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.
San Francisco Municipal Railway photo.
Today’s E-Embarcadero line demonstration service from Pier 39 to Caltrain showed, on the one hand, how smoothly the vintage streetcars can share the tracks with N-Judah and T-Third Street light rail vehicles. On the other hand, it demonstrated several areas — none surprising — that need to be addressed before regular service can begin. Identifying problems was a key reason that Muni COO Ken McDonald wanted the demo service, which will be repeated from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday, September 14th.
Several years ago, artist John Kuzich began collecting Muni Fast Passes for an art project that is nearing completion. He’s created a number of small collages and completed three out of a set of four large panels using the passes. Along with flyers posted around town and word of mouth, Market Street Railway helped John connect with riders and their accumulated passes through our website, and our member newsletter, Inside Track. The public response to his appeal for donated passes has been phenomenal.
During the reacquisition and restoration of 1914 Muni streetcar No. 162, we sought out vintage photos of the car, almost all of which we’ve featured in our member newsletter Inside Track already — except these two. Seems that our ‘newest’ vintage streetcar has never been afraid to get into a scrape … literally.
Our Photo of the Week is a great shot of F-line PCC No. 1055 on The Embarcadero, shot from inside car No. 130 on its way to Fisherman’s Wharf. We think this image really captures what a unique and beautiful experience it is to ride along San Francisco’s grand waterfront boulevard on the F-line, and we hope you enjoy it.
Market Street Railway’s 2009 Museums In Motion calendar is available for purchase. This 11×16 inch full color calendar features thirteen beautiful photos of Muni’s historic streetcars and cable cars in action on the streets of San Francisco, along with 24 historical black & white images from the city’s rich transit past.
All of San Francisco’s vintage streetcars have interesting histories, but No. 1051 has been adding to its legacy in recent years.
This streetcar is painted to commemorate Los Angeles Railway (LARy). Los Angeles ran PCC streetcars from 1937 to 1963. San Diego got California’s first PCCs, beating LARy by a few weeks, but LARy got bragging rights when Shirley Temple, then America’s biggest child star, unveiled its first PCCs on March 23, 1937. Here’s a link to rare newsreel film of that event.
This streetcar is painted to honor Brooklyn, which ran PCC streetcars from 1936 to 1956. Trolleys (as they were called there) were once such a part of the Brooklyn scene that the local baseball club was named the ‘Trolley Dodgers’, later shortened to, well…you know.
