DVD, 1906 Trip Down Market Street, fully narrated with city sounds added

Just days before the Great Earthquake and Fire destroyed much of the West’s greatest city, pioneer filmmakers, the Miles Brothers bolted a hand-cranked camera to the front of a cable car and rolled down San Francisco’s Market Street, unknowingly filming the end of an era. Our narrated version, subtly enhanced with the city sounds of horses and early automobiles, provides the social, political, and transportation context for everything you see in this remarkable 12 minute trip from Eighth Street to the Ferry Building. Superb restoration by Prelinger Archive, narration by Rick Laubscher. Available exclusively from Market Street Railway.

Member Area

We thank you for being a member of Market Street Railway. Your membership is very important to keeping the past present in the future. The wonderful historic streetcars in San Francisco didn’t just happen on their own. The support of Market Street Railway members is what made our successful advocacy for the streetcars possible.

See “How Transit Built SF” Tuesday Night

July 27, 2014September 6, 2014 Rick Laubscher SFMSR

Cable Car Fleet Poster 36″ x 24″

Our updated poster shows the many vintage liveries now gracing the Powell Street cable car fleet (a project supported by Market Street Railway). These paint schemes represent five different owners of the Powell line since 1888, in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Streetcar Fleet Poster 36″ x 24″

The definitive way to display your love of San Francisco’s historic streetcars. Forty-five vintage beauties on a single poster. Read More……

Checkout

Note: Our online store uses WooCommerce software, which requires a separate account (and password) from our membership accounts. We apologize for this complication. If you’re just here to shop (whether you’re one of our members or not), you can check out as a guest, or create a store account by clicking on the “Account” tab above to log in. Signing up for a store account will also make future purchases faster.

Historic Travel

Join Market Street Railway and save 10%

How cable cars work

Cable Cars have no engine or motor on the cars themselves. The power source is centralized in the cable car barn and powerhouse at Washington and Mason Streets (also home to the Cable Car Museum). There, powerful electric motors (originally a stationary steam-powered engine) drive giant winding wheels that pull cables through a trench beneath the street, centered under the cable car tracks (that’s what’s in that slot between the tracks).