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.

The San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), America’s first publicly owned urban transit system, begins its 100th year of operation today. Created early in California’™s Progressive Era, in part as a reaction to a corrupt privately owned transit company, Muni opened its first lines on Geary Street 99 years ago on December 28, 1912. Ever since, Muni has played a big part in the lives of San Franciscans, taking them to work, study, shop, and play.

Fifty Thousand San Franciscans came out to cheer the opening of the Municipal Railway on Geary Street, December 28, 1912. Muni Archives.

As Muni’s non-profit preservation partner, Market Street Railway has already released its 2012 Centennial Calendar (which will be available at a reduced price when our museum reopens January 4). MSR members also took the lead in creating a wonderful book documenting Muni’s first century.

Official Centennial events are still being planned by Muni. Market Street Railway has made detailed suggestions and stands ready to assist with making such events a success. We’ll let you know as soon as specific events are announced, to allow maximum time for your planning. Meantime, here’s to Muni’s 99th birthday!

San Francisco Municipal Railway streetcar No. 1 on Stockton Street at Market, the terminal of the original F-Stockton line, Christmas Day 1944. Roy D. Graves photo, Market Street Railway Archives.

It’s December 25, 1944. We’re at Stockton at Market Street, the terminal of Muni’s original F-line. And welcoming riders on this Christmas Day 67 years ago is none other than Car No. 1, recently repainted from its original gray and maroon “battleship” livery into Muni’s brighter blue and gold. It is ready for another trip on the F, past Union Square, through the Stockton Tunnel and Chinatown to reach North Beach, then on Columbus Avenue, North Point, Van Ness and Chestnut to the Marina District. (If you think this sounds like today’s 30-Stockton, you’re right. The original F is its direct ancestor.)

There was a glimmer of brightness on the war horizon this day, too. More than three years after Pearl Harbor, Allied forces had turned the tide against both Germany and Japan. While there would be months of fierce fighting ahead, the end of the war was now in sight.

On the Home Front, transit systems across America were overwhelmed with riders driven from their automobiles by gasoline and tire rationing. The strain was showing on Muni. Only three months before, it had taken over operation of its private competitor, Market Street Railway Company, only to find its equipment and facilities near collapse. Yet the system soldiered on, making do however possible. In a way, the soon-to-be-popular song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” described the need to defer needed repairs: “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” (By the way, that song made its debut on the lips of Judy Garland in Vicente Minnelli’s movie “Meet Me in St. Louis,” which also gave us the song, “Clang, Clang, Clang Went the Trolley.”)

Our exclusive member newsletter, Inside Track, is about to publish the second in a multi-part history of Muni, “Muni At War,” with lots of rarely- or never-before seen photos, including this one, which we acquired from a collector on eBay. If you’re not a member of Market Street Railway, this is a great time to join because new members will also received the last issue of Inside Track, with photos and text describing the origins and first 30 years of Muni’s history.

As for Car No. 1 itself, it’s fully restored to its original appearance and ready to play the starring role in Muni’s centennial year. We’ll be operating a charter of the streetcar in the next few months for members only, riding the rails west of Twin Peaks in a rare treat. (Another great reason to join MSR.) Watch here for details.

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now (or celebration of your choice)!

PCC No. 1071, painted to honor Minneapolis-St. Paul, testing recently on West Portal Avenue.

Yellow isn’t traditionally thought of as a year-end holiday color, but that Twin City Rapid Transit livery still makes for nice “gift wrap” for PCC No. 1071, which (fingers crossed) entered revenue service for good today. It has been here more than a year after having been completely rewired at Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania, but as we’ve reported in our member newsletter, Inside Track, getting the new door controls to operate reliably has been a vexing problem, and a variety of other glitches has cropped up over time. The car entered F-line passenger service earlier this year on a trial basis, but was soon pulled off the street as unreliable.

Now, though, with more than 3,000 test miles on No. 1071, the Muni engineer and project manager have accepted No. 1071, and it has been carrying passengers on the F-line today. Other cars in this class currently being tested, and which soon may join the active F-line fleet, include Nos. 1074 (Toronto), 1078 (San Diego), 1079 (Detroit), and 1080 (LA Transit Lines). As these streetcars start carrying passengers, additional rewired cars already back in San Francisco will start the testing process, including Nos. 1070 (Newark), 1072 (Mexico City), 1073 (El Paso-Juarez) and 1040 (an original Muni streetcar, painted in the 1950s “Wings” livery). For the current status of all 16 streetcars in this rebuilding contract (and all the others as well), click here.

The delay in getting these streetcars into service is a major reason we’ve seen so many buses on the F-line of late. Service had been increased to run every five minutes in September on the premise that these streetcars would be ready then. So they’re needed just as soon as they’re ready.

We celebrate the “present” that 1071 represents for the F-line fleet, and really hope all the bugs are worked out of it and the other streetcars in this group now, so that there won’t be any need to take it to the “return counter” after the holidays.

Decorated Powell cable car No. 13 at the Market Street turntable. Jeremy Whiteman photo.

Our friend, cable car gripman Val Lupiz, has done it again. As in past years, he and his friends have decorated several cable cars for the holidays. We wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this one in particular: green and red Powell car No. 13, painted in the United Railroads livery the Powell cars wore after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

It’s a vintage transit twin (well, sorta) to the green Milan tram, No. 1818, our volunteers decorated for the holidays, now running on the F-line. We’re hoping to do a much more elaborate holiday scene next year, in conjunction with Muni’s centennial. If you’d like to lend your talents (or at least your enthusiasm), drop us a line here.

By the way, our campaign to create a complete set of vintage Powell Street cable car liveries is nearing completion. By next summer, rebuilt No. 26 will rejoin the fleet in 1947 Muni green and cream, as will Powell cable car No. 1, restored to a closer approximation of the line’s original 1888 livery. We’ll let you know when the celebrations of these cars take place.

Restored Muni PCC No. 1040 at Muni Metro East, December 15, 2011. (Yes, it can run the outer end of the L-Taraval line, and others, too.) Click photos to enlarge.

During its “first life” at Muni, PCC No. 1040 was always the kid, the youngest in the fleet. Indeed, it is historic for being the last of nearly 5,000 streetcars of this type built in the U.S., coming off the assembly line at St. Louis Car Company in 1952.

Now, for a little while at least, it’s Muni’s “newest” historic streetcar as well. It’s back in San Francisco following a complete rebuilding at Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania. What a difference from the way it looked when it left San Francisco almost exactly two years ago.

Market Street Railway has always been a strong advocate of restoring this particular streetcar for the F-line fleet because of that “last-PCC-built” distinction. For the same reason, we advocated special touches for this car to keep its historic fabric as intact as possible. These include retaining a headlight casing as close to the original “Golden Glow” design as possible, rather than substituting a smaller sealed beam automotive type headlight as was done on almost all Muni’s PCCs (but not this one) during the 1960s and 1970s. And, of course, we asked that it be restored in its as-delivered green and cream “Wings” livery.

An inspection of No. 1040 at Muni Metro East, where it was unloaded, shows a restoration pretty faithful to the original. Externally, the headlight; the original style dash lights; and the front trolley catcher, which matches the size and location of the original, are all nice touches. On the rear, openable aluminum windows are back, replacing the sealed glass that came later. Originally, the operator could open them to reach the trolley rope if necessary when backing the car. Now, they double as emergency exits for the car.

The only exterior detail that seems to be missing is the “Enter Front” decal. Though this “Baby Ten” class of 25 streetcars were originally used both a motorman and conductor, with passengers boarding at the center doors, we and Muni agreed to interpret the restoration on No. 1040 to the period starting in 1954, when it started running with only one operator, hence the decal to direct riders to the front door. Then again, with Muni actively considering all-door Proof of Payment operation for the F-line (with our support), putting that decal back on No. 1040 may be premature.

Small details aside, though, the exterior look of No. 1040 is both beautiful and evocative of the decades when Muni’s PCCs dominated Market Street on the J, K, L, M, and N lines.

The operator’s panel is original, though some switches have been reassigned (such as the microphone — originally, operators just shouted!). The speedometer is new as are a few other electronic components. Click photo to enlarge.

The interior of No. 1040 shows similar attention to detail. Full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act required the flip-up seats and cabinet for the boarding ramp that all of the F-line PCCs have. But the original conductor’s station, a side-facing seat opposite the center doors, where the conductor collected fares, has been restored. The original operator’s panel is still there, too, though now augmented by modern electronics for switch control, GPS, and communications. Oh, and a speedometer, which - amazingly - original PCCs never had.

With several of the 1070-class PCCs ahead of it in the testing queue, it may be a few weeks before we see No. 1040 on the street, even for testing. Like the 1070 class cars now being tested on the L-Taraval line, No. 1040 has new door controls that have taken a lot of adjustment, so it’s not clear how long its testing period could last. We’ll let you know when it begins testing, and certainly when it goes into revenue service.

After No. 1040 has successfully reentered the fleet, the plan is to consider repainting No. 1050, not originally a Muni car, from its current identical “Wings” paint scheme to one not yet represented in the PCC fleet. For cost reasons that would happen when the car needs a complete repainting anyway.