly. My Dad is a retired streetcar operator back in Philly and I could not help myself for thinking out the days when I would ride with him while he operated on the streets of Philadelphia. So glad to see some of these cars are still in service.
And here's a pair of photos to make Anthony's point, provided by our ace photog Jeremy Whiteman. SEPTA (Philadelphia) No. 2138, above in its "Gulf Oil" orange and blue livery on Route 34 on Baltimore Avenue in 1978 (photo from Harry Donahue).
As our members know, the "1050" class of PCCs (Nos. 1050-1063) originally ran in Philly and were acquired and rebuilt by Muni in the early 1990s as the original F-line fleet. Their paint schemes honor many of the cities around North America that once ran this great streetcar. No. 2138 became Muni No. 1057, paying tribute to Cincinnati's PCC history with its bright "bumblebee" livery.
Coincidentally, behind No. 1057 in Jeremy's photo is another original Philly PCC, now No. 1060, painted in the original Philadelphia silver and blue "Cream Cheese" livery (yes, they did use these nicknames for their paint jobs back there).
These cars continue to be great work horses. The late Ray Nielson recorded video of these cars being rebuilt by Morrison Knudson for MUNI. I can’t wait to see the Brookville rebuilds come back especially 1009 and 1040.
My father is a fanatical collector of historic streetcar models too. He devotes all his spare time to this, and i never seen him as happy as when he is watching his collection. I hope i should give him your blog name to study!