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Nostalgia & History > Forest Hill Station and SF Muni PCC 1009--An AdventureDate: 03/27/17 08:01 Forest Hill Station and SF Muni PCC 1009--An Adventure Author: KeyRouteKen Hi Everybody-- This is a story I ran a few years back that I thought I would run again because Marty is running all these PCC photos.Forest Hill Station and SF Muni PCC 1009--An Adventure.
Author: [color=#000066]KeyRouteKen[/color] Back in November-1964, I went to San Francisco to participate in a grand tour of all remaining SF Muni streetcar trackage and the five lines still operating at that time, which were the "J, K, L, M and N" . This trip really brings back some fond memories for me! It was sponsored by the 'Northern California Railroad Club'. Paul Gordenev of the Western Pacific was President. Paul von Heflin was Secretary. Art Curtis was our Motorman ... SF MUNI PCC "Torpedo" Double-End (St. Louis Car Co., 1948) 1009 was the "Star of the show" and took us most anywhere we wanted to go and explore. We visited the stub terminals of the "N" and "L" lines before backing up and traversing the reverse loops. In at least one case, the front wheels appeared to be on the pavement. We visited all of the Wyes that were still in use and tried them out. We visited the old Transbay Terminal ramp and entered the area on the seldom-used "middle" track. On the outer reaches of the "M"-Line (which wasn't operating on a Sunday) we performed the daring and unusual feat of running "backwards" and in the wrong direction, along the 19th Avenue r-o-w... Art Curtis was a fantastic motorman and graciously agreed to perform most every crazy request we could come up with. He eventually was promoted to "Inspector" (Supervisor) and is now retired. I haven't seen him in years, but he might be interested to know that I have video on DVD of part of this trip which I have saved for the ages. I recently donated a copy to the WRM Archives at Rio Vista Junction. Anyway, while out on the "M"-Line, we crossed Holloway near SF State University and found ourselves at the location of an emergency crossover located at a tiny street or alley known as 'BANBURY'. Naturally, we had to "test" this crossover just for laughs and then continue on our journey. One of our passengers was the ever-humorous "Rolf St. Clair Augustine" who was always coming up with "quaint sayings" and "ditties" to get everyone laughing. In the case of the 'BANBURY' adventure, Rolf suddenly spoke up and said, "Gee, riding the M-Line is like (Riding a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross)"... He was in his best form from there out ! (grin) Aboard PCC 1009 I sat near the front door. There were two other young men, about 15 years old, sitting opposite me. They are both tragically gone from us today! One was Cameron Beach, former Gen.Mgr of Sacramento RTD and Board Chairman of BAERA. The other was Paul Jarmann, who only a couple of years later at about 17, died from a problem in his brain. They both loved the MUNI so very much and Paul would be thrilled to see all the changes today as well as the progress that has been made at Rio Vista Junction. And now the story of the famous "elevator ride" at Forest Hill Station. On the same day of the 1009 trip, we had passed thru Twin Peaks Tunnel many times. In the afternoon, we stopped at Forest Hill and everybody got off the car. Then we headed for the elevator to go up to street level. As I recall, those elevators were HUGE and would hold a lot of people. They were also 'manually operated' by an attendant. So, we all piled in and rode up to the street. When we got there, no one got off. Instead, President Paul Gordenev announced to the group that "this is where you would get off to transfer to a bus" .. He then told the attendant to take us back down. The attendant, looking somewhat annoyed, exclaimed: "Why don't you make up your damn mind" !! Then, after taking us back down to track level and opening the doors, there stood PCC 1009, the 'SAME' streetcar as before, waiting to take us on our way, all to the astonishment and surprise of the elevator attendant! All too soon, our all-day journey came to a close! It had been a grand Sunday excursion. Shortly thereafter, I became a member of Nor-Cal as well as BAERA. Sadly, a lot of folks on PCC 1009 are no longer with us, but our congenial Motorman "Art Curtis" is... Thanks for looking. Cheers. Ken Shattock (KRK) Photo 1. PCC 1009 Photo 2 Forest Hill Station (exterior) Photo 3. Forest Hill Station (interior)    Date: 03/27/17 09:29 Re: Forest Hill Station and SF Muni PCC 1009--An Adventure Author: Ritzville Nice to hear Art Curtis is still with us. I worked at Muni in the 1970's and knew him well, great guy! Also knew Cameron Beach also a good guy. I ran torpedo 1009 many times over the years back then. I too, like Art Curtis, loved the ride of a double ended torpedo PCC.
Larry Date: 03/27/17 16:15 Re: Forest Hill Station and SF Muni PCC 1009--An Adventure Author: refarkas Great photos with a fascinating story.
Bob Date: 03/28/17 01:33 Re: Forest Hill Station and SF Muni PCC 1009--An Adventure Author: norm1153 Forest Hills Station (1982) - Link:http://www.pccstreetcar.com/index5.html and scroll down to the 5th video clip
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