The four cars, numbered 1026, 1027, 1028, and 1034, were part of a larger group of PCCs sold by Muni in the 1980s to a private party, Gunnar Henrioulle of South Lake Tahoe, who planned to create a streetcar line there. The cars are complete but unrestored, and will require total rebuilding before being put into service.

One of these cars, No. 1027, has already been donated to Muni and was delivered to San Francisco and put into storage on June 19. Market Street Railway intends to donate the other three PCCs to Muni as well. Muni general manager Michael Burns and his liaison for historic operations, Tony Tufo, encouraged and endorsed the MSR action.

“Our goal is to help Muni build a large enough fleet of reliable PCCs to meet the enormous ridership demand on the F-line and allow for expansion of historic service,” said Rick Laubscher, MSR President. “This is a good start.”

MSR directors, including Laubscher, Dave Pharr, Jack Smith, and Frank Zepeda, have taken a look at issues impacting Muni’s current and future historic streetcar operation. The first was storage capacity. Jack and Frank have calculated that Geneva Division, home of the historic fleet, could hold about 70-75 vintage streetcars after LRVs move out when the new Metro East facility opens in 2004. Given the priorities for other current and potential storage sites, that would appear to be the upper limit for the historic fleet unless a new storage facility is built, a major undertaking.

The MSR Directors then looked at the likely future peak demand for historic streetcars. Currently, Muni has seventeen operating PCCs, nine operating Milan trams, and eight operating historic streetcars of other origins and vintages, for a total of 34. Even so, Muni is currently scratching and clawing to put out enough cars every day on the F-line, and Michael Burns has pledged to reduce headways further on the F, which will require additional cars in service. Adding either an E-line to Fort Mason or beyond, or a G-line to Golden Gate Park, would likely require another 25-30 cars.

“When you add up likely car needs in the future, it more or less equals the storage capacity of Geneva,” says Laubscher. “Muni is moving forward toward building covered storage at Geneva to protect the existing fleet. The next step is identifying, acquiring, and restoring enough cars to complete the fleet. Given the popularity and cost-effectiveness of the PCCs on the F-line, we think they’re the best bet.”

The PCCs known as the “Baby Tens” (car numbers 1016-1040) were highly popular with both passengers and with Muni operators and maintenance people, serving the J, K, L, M, and N lines until the Metro opened in the early 1980s. Muni has four cars from this class remaining in storage, numbers 1023, 1031, 1038, and 1040. The first three have not operated since Metro opened, and need total restoration. Number 1040, the very last PCC built in the US, operated in the Trolley Festivals of the 1980s, though it too now requires a complete rebuilding. The “Baby Tens” resemble the ex-Philadelphia single-end cars (1050-1063) currently in use on the F-line, and have the same Westinghouse electrical equipment and foot pedal arrangement, making maintenance and operation simpler. However, they are wider and boast more seating than the ex-Philly cars. A few Baby Tens remain in museum hands, but almost all the rest have been scrapped.

“Add up the four Baby Tens MSR is donating to Muni, the four they already have, and Muni’s three unrestored double-ended Big Ten PCCs (Nos. 1006, 1008, and 1011), and you’ve got eleven original Muni cars ready for restoration, compatible with the existing PCC fleet,” notes Pharr. “You really need at least that many to attract affordable bids from restoration contractors.” (Muni currently has identified only enough funding to restore about five streetcars.)

But even eleven more PCCs would not meet the needs created by promised levels of more frequent F-line service and implementation of an extended E-line. One option that appears to have come back to life: PCCs from New Jersey.

Newark is replacing its 55-year-old PCCs this fall with new LRVs. New Jersey Transit first planned to dispose of almost all of the 24 Newark PCCs, then seemed to indicate it would hold onto them for an indefinite period. Now, plans are being made to auction 13 of the cars in September, with some of the remainder going to rail museums and other venues.

“We strongly believe Muni should try to acquire all the available Newark cars,” Laubscher says. “In the short run, some of the cars could be put into temporary service with just minor modifications and a paint job, to back up the existing F-line fleet. The rest could be stored in a low-cost secure facility outside the City until Muni is ready to restore them. The Newark cars are the largest remaining operating PCC fleet. After they’re gone, PCCs will be available only in ones and twos, if at all.”

Beyond the PCCs, Muni also has seven non-operational historic streetcars awaiting restoration. These include last-of-its-kind No. 798, built in 1924 by our namesake company at the old Elkton Shops (now Muni’s Green Division for LRVs), plus a 1912 Russian tram, a 1929 Portuguese tram, and a 1954 German tram, all of which ran in the Trolley Festivals. Adding these to the cars mentioned earlier would yield a total fleet of 65. Muni also has a few unrestored ex-St. Louis PCCs of the 1100 class on its property, plus Trolley Festival PCC #1704 (ex-1128), which MSR volunteers are working on as a possible spare car for the F-line fleet. This would leave just enough room at Geneva to accommodate future acquisitions of one-of-a-kind historic equipment in coming decades.

“Completing the historic streetcar fleet is a goal within our reach,” says Laubscher. “The key is acquiring the cars while they’re available. Then we can work on finding the money for restoring them. Given the huge support for the vintage streetcars among San Franciscans, and the demand for the E-line and for more service on the F-line, we believe restoration money can be found. But if we don’t get the cars before they’re gone, it won’t matter.”

MSR paid a total of $20,000 for all four PCCs it is donating to Muni. The funds come from the Car Acquisition Fund supported by special donations from MSR members. MSR is actively looking for additional historic streetcars to fill out the fleet, and would appreciate contributions to replenish the Car Acquisition Fund from members and friends. Checks can be made out to “Market Street Railway” with “Car Acquisition Fund” noted in the memo space of the check. All donations will be acknowledged in future issues of Inside Track.