The museum, located behind the popular Hotel Vitale at the Steuart Street F-line stop, kitty-corner from the Ferry Building (map), has attracted a steady stream of visitors during its operating hours, even though some of its most visible signage remains to be installed and it’s too early to have appeared in visitor guidebooks.

The museum has a shop incorporated into it, offering unique merchandise celebrating San Francisco and transit history. “Our initial sales have been strong, which we think reflects both the quality of the merchandise and the creativity and dedication of our great museum manager, John Hogan,” Laubscher added.

The biggest change in the museum since it opened occurred on December 22, when volunteers installed an exact replica of the end of a famed ‘100-class’ streetcar that served three San Francisco transit operators. The 100-class comprised 80 identical cars purchased by United Railroads in 1911, which went on to serve Market Street Railway Co. and Muni as well, until the class was finally retired after World War II.

None of this streetcar class survives, but volunteer Karl Peery has recreated exact plans from archival photographs, and craftsman Don McKinsey has taken the lead in building the car, assisted by Mike Frew, Grant Ute, Walt Vielbaum, and Bill Wong. Behind this car end, our volunteers will install an operator’s cab and vestibule using authentic restored operating equipment. The car’s paint scheme reflects the original ‘White Front’ patented design, including red window sash, used by Market Street Railway Co. from 1926 until about 1936.

The display is posed in a replicated car house portal, ready to swing into action along ‘tracks’ built into the museum floor. Abbett Electric, which performs much of Muni’s overhead wire installation, has pledged to donate installation of an overhead wire running the length of the museum, above the ‘tracks’, when the car installation is complete in 2007.

The original 100-class cars were built for United Railroads by the Jewett Car Co. of Ohio, which also built 125 streetcars for the then-new Municipal Railway (Muni) in 1914. (Confusingly, many of those Muni Jewett cars were also numbered in the 100’s, including the two that survived: No. 130, still in service on the F-line, and No. 162, continuing its restoration at Muni after it was purchased by Market Street Railway and donated to the city in 2003.)

When Market Street Railway raises the needed funds, we will create an interactive display in the motorman’s cab, offering kids of all ages the opportunity to experience how traditional streetcars once operated in San Francisco. (You can support this project by making a donation to Market Street Railway on our website at streetcar.org, or by sending a check made out to Market Street Railway at our address on the back cover. Note ‘car display’ on your check.)

The car class represented in the museum was chosen because the ‘100s’ ran on lines all over the city—including the predecessor of the F-line (the 8-Market)—and because none survived. “We’ve always focused first on the ‘Museums In Motion,’ supporting Muni in restoring, then actually operating its vintage rail fleet,” said Laubscher. “Our new physical museum and our website ‘virtual museum’ are designed to complement and interpret the ‘Museums In Motion’ for San Franciscans and visitors. The replica car is an important part of that, and we appreciate the hard work and skill of our volunteers in bringing it to reality.”

Along with the streetcar display, Market Street Railway volunteers are now preparing the next round of exhibits for the museum, including one chronicling transit history on Third Street, to coincide with the inauguration of full-time light rail service on Muni’s new T-line in April. To deepen the experience on board the ‘Museums In Motion’, displays will start appearing onboard the F-line cars themselves, recounting various aspects of how transit has shaped San Francisco’s geography, history, economy, and community. The first of these, titled Driving Equality, honors the role played by H. Welton Flynn, San Francisco’s first African-American city commissioner (and longest serving commissioner in the city’s history) in increasing opportunity for minorities in city government and in the transit industry nationally, with Muni as the pioneering agency. The display was unveiled at a special reception for Mr. Flynn co-sponsored by Market Street Railway at the San Francisco Railway Museum on October 12. Additionally, new displays in each car will tell the story of the car itself, and for the PCCs, a brief history of PCC operation in the city that car is painted to honor.

When these exhibits are in place on the streetcars, perhaps the concept of ‘Museums In Motion’ will be more readily understood among the general public. Right now, Laubscher says, some people are still confused. He recounts one such example: “A woman walked into the museum during the recent chilly weather and instantly said, ‘Is this the whole museum?’ Just then, a vintage car rumbled by, I pointed to it, and told her the cars themselves were the ‘real’ museum, running all the way from the Castro to Fisherman’s—

“Before I could finish, she waved me off, saying, ‘I don’t want to look at them on the street. It’s cold out there.’”