Cam Beach with Muni Executive Director Nat Ford and Cam’s favorite vintage streetcar, 1914 car No. 162, part of Muni’s original fleet. SFMTA photo.
The members of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors have unanimously honored their late colleague, Cameron Beach, by naming the Geneva Yard, where Muni’s historic streetcars are stored and service, for him.
It is a highly fitting tribute. Geneva Yard was a magnet for Cam Beach when he was a boy, when it served as Muni’s only streetcar division starting in 1957. He kept his affection for streetcars his whole life, and was a champion of Muni’s F-line service and the future E-line during his four years of service on the SFMTA board.
The Geneva Canopy, championed by the late Cam Beach (background, center) is dedicated on December 2, 2010.
Even though the Geneva Yard has carried that name since the site was first occupied in 1900, Market Street Railway believes renaming it to honor Cam Beach is appropriate. The original name comes from the yard’s street address, not a more significant origin. And Cam’s work in helping win completion of the long-awaited canopy structure to protect the streetcars from the elements when they are out of service is only one of his many contributions to Muni’s historic preservation efforts. It is, we believe, a fitting tribute.
We will inform everyone here of formal dedication ceremonies when they are scheduled. And our members will see a full tribute to Cam Beach in the next issue of our member newsletter, *Inside Track*.
A fitting tribute to a great guy who loved streetcars and helped make them almost as famous as the cable cars in San Francisco.
Yes, this is a very fitting tribute to a great man who loved all types of transportation. I only meet him once but I will never forget the great day we had at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, CA, east of Fairfield, CA.
Very nice. Maybe we can get the vintage crews to pull in with the “Beach” head sign!
A fitting tribute to a longtime friend to me personally as well as the Public Transportation industry, if not it’s history!