Photo of the Month: Heading in Opposite Directions
As Milan tram no. 1811 passes San Diego streetcar no. 1078 on Market Street. Telstar Logistics photo.
As Milan tram no. 1811 passes San Diego streetcar no. 1078 on Market Street. Telstar Logistics photo.
Cable car tracks never to be used again. Walt Vielbaum photo.
How does a video suddenly “go viral” after more than a century? Amazingly, we’re hearing from people all over the world, asking about a video (or more accurately, a film) made on Market Street that has gained 1,100,000 views on You Tube at this writing. Here’s the You Tube version — but it’s only a shadow of what we have.
ex-Muni PCC streetcars in St. Charles, Missouri. Scott Tiek photo.
A large group of pedestrians and cyclists gathered during Sunday Streets when it expanded into the Mission District last year. Jamison Wieser photo.
This cable car is considered the flagship of the Powell Street fleet, proudly wearing the original paint design Powell cable cars wore when the line first opened in 1888.
Powell Street Cable Car 2 was built in the East Bay town of Newark in 1893 by Carter Brothers. It was part of an order placed to extend service on the Sacramento-Clay line to reach the 1894 Mid-Winter Exposition in Golden Gate Park. Some two dozen of these cars were stored on outer Sacramento Street, and so escaped destruction on April 18, 1906, when the fire following a great earthquake incinerated the original Powell Street cable car fleet. The Sacramento Street cars were moved to the Powell lines. Many, including this car, still run today.
Powell Cable Car 3 is painted the way the Powell Street cable cars looked at the darkest years of the cable car system, the 1960s and 1970s. During this era, the tracks, cable machinery, and powerhouse became decrepit beyond repair. The entire system had to be shut down for a total rebuilding between October 1982 and July 1984, spearheaded by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein.