A Powell Promenade!

December 19, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher News, Posts with Photos

Our friends at Streetsblog San Francisco offer some solid coverage of an offer Audi has made to the city: install two blocks of pedestrian amenities, including widened sidewalks and seating areas, on Powell Street between Ellis and Geary. We won’t duplicate what they wrote, but will note that beyond the pedestrian benefits, which could be considerable, this should make cable car operation in that area safer and more reliable.With parked automobiles and trucks in the curb lane, running board riders take the risk of getting whacked by vehicle mirrors if they let it all hang out just a little too far. And motor vehicles pulling in and out of the parking spaces can cause significant delays.We’re assured that the design shown above is only conceptual; final decisions will be made locally. We hope so. The concept of the Otis Spunkmeyer lookalike drinking some kind of green Caribbean cocktail on Powell is a tad jarring. To add to the somewhat surreal scene, there’s no cable car in sight, but riding the tracks we can clearly discern — a vintage VW Microbus! Did Ken Kesey design this?Seriously, if they actually intend to install benches like the ones “conceptually” shown, the people who actually occupy them probably won’t look like the folks in the drawing. Will the result be inviting to pedestrians, or will it turn into a gauntlet like you often find in the cable car passenger queue at Powell and Market?Just asking.With the right installation, though, this could be a huge plus for lower Powell Street, giving pedestrians much needed additional room to walk and clearing the way for at least a modest improvement in cable car service.Best of all, if this temporary installation works, it can help pave the way for something permanent, perhaps modeled on the existing one-block cable car plaza between Market and Ellis.The promenade is scheduled to be installed by April 2011. It is being managed by the Union Square Business Improvement District.

First Run of 1071

December 18, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher Fleet Updates, Muni News, Posts with Photos

Another step forward for Muni’s program to get its 11 PCCs from the 1070 class into permanent, reliable service. Streamliner No. 1071, painted to honor its original (1947) owner, Twin City Rapid Transit of Minneapolis-St. Paul, operated under its own power from Muni Metro East, on the T-line at Cesar Chavez Street near Third Street, across town to Geneva Division some seven miles away. It’s believed to be the first time this streetcar, acquired by Muni six years ago, has operated a substantial distance under its own power.Pictured above on The Embarcadero connector track near Howard Street during its move on December 16, this streetcar is the first of its class to be returned to San Francisco following complete rewiring and installation of updated (but still traditional) propulsion components by Brookville Equipment in Pennsylvania. It is part of an $18 million contract that also includes the complete remanufacture of five additional PCCs.No. 1071 was delivered to Metro East on November 20, but some of the new components were out of adjustment and the streetcar would not operate. Muni towed it over to Geneva Division for a ceremony in conjunction with the dedication of the new covered storage facility for historic streetcars, then towed it back, where this week representatives from Brookville and its subcontractors have been making the adjustments. They will incorporate the lessons learned from the renovation of this “pilot car” into the work being done on other streetcars in this group. This streetcar will soon enter acceptance testing by Muni. Look for it on the N-Judah line as well as the F-line and J-line. After acceptance, it will start carrying passengers for the first time since Muni acquired it, as soon as a month from now. (Of the 11 PCCs in this class, acquired third-hand from Newark, New Jersey, only 5 have carried passengers so far in San Francisco.)

Going Out With Style on California Street

December 4, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher SFMSR

Muni is shutting down the California Street cable car line for an estimated six months starting in January, to replace a variety of mechanical components under the street and do some track work. They’ll apply lessons learned to try to make the next phases — covering the two Powell Street lines — go faster. Makes sense, since the Cal line has very low ridership compared to the Powell lines.

Thanks to cable car gripman (and Market Street Railway member) Val Lupiz, the Cal cable line is getting a spectacular sendoff. With the help of his financee and her daughters, he decorated Cal cable car No. 60 (the newest in the Cal fleet) for the holidays — and what a job they did! Enjoy Val’s photos…or better yet, take a ride on the car before the Cal line goes on hiatus. What could be a more San Francisco holiday trip — and of course, on California Street, no waiting in long lines (for passengers, that is — for the cars themselves at the Market Street end of the line, wellllll…..

RIP Transbay Terminal Streetcar Hump

December 3, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher History Spotlight, News, Posts with Photos

A wrecking ball knocked the triple-track streetcar “hump” on the Transbay Terminal into oblivion today. The 71-year old building itself is next, really the final chapter in clearing the site for the billion-dollar terminal that will replace it, hoped to include stations for both high speed rail and Caltrain in addition to buses.The “hump” was a streetcar ramp built in front of the terminal between First and Fremont Streets, just south of Mission. When it opened on January 15, 1939, some of the streetcars that had been going down Market to the Ferry Building — both Muni cars on the outer tracks and Market Street Railway Company cars on the inner tracks — were diverted to the new terminal, but the operation was such a mess (photo, below) that it caused what is still considered the worst traffic jam in Market Street history.At first, there were two streetcar tracks, one for each company, southbound on First and northbound on Fremont, switching into three tracks on the hump. They brought passengers to the trains that ran across the Bay Bridge: three companies with trains that ran as far as Chico. But within a couple of years of opening, only the Key System trains serving the inner East Bay cities survived.After Muni and the old Market Street Railway merged in 1944, First and Fremont were reduced to one track each, with two tracks on the ramp. By mid-1949, Muni was sending all its streetcars to the terminal: the B and C Geary lines, plus the J, K, L, M, and N. That ended when Muni Metro opened full-time in 1982, though vintage streetcars used the terminal hump during the Trolley Festivals of the 1980s, then again when the permanent F-line opened in 1995, until the Wharf extension opened in 2000. The tracks on First and Fremont were torn up soon after, and only Muni buses have used the hump since.Now, there are only photographs and memories…

It’s Official: Geneva Canopy Dedicated

December 2, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher Muni News, News, Posts with Photos

SFMTA CEO Nat Ford (pictured at the microphone above) led the cheers today at the dedication of the new Geneva Canopy project — the covered storage facility for 24 streetcars in Muni’s historic fleet. The building was erected under a $6.9 million design build contract with Shimmick Construction. An SFMTA press release put the total project cost at $10.1 million dollars, meaning that so called “soft costs” came to about a third of the total, despite the fact that design and engineering was wrapped into the construction contract. Market Street Railway President Rick Laubscher also spoke at the dedication, paying tribute to two former MSR board members, Art Michel and George Miller, for leading our advocacy efforts on the much-needed project for years. He also thanked the San Francisco Municipal Railway Improvement Corporation, a special purpose financing entity, which provided major funding for the project.A few streetcars have been using the facility on a test basis for the past month while the contractor was finishing up work. Now, it will be filled with F-line cars every night, just in time to avoid the coming storms.

Two Streetcars Get Dressed for the Holidays

November 27, 2010October 11, 2014 Todd Jappin Features

It’s that time of year again…

A Salute to the China Clipper!

November 22, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher SFMSR

There’s a case to be made that 75 years ago, San Francisco was the most interesting transportation venue in the world, however briefly. For it was three-quarters of a century ago today that the first Martin Flying Boat took off from San Francisco Bay, bound for Manila (photo, left, from Associated Press). That seaplane was named the China Clipper by its owner, Pan American Airways, a name that the public applied to every other Pan Am plane that joined it on the route. Our friend Carl Nolte tells the story wonderfully in today’s Chronicle. Nolte notes that the pilot on that first flight flew under the cables of the unfinished Bay Bridge on his takeoff. He would also have flown over numerous ferries still providing the only way to get directly between the City, the East Bay, and Marin. That made the Ferry Building one of the busiest transit terminals in the world, served by more than 800 streetcars in the afternoon peak period. (What? You didn’t think we would leave streetcars out, however tenuous the connection, did you?)When you consider that this first China Clipper flight came just eight years after Lindbergh’s New York to Paris flight, seen as a revolution in aviation, it is a stunning testimony to the speed at which technology developed, as well as a tribute to the guts of Pan Am for inaugurating what was a risky, but visionary, service. Though almost no San Franciscan could afford a trans-Pacific flight, which was priced at almost $30,000 round trip in today’s dollars, all appreciated that it cemented their city’s role as the undisputed commercial capital of the West Coast (for at least a little while longer).Personal note: when I was growing up in my family’s delicatessen on Market Street (“Laubscher Brothers: Famous for Fine Salads”), my great uncle, Carl Laubscher, would tell me that early in the China Clipper era, Pan Am came to him and his brothers and asked if they would supply box lunches for the passengers on the first leg of the flight. He said they turned it down, thus missing a chance to get in on the ground floor of what became the airline catering business. Thanks, Unc!

First Rewired PCC Back Home; Another Leaves

November 20, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher Fleet Updates, Muni News, Posts with Photos

Muni had PCCs coming and going today at Metro East. Muni crews unloaded the first of 11 vintage streamliners from Muni’s 1070 class following its complete rewiring at Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania.The rain led them to welcome the streetcar back home inside the spacious light rail facility at Cesar Chavez and Illinois Streets, just off the T-line. The 1070 class streetcars originally ran in Minneapolis-St. Paul when new in the late 1940s, and this one, No. 1071, is painted in the bright yellow and dark green of its original owner, Twin City Rapid Transit. (This group of cars was sold to Newark, New Jersey in the early 1950s, and purchased by Muni from New Jersey Transit in 2004.) The 1070-class streetcars were given a cosmetic restoration by Muni, but this did not include the wiring, which was original and caused major reliability problems, such that only five of the 11 streetcars have actually carried passengers on the F-line (Nos. 1075, 1076, and 1077, which are currently operational, and 1078 and 1079, which are sidelined with significant problems). No. 1078 is already at Brookville, and No. 1079, honoring Detroit Street Railways and pictured at right, was loaded on the same trailer that delivered No. 1071 and sent back to Brookville today. No. 1071, the prototype for the rewired 1070-class, It features an entirely new accelerator assembly under the floor, designed in the Czech Republic as an updated version of the reliable Westinghouse type propulsion components used on many of the 5,000 PCCs that once ran in North America. This new accelerator has been tested for the past nine months in PCC No. 1055, and has provided very reliable service. The 1070 class of PCC streetcars had General Electric components until the renovation, but Muni is gradually standardizing on a single type of PCC propulsion system, to reduce maintenance training and parts requirements.No. 1071 will be tested by Muni maintenance staff for up to 30 days to ensure it meets all specifications and will then be put into service. This will come none too soon, because the shops are struggling on a daily basis to meet the demand for service on the F-line. Having 11 reliable 1070-class streetcars available will make a big difference, but it may take another year before all of these are complete.

O’Shaughnessy’s Map Now Available at the Museum

November 13, 2010October 11, 2014 Rick Laubscher History Spotlight, Posts with Photos

M. M. O’Shaughnessy is the engineer who built the backbone of the San Francisco we know today. Think Robert Moses in New York without the colossal ego and disregard for people. Among his enduring legacy of public works in our city, count 68 miles of Muni streetcar lines (including the J, K, L, M, and N lines), the Twin Peaks Tunnel from Castro to West Portal, the Sunset Tunnel under Buena Vista Park, the Stockton Tunnel, the Great Highway, and his crowning achievement, the Hetch Hetchy project, which still supplies the city and the Peninsula with its water.As part of the current exhibition All the Way Down Market at our San Francisco

Waiting Since 1958: Giants’ Bus Finally Comes

November 1, 2010August 9, 2014 Rick Laubscher History Spotlight, Posts with Photos

I first saw the Giants play the year this photo was taken. It’s April 1958 and a packed Marmon-Herrington trolley coach, already about 10 years old, is filled with Giants’ fans at Seals Stadium, 16th and Bryant Streets. If you think your wait for a Muni bus or streetcar today is long, think about my wait from that first day at Seals Stadium. I was hooked immediately and have stayed hooked ever since, more than 52 years now.When I was a teenager, I regularly rode the 30X Ballpark Express (usally an old Mack bus, once in awhile an even older White) from Fourth and Market to Candlestick, even at night, to see the Giants. Mays. McCovey. Cepeda. Marichal. Alou (Felipe and Matty). Bonds (Bobby). From those days all the way through the N-line and shuttles to Third and King, I’ve ridden many generations of Muni vehicles and watched many generations of Giants. Clark (Jack). Clark (Will). Dravecky. Williams. Bonds (Barry). Kent. Alou (Moises). And so many more. All the while hoping “this will be the year.”Now it is. For every San Francisco Giant, every Giants fan, everyone who rode Muni home in elation or despair after those thousands of games since 1958 — this is for all of us.Congratulations, Champs!