Passenger Trains > Market St. Ry. #578: 117 Years and Counting

The San Francisco Municipal Railway will be celebrating 100 years of service this Dec. 29 and have a series of events planned to mark the occasion. They pulled out all the stops today on the F-line with a special emphasis on cars built for service in San Francisco as well as some rare mileage runs. Muni originals 1, 1040, 1006 and 1008 operated south of the Ferry Building along the southern Embarcadero and across the 4th Street Bridge to head south on the T-line on 3rd as far as Army/Cesar Chavez. Market Street Railway #578 and the Blackpool boat tram were also on the streets today.

You'd be hard pressed to come up with a more historic example of electric traction history operating in revenue service on a U.S. urban transit system(as opposed to a museum operation) than MSRy #578. Built in 1895 by the Hammond Car Co. the California-type car sees limited use due to its low seating capacity(26 riders give or take) but gives the public a great look at pre-Muni history. The jewell of the fleet was in Ferry Building to Fishermans Wharf shuttle service today and is seen making track speed with flags flying south along the Embarcadero along with a couple of photos of non-revenue moves along Mission and Steuart Streets.
http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/578/



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/12 21:52 by shed47.

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San Francisco Municipal Ry. #1(Holman Car Co. 1912) crosses the 4th St. Bridge(Strauss Bascule Bridge Co. 1916) today headed south for a rare run down 3rd St. Yes, the bascule really does open: a few minutes prior to the one spots arrival the siren blared and the bells rang as it opened for a pleasure boat to pass on Mission Creek.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/12 21:10 by shed47.

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"America's Last PCC"--Muni #1040(St. Louis Car 1952) heads south and double-ender #1008 rolls north on the steel deck of the bridge this afternoon. In the final view Muni's very first streetcar heads north with a packed passenger load on the southern Embarcadero. The #1 should play a prominent roll in the next few weeks as the centennial approaches.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/12 21:57 by shed47.

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Thanks for sharing these photos. What is the best way to find out in advance about events like this?

rrhistorian Wrote:
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> Thanks for sharing these photos. What is the best
> way to find out in advance about events like this?

Check the following site for regular updates:
http://www.sfmta.com/drp/node/upcoming-events

Thanks very much for those great photos of
those wonderful streetcars! Love the 578 and
the #1!! (Heck, all of the historic cars are
wonderful!)

Can't get enough SF trolley pics!
Thanks.

Unless they've been fixed, the 578 sees limited usage because the all the flanges got chipped by being run on the State Belt trackage on the Embarcadero after it came back from Rio Vista Junction. Rio Vista has another one of these, which is badly in need of restoration.

It may have run on the Embarcadero, but I doubt that it was Belt trackage. It did not have wire over it.