This car is painted to honor Kansas City, which ran PCC streetcars from 1941 to 1957. Kansas City’s PCCs—184 in all—were painted to emphasize their modern lines, with a black ‘swoosh’ on the sides to highlight the logo of Kansas City Public Service Company (Frederic Remington’s famed sculpture The Scout on a red heart).

Even with the PCCs, Kansas City’s 25 streetcar lines dwindled to three that ceased service in 1957. One of the three was the famous 56-Country Club—known as the ‘Club Line’, which wound south from downtown on an old steam railroad right-of-way, sharing its tracks with electric freight trains.

Many of Kansas City’s PCCs were later sold to other cities, including Toronto. Eleven of these came third-hand to Muni in 1970 and ran in San Francisco for a few years.

—UPDATE— After spending nearly six years out of service following a bad accident in 2001, car No. 1056 hit the streets again in April 2007, fully restored by Muni craftsworkers.