1914 Muni No. 162
Worker shortages and the pressing need to get the LRV fleet in shape for the opening of Third Street have reduced the amount of work being done on this original Muni car, brought back to its home by Market Street Railway members’ donations. Since our volunteers finished their cosmetic work on the car in late 2004 and sent it to Muni, there has been continuing work, but completion dates keep getting pushed back. Currently, much of the car is being rewired and repiped, and the Westinghouse HL controllers (pictured) are being checked and repaired as necessary. The motors have been pulled from the trucks and are being rebuilt. The new low-voltage circuitry must still be installed to support its farebox, radio, and global positioning system (yes, even the vintage cars are getting these in hopes of managing the line more effectively). It now seems unlikely that the car will be finished this year. Market Street Railway continues to advocate acceleration of this work, and will give the major donors to this project plenty of notice to join in on its inaugural run.

1924 MSRy No. 798
Our volunteers continue their work on the interior of this last remaining specimen of 250 streetcars built in our namesake company’s ‘Elkton Shops’ (now Muni’s Green Division) at Ocean and Geneva Avenues. Don McKinsey and Bill Wong lead this effort. Don has reinstalled the windows in the bulkheads separating the sections of the car, with their antique hardware. A much bigger job has been getting the seats right. Muni wanted rattan seats in the end sections, and new cushions with authentic rattan were made, but the brackets that allow the seat backs to reverse over the cushions (so passengers can still face forward when the operating end of the car reverses) were not long enough for the rebuilt cushions. Don, an incredibly talented metalsmith, seamlessly spliced steel extensions into each seat bracket to fix the issue. He has also installed ceiling mounting boards for the interior lighting, which, true to the original, will be unadorned bare bulbs. Consistent with Muni’s upgrades to the historic fleet, these bulbs will run off the new low-voltage circuit for enhanced safety. Traditionally, interior lighting ran in a series of five bulbs off the 600 volts direct current from the overhead wire. Over the next few months, our volunteer work on No. 798 will be balanced with the construction of a streetcar end and operator’s cab to serve as a centerpiece display in our new museum.

1912 Moscow No. 106
Market Street Railway volunteer Peter McGowan continues his methodical interior restoration work on the single-truck Moscow tram, a longer-term project.

1927 Kobe-Hiroshima No. 578-J
This two-motor, double-end Japanese car returned to Muni on June 21, after being worked on in Washington state. Initially, the car went up for installation of a parking brake, which it lacked and is now required by the California Public Utilities Commission. Once there, Muni decided to have the contractor remove its lead paint inside and out. In the process of doing this, the contractor noticed serious rust problems on the ends of the car, inside and out. These must be repaired and the car repainted before it can reenter service; no timetable for that has been set. However, the car did get a new metal headliner (interior ceiling) and canvas roof.

This car moved from Kobe to Hiroshima after almost 90% of that city’s streetcar fleet was destroyed by the atomic bombing of 1945. Recently, two of the four Hiroshima streetcars that survived the bombing were retired, but according to news reports, a transit official said they may be operated annually as a memorial on the a-bomb anniversary.