Muni Heritage Weekend, jointly sponsored by us and Muni’s parent, SFMTA, is ON again this year.
Dates are Saturday-Sunday, September 20-21, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with events centered around our San Francisco Railway Museum at the Steuart Street F-line stop (between Market and Mission).
You’ll be able to ride — FREE — one of Muni’s beloved 1934 Blackpool Boat Trams, along with Muni’s irreplaceable Car 1, (America’s first publicly-owned streetcar, from 1912), the delightful single truck “Dinky” streetcar from 1896, international trams and, we hope, a surprise or two.
Beyond riding streetcars your great-grandparents might have ridden, you can ride a cable car even more venerable: “Big 19”, that started its life on Market Street in 1883! It’ll be running on the California Street cable car line, just a block from our museum.
While you’re there, be sure to check out the great new plaza with its I ❤️ SF sculpture and cable car history panels (which we helped put together). The last surviving cable car in the livery of the disappeared O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde line will be out on California Street as well.
At our museum, we’ll have our biggest sale of transit/railroad books and memorabilia ever along with great new merchandise AND our 2026 calendar, fresh off the presses. Get your holiday shopping for friends, family, and yourself (!) done early.
In the plaza next to our museum, lots of activities for kids and families, plus even more shopping choices. Muni will have a pop-up version of its own online store. Other transit history and support groups will have booths with information and displays. Besides learning about history, you can learn about the threats posed by prospective Muni budget cuts to the F-line and perhaps even the cable cars, and how you can help keep them on track and overall Muni service strong.
The plaza displays also include Muni’s motorized cable car for kids’ bell-ringing practice and the wonderful “Muni Raised Me” bus, a tribute work of art by Meymey Lee and other aboard a retired Muni bus.
And after you’ve enjoyed touring that bus, you can ride a similar one — a 1990 Orion 30-foot model, FREE, along the southern Embarcadero to the Giants’ ballpark and Caltrain Depot, and back as well. If that’s too new for you, try the 87-year old little bus that ran up to Coit Tower for almost 40 years. Or the bus Muni bought in 1947 to replace the Powell cable cars (oops). Or the absolute classic Mack bus from the 1950s, and other vintage motor coaches to ride or admire (including the all-time “Leave the Driving to Us” bus.
More buses? Yep. You can take a free ride on vintage Muni trolley coaches from 1950 or 1975 up to Washington Square in North Beach.
All buses and special vintage streetcars are free. Regular F-line streetcars and cable cars will charge their regular fares.
Here’s SFMTA’s announcement with more details. Keep an eye on this space for updates.
AND FOR OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS (CURRENT AND PROSPECTIVE), don’t forget our exclusive reception at our museum on Friday evening, September 19, followed by a special streetcar charter. Remember, we’re an independent nonprofit that gets ZERO bucks from Muni or the City, so we depend on donors and members to keep our work to protect and promote the streetcars and cable cars going. If you’ve given $250 or more this year, just email rick@streetcar.org to RSVP. If you haven’t, but want to, go to our support page and join or increase your support to that level.
