San Francisco history podcast Sparkletack returned a few weeks ago from a long hiatus with a weekly time capsule. Each episode normally tells just one story from local history, but host Richard Miller is using these time capsules to cover nuggets from San Francisco’s past that don’t quite warrant an entire program of their own.
In our last post, we looked back on the last days of streetcar service on the B-Geary line. In this post — an updated version of a story that appeared in the Summer 2002 issue of our member newsletter, Inside Track — we take a broader look back at the demise of streetcars in San Francisco in general, including the original F-line.
A recent post over at the Transbay Blog on the old B-Geary streetcar line inspired us to republish and update the following story from our Fall 2002 member newsletter, Inside Track. In a previous issue, we had looked at the decisions made — and not made — that doomed streetcar service on the original F-line (today’s 30-Stockton bus) and the old H-line (on Van Ness and Potrero Avenues). Their demise at the beginning of the 1950s left San Francisco with just seven streetcar lines, down from a high of around 50. And the clock was ticking for two of them…
This is a special streetcar in several ways. No. 1040 is the very last of almost 5,000 PCC streetcars manufactured in North America. It was delivered to Muni in 1952, completing an order of 25 PCCs from the venerable St. Louis Car Company. Of all the single-end PCCs in Muni’s current active fleet, it is the only one that has worked in San Francisco its entire life.
Muni has two major requests for proposals to rebuild vintage streetcars out on the street. One proposal would renovate sixteen streamlined PCC streetcars to double the existing fleet of that type of car. The other would restore Muni’s flagship streetcar, vintage-1912 car No. 1, to its original glory in preparation for Muni’s centennial in 2012.
Muni has been working on its Transit Effectiveness Project for two years now, trying to make service more effective. This is an important project, because it will determine which lines receive the most operating and capital funding, based on how they fit into the overall network and how many people they carry. “Rapid” is the highest category. We at MSR are pleased to see that after staff initially classified the “F” line as “local” service (even though it met every criterion they set out for “Rapid”), they looked more closely and reclassified both the F and the future E-line as Rapid.
Focus Features photo.
As part of our mission, Market Street Railway creates displays on-board the historic streetcars to educate San Franciscans and visitors on interesting aspects of the city’s transit history. We call it the Museums in Motion project. This is an online version of one of those displays.
Will you look this good at 118? This Powell Street cable car (at least part of it) has been riding the rails since 1890. On May 28, it returned to service in the flamboyant livery it wore at the time of the 1906 earthquake and fire. Neither of the landmarks it shares the frame with — Coit Tower (1933) and Sts. Peter & Paul Church (1924) — go back that far. Rick Laubscher photo.
Amid the crowds of the Sunday Streets San Francisco event on The Embarcadero this Sunday, August 31st, a red streetcar slipped quietly back into service. F-line PCC No. 1061 — the ‘Los Angeles Pacific Electric’ car — was on the road again after being rear-ended on August 4th by Milan tram No. 1807. The Muni body shop jumped right on the job and straightened out the damage to No. 1061, which included slight underframe damage, now fully repaired.
