This was the official debut of ‘Zürich’ tram No. 737, as celebrated by the San Francisco-Zürich Initiative (SFZH) as part of UN World Environment Day 2005 in San Francisco. (San Francisco and Zürich became sister cities in 2003.) Why the quotes around ‘Zürich?’ It was all explained by the city’s mayor, Dr. Elmar Ledergerber, in his dedication speech. “I must let you in on a little secret,” he said. “This tram is actually borrowed. It is from Brussels, though it looks very much like one of ours. Within one year, we hope to replace it in San Francisco with a real Zürich tram.”

Brussels to Zürich
One year before, to the day, Brussels tram No. 7037 arrived in San Francisco, a 1952-vintage product of Belgium using the same PCC technology employed in the core vehicles of the F-line fleet. Muni’s chief mechanical officer for rail, John Sadorra, wanted to evaluate the Brussels tram, so Market Street Railway facilitated its acquisition by Muni. After it arrived, representatives of SFZH approached Muni and MSR, asking whether a Zürich tram could be brought to San Francisco to operate during UN World Environment Day 2005. It was explained that the narrow gauge trams of Zürich would require extensive modification to fit on Muni’s standard gauge system and that both funding and time constraints made this request very difficult to fulfill.

The SFZH then went to the Mayor’s Office with a request to repaint an existing streetcar from the F-line fleet for this purpose. After consultation, it was decided to paint No. 7037 (renumbered No. 737 to avoid a numbering conflict with a Muni trolley coach) into the Zürich livery of blue and white, with SFZH reimbursing Muni for the paint job. Informational displays inside the car were created to tout Zürich (a bit incongruously, since the historic Brussels rider information signs, in Flemish and French, remain intact in the car).

As usual, Carole Gilbert’s unmatched paint crew did a superb job on the exterior paint (the interior was cleaned and touched up). Meantime, the engineering team, working without blueprints, discovered that the car had been modified around ten years ago, with a significant number of electronic components imposed on the originally simple PCC propulsion system. At least one logic board had failed, leaving the car unable to move faster than about 8 mph (cable car speed). The part had not arrived by the date of the celebration, so the car served as a static display, but later did move into position to return to Geneva Division by operating backward on The Embarcadero to Harrison, crossing over, and returning forward to Mission, under the experienced hand of Muni’s Karl Johnson. Most of its trip to and from the barn was under tow, however, by a Breda on the J-line and venerable 1916 work car No. C-1 (restored by MSR volunteers) on Market Street.

During its brief independent operation, the ‘Zürich’ car ran with trademark PCC smoothness, providing a preview of its anticipated operation on the F-line once the electronic issues are addressed.

Permanent plans
In the longer term, SFZH plans to invite a Muni representative to Zürich soon to review available trams and take measurements to see whether standard gauge trucks would clear the narrow body and its underframe components. ADA accessibility issues must be addressed, along with other regulations. As for No. 737, it is anticipated that in a year or two, it will go back into the paint shop for a return to its original 1952 Brussels livery of pale crème with blue stripes. In one livery or the other, it is slated to remain in the permanent Muni historic streetcar fleet.