Trolley Tuesday 4/27/21 - The Modern Market Street Railway

Modern city transit systems are usually not obligated to contain a heritage streetcar line; after all, they're just there to keep the city on the move. However, there are some certain specific exceptions to that rule, whether it's bringing out old equipment on modern lines for excursion services like Chicago or New York, or keeping old lines operating just "as-is" as long as the spares are there like Boston. San Francisco is no different to the art of the heritage streetcar, but it might as well be both the prototype and the codifier on how to do it for the rest of the world. The interplay between tourist trolley and viable transport is on full display on today's San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni for short), and nowhere is that more evident than through the non-profit organization that keeps the city's historic streetcars running: the Market Street Railway Foundation. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's see just how the Fabulous F Market and the Exciting E Embarcadero keep history rolling on the street tracks!

  

The Trolley Cable Car Problem

Muni "Little Ten" PCC No. 1025 passes a K Line-bound
Boeing-Vertol LRV at West Portal, November 1980.
(Drew Jacksich)

By the end of the 1970s, Muni's system was home to five remaining streetcar lines: the J Church, the K Ingleside, the L Taraval, the M Ocean View, and the N Judah, with the others having bustituted beginning in the 1950s. These lines were still being managed by Muni's last order of PCC streetcars from 1952, with the oldest bits of the line being the surface tracks along Market Street between the Embarcadero and the West Portal of the Twin Peaks Tunnel. Even the elderly cable cars up Powell and California Street were still being watched under Muni's careful eye, the lines having since settled in as an iconic tourist attraction after fighting to be preserved some twenty years before. Unfortunately, that same battle did not do much to reinvigorate the line and those old problems began rearing its ugly head beginning in 1980.

The Market Street subway under construction at Eureka Valley,
with an unidentified PCC car passing underneath, May 1973.
(SFMTA Photo Archive)

A photo collage by the San Francisco Cable Car Museum
shows the reconstruction efforts at the Ferries & Cliff House
powerhouse along with down Hyde Street to the Pier.
(SF Cable Car Museum)

That year, Muni had decided to modernize Market Street by ending weekday PCC car service on the surface tracks from the Embarcadero to West Portal on the N Judah line. With the Boeing-Vertol light-rail vehicles (LRVs) now using the newly-opened Market Street Subway, the surface tracks were just left to weekend PCC service until September 19, 1982, when all five lines (now branded as "Muni Metro") were fully converted to LRVs. This eventually escalated just two years later, when the entire cable car system (consisting of the California Street Line, Powell-Market Line, and the Powell-Hyde Hybrid Line) were due to close for 20 months for extensive refurbishment of its street infrastructure, leaving San Francisco bereft of its biggest tourist draw for a little less than two years. 

Muni No. 1 on the J Church Line, near railroad
photographer Roger Puta's house, July 1 1982.
(Marty Bernard)

Both the Board of Supervisors and the many business owners in San Francisco had every reason to worry, after all what is the city without its biggest tourist icon? Among all of the anxieties, Muni had at least one trick up its sleeve to keep public interest on their history cars. Weekend streetcar service had brought with it two of Muni's oldest cars for weekend shuttle service, with Muni A-Type No. 1 and K-Type No. 178 being brought in to shuttle visitors between the Transbay Terminal (more on that next month) to 11th and Market starting on April 18, 1981. No. 1, Muni's first and oldest streetcar, first operated this seasonal weekend service before it was decided to lease back one of Muni's other cars to handle the growing number of interested tourists. Thus, Car no. 178 (a K-Type Iron Monster) was loaned from the Western Railway Museum of Rio Vista, CA, to better accommodate crowds on the J Church line. Both cars performed admirably in this early time that it gave the Board of Supervisors and the Public Utilities Commission a reason to look into returning historic streetcars to San Francisco in a bigger, more-permanent way. 

Loaned Muni No. 178 waits at the outer end of the N Line
in 1982, as a PCC waits for it to also clear the platform.
(Drew Jacksich)

The "F" Totally Stands for "Festival"

Rick Laubscher, current president
of the SFMSR, with United Railways No. 25
at the Ferries & Cliff House carbarn.
(David Dugan)

Before the surface tracks on Market Street were silenced and as the two Muni Monsters were plying their way through the J Church line, San Francisco's highest city organizations (including Muni, the Chamber of Commerce, the Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Public Utilities Commission) and figures (like Mayor Dianne Feinstein and Muni General Manager Harold Gassenheimer) spent Summer 1982 in serious conversation. Maurice Klebolt, a noted traction fanatic that helped return both Muni Nos. 1 and 178 to the J Church line, was also included in the talks along with Rick Laubscher, chairman of the Chamber's transportation committee. Anticipating the heavy loss of revenue come summer 1983, the new consortium had Klebolt and Laubscher contacting museums around the country to see if they would like to exhibit any of their operating streetcars at the upcoming festival. While this happened, the schedules were written out to include five full days of running (Thursday to Monday) starting on Memorial Day from the Transbay Terminal to Castro Street. After Laubscher presented these plans to City Hall in the Fall of 1982, with sponsorship from both the Bechtel Corporation (Laubscher's employers) and the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (BAERA, WRM's nonprofit organization), it was decided that the event be called the "San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival".

Maury Klebolt runs a mid-1950s fantrip on a CTA "red Pullman",
tie festooned with various railroad insignias.
(Chuck Wlodarczyk))

Porto Car No. 189 is over the inspection pit at the 
Duboce Avenue Yard in 1983, just before the Festival.
In the background is PCC No. 1128, repainted into its
original St. Louis Public Service colors.
(Steve Morgan)

For the rolling stock, Laubscher was able to secure streetcars from two museums, the Oregon Electric Railway Museum (OERM) in Portland, Oregon, and the Western Railway Museum. Plenty more non-Muni cars were secured through the OERM's Paul Class, who had his own streetcar importation service and brought in a Melbourne W-2 Class tram from Australia along with two Portuguese trams from Porto. Klebolt already had his own imported streetcar from 1979, a 1954 Hamburg tram, that he intended to run in the festival as well. Despite the increasingly international flavor of the parade fleet, plenty were sourced much more locally, such as Blackpool Boat Tram No. 226 from the WRM and Portland "Council Crest" car No. 503 joining the ranks of the Muni fleet of PCCs and Iron Monsters. Even the little "Dinky" No. 578 was brought out of static retirement to run again down its home tracks. To accommodate the new and returning rolling stock, a new storage yard at Duboce Avenue, west of Market Street, was set up as a storage and maintenance yard. The BAERA was involved in training the crews on how to operate the vintage equipment, and a new organization known as the Market Street Railway (SFMSR) was created to better organize and promote the Historic Trolley Festival.

   

All's Fair at the Festival

A poster for the inaugural Historic Trolley Festival, featuring the one that started it all: Muni No. 1.
(SFMSR)

Market Street Echoes with the roar of the.. three, as
Muni No. 1 is crowded by Porto No. 122 and Blackpool
Boat Tram No. 226 at 1st and Market, 1983.
(Steve Morgan)

Despite missing their Memorial Day deadline, the inaugural San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival opened to great acclaim on June 23, 1983. Mayor Dianne Feinstein took to operating Muni No. 1's controls as Mayor James "Sunny Jim" Rolph did when the transit agency first opened in 1912, leading the grand parade of trolleys down Market Street. Not only were vintage passenger trolleys on the rails, but also maintenance cars like Muni Repair Car No. 1008 (which was now a rescue-wrecker), Line Car No. 0304, and even one prototype of the much-maligned Boeing-Vertol LRVs looking quite lost under trolley wire (even being fitted with a trolley pole). Public service began the day after and lasted until September 19, plodding its way 3.5 miles from the old Transbay Terminal to 17th and Castro. More trolleys began showing up in July and August, including "Council Crest" No. 503, while Muni's own PCCs supplemented the fleet after the trolley parade. In loving tribute for its return to service, PCC No. 1128 was repainted into its original "St. Louis Public Service" colors. The festival down Market Street was so successful that it was extended past September into weekend service during December, with tourists braving the bracing cold to ride in a Boat Tram or snuggle up in a PCC car.

Muni Boeing-Vertol No. 1213 demonstrates its added
trolley pole attachment to run on the old Market Street
tracks. It is seen here at 5th and Market, 1983. This car
was later preserved at the Oregon Electric Railway Museum.
(Steve Morgan)

During the 1984 Trolley Festival, Milwaukee Speedrail No. 978
chills with the last San Franciscan trolley car, 1040, and
ex-St. Louis Public Service No. 1108 in a Muni yard.
(Photographer Unknown)

Following the 1983 event, the city labelled it an incredible success and planning soon started for the second Trolley Festival on June 7, 1984. Like last time, Mayor Feinstein again led the opening-festivities in Muni No. 1 and the parade was now joined by some new members including a Milanese "Peter Witt" car from Italy (No. 1834), an open-bench streetcar from Veracruz, Mexico, that was built in 1977 and loaned by the Mexican government, and Muni "Big Ten" PCC No. 1006 which was in the middle of restoration. This was also the first event to display the "F Market" designation on dash signs and destination rolls for the first time, as according to Muni they were saving the letter for a proposed Market Street line. Despite the overwhelming success repeated this year, the event had to end early due to "a funding shortfall" and reduced services ran through to New Years Day, 1985. Even two years after the cable cars returned in the Summer of 1983, the historic streetcars were still packed full to crush capacity. This meant that the 1985 season was about to be the biggest and best event Market Street ever saw, especially with new trolley cars joining the fleet. 

Muni No. 130 poses at the Transbay Terminal while waiting
to make a return trip back down Market Street during the 1985 festival.
Note the "F" designation on its line sign.
(Marty Bernard)

Ever the social media darling, the young Boat (originally
built in 1934) made its debut at the 1985 Trolley Festival.
(CaliforniaRailfan101)

1985 brought about enormous change for the event, both in size and in scope. The services now ran seven days a week instead of five, with 12-minute headways assured to keep passengers happy and riding, and ran all the way until October 15 which made it the longest festival ever attempted. WRM took back its "Boat Tram" No. 226, but in its place arrived the infamous, the adorable, and the noteworthy No. 228, commonly nicknamed the "Boat Boi". No. 228 was purchased by Muni and the SFMSR in 1984 from Blackpool, England, directly after it was used in Philadelphia's bicentennial celebrations in 1976. Joining No. 228 was the return of "Council Crest" No. 503 and Market Street Railway No. 578, the oldest car to attend the festivities. There was even a railfan charter that year using two Boeing-Vertol LRV cars, No. 1212 and 1213, which were the only cars to ever run a train down Market Street. Unfortunately, despite the enormous success once again of the 1985 event, Muni budget crises reared their ugly heads and threatened to discontinue the festivities for the 1986 season. Thankfully, due in part to both the mayor's support and an appeal from the San Francisco Chronicle kept the event around at a much smaller operating cost back down to its "five days a week" schedule.

A wye was added in 1986 to turn cars around at Noe Street,
eliminating the need to run them all the way down the J Church.
Milan Peter Witt No. 1834 is a third-year veteran of the event.
(Steve Morgan)

Ex-Kobe, Japan car No. 578 (Muni 578J) turns onto
the Transbay Terminal loop, followed by a contemporary
Muni bus, during the 1986 event.
(Steve Morgan)

That "five days a week" schedule actually ended up quite unpopular with much of San Francisco's citizens, as it encompassed a five-day week with no consideration for weekends. Herb Caen, long known as San Francisco's "voice and conscience", opined that the lack of weekend runs was "Ridiculous ... Weekends are when most people have time to ride these delightful vehicles." Nevertheless, new cars like Kobe Streetcar No. 578 (renumbered 578-J to avoid confusion with the tiny "Dinky") and improved headways made the event yet another continuous draw with a 10-15% growth in passenger service. After 1987, the event was officially discontinued, but it wasn't the big tragedy that everyone expected like with the 1950s closure of much of Muni's system. Instead, the Historic Trolley Festival ended with a promise of something much bigger. 

MSR No. 578 trundles along the Embarcadero during the 1987
Trolley Festival, offering rides between the Ferry Building
and Pier 39, both of which became incredible tourist destinations.
(Steve Morgan)

While the big trolleys were entertaining the folks on Market Street, "Dinky" No. 578 and Porto Tram No. 189 ran demonstration services up and down the old tracks of the San Francisco Belt Railroad from the Ferry Building to Pier 39 on a Saturday-only service from September 11 to October 17. The pilot service, which ran using generator cars strapped to both tiny cars, was the prototype for a brand new service to replace the Historic Trolley Festival, one that was bigger, more ambitious, and would certainly be more popular all-year round than any festival could. This wasn't a tearful goodbye, but merely the end of the first movement in this streetcar symphony.

    

Finding Success to Fisherman's Wharf

Blackpool Boat No. 228 leads the inaugural procession of
PCCs up Market Street on September 1, 1995, opening
up the F Market line to passengers.
Breaking tradition, then-Mayor Frank Jordan did not pilot
No. 228 on this run.
(Peter Erlich)

Immediately after the 1987 season, Muni began work on a permanent line down Market Street with restored connection into the Castro (unconnected from the original line to West Portal). At this time, the 8 Market bus line was handling service between the Embarcadero and the Castro, but after September 1, 1995, that "8" turned into an "F" as the streetcars "trolley-stituted" (shut up) the buses in what was a very rare occurrence at the time. The new F Market line was built for the PCC, purely because they were still plentiful and the PCCs were the last San Franciscan trolley cars left in service. In planning for this return, Muni bought thirteen PCC cars from Philadelphia and designated them the "1050" class, restoring them between 1993-1994 in time for the new line's opening. In a bid to become more of a rolling museum, each new Philadelphia car (apart from 1055 and 1060, which kept their original Philadelphia colors), all others were clad in "Tribute" liveries from around the United States including Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, El Paso, and even Los Angeles three times. Three years later, ten Milanese Peter Witt cars joined Car No. 1834 to run on the F-Market line and were numbered in the "18xx" scheme, arriving on US shores in 1998.

"Big Ten" No. 1010 leads ex-Newark 1073 (in El Paso colors)
and ex-SEPTA 10509 (in Boston Elevated Railway) colors) down
Jefferson Street at Fisherman's Wharf, 2017.
(Bernard Spragg)

With the fresh memories of MSR No. 578 and Porto Tram No. 189 running along the Embarcadero fresh in everyone's mind, and with the infamous blight known as the Embarcadero Freeway demolished in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the F Market soon gained an extension down the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 on March 4, 2000, leading to the F Market & Wharves line as we know it today. Instead of the trolleys on the street like down Market, the existing Belt Line tracks in the middle of the street were grade-separated by curbs and trees, with cobblestones covering up the street track. This replaced yet another San Francisco bus line, 32 Embarcadero, in what can only be described as absolute karma on the bus. In extending service out to Fisherman's Wharf, the line to the Transbay Terminal was officially closed on March 3, 2000 and tracks were removed on August 18, with Muni Work Car No. C-1 handling the funerary services of ripping up the track. Due to this new extension, ten more PCC cars were purchased from New Jersey Transit's Newark division, originally from Minnesota's Twin City Rapid Transit, and designated the "1070" class. 

  

The "E" Can Stand for "Extensions", or "Embarcadero"

Ex-Melbourne W2 Class tram No. 496 trundles past AT&T Park
outbound south to the Caltrain Depot, 2016.
(Exotic Gringo)

Soon after the F Market & Wharves opened, there was talk among the Muni faithful and its committee that the trolleys could be good for something more than just tourist hotspot transport. At the time it opened, an E Embarcadero line already existed as a temporary Muni Metro shuttle service out to the CalTrain depot at 4th and King Streets, and that ended once the N Judah line was extended out in August 1998. Due to the extension of the Metro below, the street tracks on the Embarcadero between Don Chee Way and Folsom Street went unused until 2013, when increased tourism due to the America's Cup sailing race let double-ended streetcars like the Big Tens and the Boat Boi wander down to the CalTrain depot (as there are no loops at this moment). Permanent service was approved by Muni on March 28, 2014, for weekend service along the eastern Embarcadero known as the E Embarcadero line, and this is so far the only line to mix historic streetcars with modern Muni LRVs. When the line opened on August 1, 2015, it was an immediate success every weekend that, as of April 23, 2016, Muni now runs the E Embarcadero as a weeklong service exclusively populated by double-ended PCC cars. There are ongoing proposals to extend this line, along with the F Market, to Fort Mason to connect with the Powell-Hyde cable car.

The Sweetest Little Museum By the Bay

The interior of the San Francisco Railway Museum, featuring a scale model
of an MSR streetcar in its 1940 livery and a full-scale mockup of an extinct
MSR 100-class car.
(WhereTraveler.com)

The Market Street Railway Foundation does not depend on its rolling museum alone, as it also has a small museum on 77 Steuart Street that helps tourists and native San Franciscans alike explore the history of the city's streetcars. Opened on October 7, 2006, the San Francisco Railway Museum is home to a permanent collection of artifacts from both the original Market Street Railway and Muni in the form of tools, clothing, scale models, and even a gift shop. If you are interested in visiting, admission is always free and it is also served by both the F Market and E Embarcadero via the Don Chee Way/Steuart Station. 

History, Made Everyday

The one, the only, the unique Muni Heritage Fleet, featuring (left to right) Muni No. 1, Boat Tram No. 228,
Market Street Railway No. 578, "Iron Monster" No. 130, and PCC No. 1051, at Cameon Beach Yard, 2018.
(KTransit.com)

As it goes to show in the past few paragraphs, San Francisco really is nothing without its charming streetcars. Not only were they able to keep the city occupied through the temporary loss of its cable cars, but they still draw in massive crowds and tourist dollars to keep them running and to add more friends to the fleet. The Market Street Railway Foundation continues to add new streetcars to its fleet and refurbish its existing fleet, with most of its PCC cars now able to support the ClipperCard contactless system that allows seamless transfer from BART, Muni Metro, and even cable car. The festival continues to live on every year in its own miniature form as the "Muni Heritage Weekend", where rare cars and buses from both the SFMSR and Muni fleet entertain guests with displays and rides every September or, rarely, August. Despite the current (as of this writing) COVID-19 pandemic bringing things to a halt for 2020 and 2021, the SFMSR has announced that the streetcars will return in some capacity in May. Just goes to show that you can't keep down a good streetcar, after all.

"To Oblivion" goes ex-SEPTA No. 1061, rendered in an
updated Pacific Electric scheme, shot from the back of
another PCC whose scheme I cannot remember.
(Myself)

    

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included the archives of the San Francisco Cable Car Museum, the SFMTA Photo Archives, and the Market Street Railway. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Thursday, we finish off this month by looking at the many TV shows, movies, and other films the cable cars have gained international noteriety in! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!