November 29, 2019November 29, 2019 Rick Laubscher

Two Great Streetcar Stories

Muni’s historic streetcars, and the people who love them, keep gaining media attention, both in their hometown, and far afield. For your Thanksgiving weekend reading pleasure, we’re sharing two stories from the San Francisco Chronicle, and its associated website, sfgate.com.

Both stories show how the historic streetcars continue to attract new generations of fans, thanks in part to Market Street Railway’s continuing efforts aimed at exactly that goal. It’s a core part of our mission to keep the past present in the future, by making it relevant and delightful to younger San Franciscans and visitors.

Titillated passengers on the F-Bomb Comedy Train. *Photo, PJ Crame, courtesy San Francisco Chronicle.*

First, some laughs. There’s now a comedy car on the F-line, at least once in a while. Here’s the story of the F-Bomb Comedy Train. A group charters a streetcar (in the case of the most recent event on November 25, a “Mint Milano“, and runs the F-line with performances by local comedians along the way. Next event is supposed to take place in January, but no specific date yet. The group says they’ll post info when available on their Facebook Group, where you can sign up for email notifications. So, please don’t ask us; it’s their gig, and we love it! (Note that part of our advocacy efforts in the coming year will be gaining SFMTA concurrence to expand opportunities for groups and people to charter historic streetcars and ride them on other lines besides the F and E.

Alex Key with the replica 1911 streetcar at our San Francisco Railway Museum. *Photo: Nick Otto, courtesy San Francisco Chronicle.*

Second, an in-depth story about one of our valued volunteers at our San Francisco Railway Museum. He’s 16-year old Alex Key, profiled by the Chronicle‘s talented writer Sam Whiting. (Note that Chronicle content is kept behind a paywall; we think the link above should work, but if it doesn’t, a summary: the article recounts Alex’s amazing memory for transit history, current lines and stops (not just on Muni rail lines, but every Muni bus line BART, and other Bay Area transit systems as well), and his pleasure at helping visitors out with directions.)

We are very proud of all our dedicated volunteers, who interpret San Francisco transit history to our museum visitors, and often to E- and F-line riders as well. If you’d like to join our volunteer corps, just send an email to volunteer@streetcar.org.

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November 13, 2019November 13, 2019 Rick Laubscher

Jeff Tumlin New SFMTA Leader

Jeff Tumlin on the N-Judah line at Carl and Cole Streets. Photo courtesy San Francisco *Chronicle.*

Bay Area native and long-time San Francisco resident Jeffrey Tumlin will take over Muni’s parent agency, SFMTA, on December 16. Mayor London Breed announced Tumlin’s new position as Director of Transportation at a City Hall news conference this morning, subject to appointment by the SFMTA Board of Directors (expected to be a formality).

Tumlin will take over the permanent job held by Ed Reiskin for the past eight years until Reiskin announced his resignation earlier this year. SFMTA’s Director of Sustainable Streets, Tom Maguire, has been filling in on an interim basis. Tumlin and his husband live in Noe Valley; he is a regular Muni rider and bicycle commuter.

Details on Tumlin’s career are here in this Examiner story, and here in SFMTA’s news release and in this SFMTA blog post.

We especially recommend the blog post to gain a perspective on Tumlin’s values and priorities. A couple of excerpts give insight. First, it’s clear one of his top priorities is “getting more people out of their cars and onto our buses and light rail vehicles”:

Getting people to change their travel behaviors won’t be easy. But living in San Francisco has taught me that we’re all in this together and riding Muni taught me how to be a San Franciscan.

And perhaps, most relevant for our nonprofit advocacy group, its members, and our many supporters and friends, this concluding remark:

Another thing that excites me is that, in San Francisco, we incorporate a sense of delight into mobility. I love taking the F Line, riding the cable cars at dawn, biking on the Embarcadero, driving across Golden Gate Bridge. What we have here is special…and unique.

We at Market Street Railway are excited about Jeff Tumlin’s arrival at SFMTA and look forward to working with him. We also thank Tom Maguire for doing a great job in the interim.

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November 1, 2019November 1, 2019 Rick Laubscher

Happy Centennial of a Big Global Streetcar Event

Tram procession on Riversdale Road, Camberwell, Melbourne, November 10, 1991. Courtesy Australian Rail Maps Group on Facebook.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB), whose history is wonderfully summarized in the quoted sections below, which were originally posted on Facebook by the group Australian Rail Maps, which also provided the historic photo from 1991 above.

The M&MTB built both of Muni’s W-class trams: W2 496 in 1929, and SW6 916 in 1946. (Muni also has W2 586, built in 1930, complete and in storage.) W-class trams are generally considered among the best ever built anywhere: simple, reliable, and durable. There were eight evolutionary classes of these vehicles, built between 1923 and 1956. In the photo above, W Class 380 and W1 Class 431 bring up the rear of this procession of older trams. Originally M&MTB painted its trams in a chocolate brown, but switched to the iconic green livery in the late 1920s. W-class trams still hold down service on the 35-City Circle line, as famous to Melbourne as cable cars are to San Francisco. These trams are in the process of being upgraded with some modern features while retaining their historic fabric into the W8 class, for decades more service. We have shared some of the details of these upgrades with Muni, for possible incorporation into its Melbourne trams.

You can find a complete all-time roster of Melbourne trams here.

Melbourne today continues to operate the largest electric streetcar network in the world, thanks to the enduring commitment started by M&MTB. Happy Centennial to our friends Down Under. And thanks to Adolfo Echeverry for the great photo immediately below of Muni’s 496 (left) and 916 at the Ferry Building.

Founded on November 1 1919, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board was a State Government instrumentality charged with integrating and operating Melbourne’s then fragmented tramways. The city and suburbs possessed an impressive but disjoint collection of tramways that had evolved over decades. The MMTB inherited the cable tram network built between 1885 and 1919 by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company (MTOC), and the Northcote Municipality Cable Tramway line. Comprising numerous lines centred on downtown Melbourne, cable trams ran in all directions into the inner suburbs and was world’s largest ever cable tramway network.
The MMTB also inherited a number of municipal-owned electric tramway networks that served surrounding municipalities. Many lines connected end-on with cable trams into the centre of Melbourne. These networks included those of the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust (PMTT), the Hawthorn Tramways Trust (HTT), the Melbourne, Brunswick and Coburg Tramways Trust (MBCTT), the Fitzroy, Northcote and Preston Tramways Trust (FNPTT), and the then under construction Footscray Tramways Trust (FTT). It also took over the operations of the privately owned North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company and Melbourne’s last remaining horse tram route from Royal Parade to Melbourne Zoo in Royal Park.
The MMTB set about unifying and standardising the network. Over the decades it replaced cable trams with electric trams. The last cable tram route, along Bourke Street, closed in 1940. It embarked on a massive electric tramcar modernisation and building program that gave the world the famous W class tram and enabled the older pre-MMTB trams to be withdrawn.
Ultimately, it’s because of the MMTB that Melbourne was able to stand strong against the worldwide destruction of tram networks throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and has not only retained but extended its network so that it is now the world’s largest electric tram network. Trams are now the single most iconic and defining feature of the city.
Ultimately the MMTB was dissolved on July 1 1983 when it was replaced by the Metropolitan Transit Authority that merged tram, bus and suburban train services in Melbourne. Subsequent changes have led to operation of Melbourne’s trams nowadays being franchised to Keolis Downer and run under the banner of Yarra Trams.
–From Australian Rail Maps Group on Facebook, November 1, 2019