It’s that time of year again…
Two Streetcars Get Dressed for the Holidays
Month: November 2010
A Salute to the China Clipper!
There’s a case to be made that 75 years ago, San Francisco was the most interesting transportation venue in the world, however briefly. For it was three-quarters of a century ago today that the first Martin Flying Boat took off from San Francisco Bay, bound for Manila (photo, left, from Associated Press). That seaplane was named the China Clipper by its owner, Pan American Airways, a name that the public applied to every other Pan Am plane that joined it on the route. Our friend Carl Nolte tells the story wonderfully in today’s Chronicle. Nolte notes that the pilot on that first flight flew under the cables of the unfinished Bay Bridge on his takeoff. He would also have flown over numerous ferries still providing the only way to get directly between the City, the East Bay, and Marin. That made the Ferry Building one of the busiest transit terminals in the world, served by more than 800 streetcars in the afternoon peak period. (What? You didn’t think we would leave streetcars out, however tenuous the connection, did you?)When you consider that this first China Clipper flight came just eight years after Lindbergh’s New York to Paris flight, seen as a revolution in aviation, it is a stunning testimony to the speed at which technology developed, as well as a tribute to the guts of Pan Am for inaugurating what was a risky, but visionary, service. Though almost no San Franciscan could afford a trans-Pacific flight, which was priced at almost $30,000 round trip in today’s dollars, all appreciated that it cemented their city’s role as the undisputed commercial capital of the West Coast (for at least a little while longer).Personal note: when I was growing up in my family’s delicatessen on Market Street (“Laubscher Brothers: Famous for Fine Salads”), my great uncle, Carl Laubscher, would tell me that early in the China Clipper era, Pan Am came to him and his brothers and asked if they would supply box lunches for the passengers on the first leg of the flight. He said they turned it down, thus missing a chance to get in on the ground floor of what became the airline catering business. Thanks, Unc!
First Rewired PCC Back Home; Another Leaves
Muni had PCCs coming and going today at Metro East. Muni crews unloaded the first of 11 vintage streamliners from Muni’s 1070 class following its complete rewiring at Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania.The rain led them to welcome the streetcar back home inside the spacious light rail facility at Cesar Chavez and Illinois Streets, just off the T-line. The 1070 class streetcars originally ran in Minneapolis-St. Paul when new in the late 1940s, and this one, No. 1071, is painted in the bright yellow and dark green of its original owner, Twin City Rapid Transit. (This group of cars was sold to Newark, New Jersey in the early 1950s, and purchased by Muni from New Jersey Transit in 2004.) The 1070-class streetcars were given a cosmetic restoration by Muni, but this did not include the wiring, which was original and caused major reliability problems, such that only five of the 11 streetcars have actually carried passengers on the F-line (Nos. 1075, 1076, and 1077, which are currently operational, and 1078 and 1079, which are sidelined with significant problems). No. 1078 is already at Brookville, and No. 1079, honoring Detroit Street Railways and pictured at right, was loaded on the same trailer that delivered No. 1071 and sent back to Brookville today. No. 1071, the prototype for the rewired 1070-class, It features an entirely new accelerator assembly under the floor, designed in the Czech Republic as an updated version of the reliable Westinghouse type propulsion components used on many of the 5,000 PCCs that once ran in North America. This new accelerator has been tested for the past nine months in PCC No. 1055, and has provided very reliable service. The 1070 class of PCC streetcars had General Electric components until the renovation, but Muni is gradually standardizing on a single type of PCC propulsion system, to reduce maintenance training and parts requirements.No. 1071 will be tested by Muni maintenance staff for up to 30 days to ensure it meets all specifications and will then be put into service. This will come none too soon, because the shops are struggling on a daily basis to meet the demand for service on the F-line. Having 11 reliable 1070-class streetcars available will make a big difference, but it may take another year before all of these are complete.
O’Shaughnessy’s Map Now Available at the Museum
M. M. O’Shaughnessy is the engineer who built the backbone of the San Francisco we know today. Think Robert Moses in New York without the colossal ego and disregard for people. Among his enduring legacy of public works in our city, count 68 miles of Muni streetcar lines (including the J, K, L, M, and N lines), the Twin Peaks Tunnel from Castro to West Portal, the Sunset Tunnel under Buena Vista Park, the Stockton Tunnel, the Great Highway, and his crowning achievement, the Hetch Hetchy project, which still supplies the city and the Peninsula with its water.As part of the current exhibition All the Way Down Market at our San Francisco
Waiting Since 1958: Giants’ Bus Finally Comes
I first saw the Giants play the year this photo was taken. It’s April 1958 and a packed Marmon-Herrington trolley coach, already about 10 years old, is filled with Giants’ fans at Seals Stadium, 16th and Bryant Streets. If you think your wait for a Muni bus or streetcar today is long, think about my wait from that first day at Seals Stadium. I was hooked immediately and have stayed hooked ever since, more than 52 years now.When I was a teenager, I regularly rode the 30X Ballpark Express (usally an old Mack bus, once in awhile an even older White) from Fourth and Market to Candlestick, even at night, to see the Giants. Mays. McCovey. Cepeda. Marichal. Alou (Felipe and Matty). Bonds (Bobby). From those days all the way through the N-line and shuttles to Third and King, I’ve ridden many generations of Muni vehicles and watched many generations of Giants. Clark (Jack). Clark (Will). Dravecky. Williams. Bonds (Barry). Kent. Alou (Moises). And so many more. All the while hoping “this will be the year.”Now it is. For every San Francisco Giant, every Giants fan, everyone who rode Muni home in elation or despair after those thousands of games since 1958 — this is for all of us.Congratulations, Champs!
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