Did you see the coverage of “President Obama’s” ride on the F-line? Besides the big Chronicle story, the TV coverage got replayed all over the country; really great tourism promotion for the city, just when we need it. The back story here is that it all sprung from the imaginative mind of our newest board member, David Perry, one of the best publicists in the city.
Jamison Wieser photo.
Muni’s flagship streetcar, No. 1, made its last F-line run for awhile today, operating under its own power from Geneva Car House to Metro East at Illinois and Cesar Chavez Sts., where it is being stored under cover until vendor Brookville Equipment Company picks it up in a few weeks for transport to its shops in Pennsylvania for a complete rebuilding.
Recently repaired streetcar no. 952 at the Noe Street F-line stop. Jamison Wieser photo.
STELLLLLAHHH! Marlon Brando made his name in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and cemented it in “On the Waterfront.” The two come together on Sunday, April 26 (not Brando, he’s still dead) when the Streetcar Named Desire (New Orleans No. 952) operates on the waterfront as part of this year’s first “Sunday Streets,” the wildly successful program inaugurated last year by Mayor Newsom.
Our friends at Muni called the other day and asked if we would post the following announcement on our blog, as part of their effort to get the word out to the public on their budget problems and give people a chance to comment in various public forums. We’re happy to help; it’s printed unedited below. One note: it looks like Muni has pulled from consideration any possible separate fare increase for the vintage streetcars. (They had put a possible $1 surcharge for the F-line on a laundry list of potential revenue raising measures, but it appears to be gone now).
…is not just the name of our nostalgic exhibit at the San Francisco Railway Museum, celebrating the days when the family car was a streetcar in San Francisco. It’s also a reminder that baseball season is about to start. No, not major league, but something more important: the “F-liners.” They’re a softball team in the SF Gay Softball League, founded in 2001 and named, yes, for the F-line. They play their first game (games, actually, a doubleheader) Sunday, March 22 at Moscone Field.
Knowing that fans of San Francisco’s vintage streetcars have lots of related interests, we’ve been venturing a bit afield on this blog … last post was vintage amphibious vehicles. This time it’s toy trains in an airplane palace. That would be the International Terminal at SFO, where through early April there’s a great exhibit of toy trains spanning the 20th century, mostly Lionel, but with plenty of variety thrown in.
At Market Street Railway, we focus on historic rail vehicles, but there are plenty of other historic vehicles in San Francisco as well, and we celebrate all of them. One group of interest are the DUKW vehicles run by Bay Quackers. Universally referred to as Ducks instead of their military acronym, these are the World War II-era amphibious vehicles you see carrying tourists along The Embarcadero from Fisherman’s Wharf to Mission Bay, where they plunge into the water for a cruise.
