From far-away San Francisco, our friend Tony Gura sends us some pictures of historic equipment that was operating on Saturday as part of Muni's Heritage Weekend. He writes:
Market Street Railway 578, built in 1896, only ran in service
this past weekend. This car predates Muni by 16 years and was converted
to work service shortly after the 1906 Earthquake.
The interior looks just like a shorter version of a California Street
Cable car but it has always been electric even though it appears that
the brake lever was taken from a cable car. It is very entertaining
watching people wonder what a "cable car" is doing on the F-Line where
there is no cable.
Muni's first car from 1912 was running and their newest car which just
arrived from England was on display. The current Boat Tram 228 is so
popular that car 233 was acquired to allow them to run more frequently
once some work is done to make it ADA accessible.
Interior of Muni car 1, while the center section has bowling alley seating. The later "Iron Monsters" have wood seats and are able to have transverse seats on both sides due to their wider width.
Blackpool Boat Trams 228 and 233 along with the end of Market Street Railway 578:
Chicago PCC 1058 was also running but I was unable to ride it.
Rick Laubscher, the president of Market Street Railway proclaimed
that San Francisco was the only city in the entire world running four
types of heritage equipment: cable cars, streetcars, trolley coaches and
motor coaches.
I am attaching this picture of Marmon Herrington trolley
coach 776 in honor of my dad who suffered through them in Chicago on the
way to high school eagerly awaiting the day they would be retired.
Unfortunately it was not running but a replacement 1970s Flyer trolley
coach as well as a 1938 White gas bus and a GM fishbowl bus were running
on demonstration trips.
Folks,
ReplyDeleteI live in San Francisco and I did not know any of this was going on!
It would have been fun to see the new boat car. They are fun to ride in and even look at!
Ted Miles
San Francisco resident
F Line rider
Anybody interested in San Francisco transit should go to the Market Street Railway website at http://www.streetcar.org/ where they have the history of each historic streetcar and cable car as well as other information about the F-Line. In addition, they post any news about the equipment or upcoming events on their blog at http://www.streetcar.org/blog/.
ReplyDeleteTony Gura
What is all that awful signage they stuck on the cover of that poor K2 controller??
ReplyDeleteThat lever hand brake on the 578 was apparently common on many California-type streetcars of the era. I believe Orange Empire has a car in their collection with just such a brake.
ReplyDeleteFolks,
ReplyDeleteThere was a hold over from the Heritage Weekend; yesterday I got a nice ride on the MUNI #130 streetcar of 1914, the second oldest of the MUNI cars.
Back in the 1980s it had been in MOW and tow car service. The converted it back to passenger service for the early Trolley Festivals here. It sure makes all the right noises.
Ted Miles
IRM Member
MUNI Rider