The Giants-Cleveland-F line Connection

October 28, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher News, Posts with Photos

Our friends at Curbed SF posted this photo as part of their Giants’ coverage. No doubt because of the orange and cream livery. Doubt they know that F-line PCC No. 1075 actually pays tribute to Cleveland Transit System! Wait, there’s actually a connection, though. Cleveland Transit System’s streetcars were painted in this livery in 1948, the last time the Indians won the World Series (one of only two teams with a longer championship drought than the Giants (the Chicago Cubs are even more hapless) . And it was in 1954 that Cleveland Transit System’s last streetcars stopped running, the same year that the Giants last won the World Series, beating — the Cleveland Indians! (But streetcars in Cleveland continued rolling on the suburban Shaker Heights line, with PCCs giving way to LRVs in 1983.)(The baseball futility scoreboard – most years since last World Series win: Giants 56; Indians 62; Cubs, 102 and counting!)And yes, Muni has a PCC honoring Chicago too. We’ll share a surprise about that one next week.GO GIANTS!

Meet the Mayor of the F Line Streetcars

May 27, 2010August 9, 2014 Todd Jappin SFMSR

Getting high on the 6-line

July 10, 2022July 13, 2022 Rick Laubscher Features, History Spotlight, Route Histories, SFMSR 6-Haight-Parnassus, 6-Masonic, 6-Parnassus, golden gate heights, Haight Street, Lines we love, Muni route cutbacks, San Francisco streetcars, San Francisco trolley bus

The 6-Haight-Parnassus trolley coach line returned to service July 9, 2022, after being shut down since the start of the Covid pandemic in Spring 2020. We recounted the history of this line in our exclusive member magazine, Inside Track, in 2019. We hope readers who enjoy this story will join us or donate, so we can keep telling stories like this.

Buses on F-line through March 12

February 22, 2022February 22, 2022 Rick Laubscher Muni News, SFMSR

We have received this notice from Muni: “The SFMTA, in partnership with the Department of Public Works, will be substituting motorized buses for the full F Market & Wharves historic streetcar route for three weeks, starting Feb. 22 through March 12. During this time, F Line service will be modified to accommodate construction activities for the Upper Market Safety Project as well as other essential track repair and maintenance elsewhere on the rail corridor.”

0163 Magnet • SF Muni Fageol Gasoline Twin Coach (1947)

This magnet represents Muni’s small fleet of Fageol Twin Coach dual-engine gasoline buses. Magnet measures 4.75″ long. Learn more about it here. Read More……

Faegol-Twin Coach dual-engine gasoline bus

This coach has great historic value – for what it didn’t do. It’s the only survivor of ten delivered to Muni in January 1947 for the express purpose of replacing the Powell Street cable cars. And it didn’t. And San Francisco is better because of it.

Muni to consider PCC streetcars for future J-line service

December 7, 2021January 12, 2022 Rick Laubscher Muni News, PCC - All, SFMSR J-Church, J-Church controversy, J-line historic streetcars, J-line streetcars, J-line subway

At its December 7 meeting, the SFMTA Board of Directors unanimously passed a resolution directing Muni management to evaluate using PCC streetcars to provide single-ride service long-term on the J-Church line. The action was part of a broader measure that instructs management to return J-line light rail vehicles to the Muni Metro Subway as soon as possible.

White Motor Co. Gasoline Coach

Cable cars aren’t the only San Francisco transit vehicles that “climb halfway to the stars.” This 1938 White Motor Company bus spent parts of four decades growling up and down Telegraph Hill on Muni’s 39-Coit line. White had built Muni’s very first bus in 1918, and was Muni’s favored source for its then-infrequent bus purchases. Bus #042 was one of 22 Model White 784 buses delivered to Muni in 1938-39, at a cost of $10,477.53 each (including farebox).

“Better Market Street” keeps shrinking; less disruption likely for F-line

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 Rick Laubscher Muni News Better Market Street, Castro District, F-line

More than ten years ago, the City proposed a modest project to repave downtown Market Street. Planners got involved; advocacy groups pushed to add more features; city departments weighed in with wish lists, all saying, “If you’re going to that that, you should also do THIS.” The project metastasized into a full rebuilding of everything on and under the street from curb to curb, from the foot of Market to Octavia Street, more than two miles.