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San Francisco Railway Museum"We’re preserving San Francisco’s unique transit history" |
San Francisco, Ca / Sep 2023 / RWH
San Francisco is one of the few places in the world where you can get the actual experience of riding vintage rail transit in its "natural habitat" — the rumble of the wheels under your feet, the swaying of the car itself, the smell of the brakes. Before or after you take that magical ride on the "museums in motion," visit our museum to make your experience complete. Our museum celebrates San Francisco's rail transit history, focused on exploring the positive impacts streetcars and cable cars have made on the quality of urban life in this great city.
San Francisco is one of the few places in the world where you can get the actual experience of riding vintage rail transit in its "natural habitat" — the rumble of the wheels under your feet, the swaying of the car itself, the smell of the brakes. Before or after you take that magical ride on the "museums in motion," visit our museum to make your experience complete.
Our museum celebrates San Francisco's rail transit history, focused on exploring the positive impacts streetcars and cable cars have made on the quality of urban life in this great city.
ounded in 1976, the Market Street Railway is San Francisco Municipal Railway's (Muni) non-profit street railway preservation partner. The organization relies on private contributions to help maintain San Francisco’s fleet of historic streetcars in service on the E Embarcadero and F Market & Wharves transit lines.
Market Street Railway developed and operates the San Francisco Railway Museum along the Embarcadero route of the streetcars. The museum features a variety of exhibits about the history of municipal rail in the Golden Gate City, including the world-famous Cable Car system. It also operates the David Pharr Restoration Facility, where Market Street Railway volunteers restore historic streetcars and equipment before donating them for use in the Muni system.
Market Street Railway borrows its name from the original Market Street Railway Company, a former commercial streetcar and bus operator in San Francisco — later acquired in the consolidated Muni municipal system.
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San Francisco street railway map / collection
1998 tourist train guide ad / collection
2019 tourist train guide ad / collection
See also these related San Francisco scrapbooks:
- San Francisco Cable Car system in Streetcars
- San Francisco Cable Car Museum in Preservation
- Amtrak's California Zephyr western route in Mainlines
San Francisco, Ca / Sep 2023 / RWH
Sep 2023 / RWH
Click to see the San Francisco Railway Museum plotted on a Google Maps page
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Exhibits
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Streetcar #105
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The museum features a full-sized exact replica of the motorman’s platform of a 1911 San Francisco streetcar, where kids of all ages can experience what it was like to be at the controls. You’ll also find unique historic artifacts, illustrative and informative displays, rarely seen archival photography, and audio-visual exhibits that use 21st century technology to bring rail transit in the 19th and 20th centuries to life.
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Municipal PCC Cars
images RWH collection / artwork RWH
The Cable Car System Rehabilitation Program began in September 1982, shutting the system down until June 1984. The summer Trolley Festivals were started on Market Street in 1983 to provide an alternative historic transit service for visitors to the city, and they operated through 1987. Historic streetcars from San Francisco, other U.S. cities and other countries brought delight to many thousands of people.
The 1986 and 1987 Festivals received support from the Market Street Railway Company, a non-profit group dedicated to the acquisition, restoration and operation of historic transit vehicles in the city. The success of the Trolley Festivals ensured that there would be full-time historic streetcar service in San Francisco.
Seventeen PCC streetcars are in regular F Line service (fourteen from Philadelphia and three from Muni). The cars are painted in the PCC colors of Muni and other transit agencies in the U.S. as their streamlined design is attractive, and they were quieter and more economical than earlier versions of streetcars, with better motors, controls, acceleration and braking.
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The "PCC" ("Presidents' Conference Committee") originated from the design committee formed in 1929. It was renamed the "Electric Railway Presidents' Conference Committee" (ERPCC) in 1931. The group's membership consisted primarily of representatives of several large operators of U.S. urban electric street railways plus potential manufacturers. Three interurban lines and at least one "heavy rail", or rapid transit, operator — Chicago Rapid Transit Company — were represented as well. Also included on the membership roll were manufacturers of surface cars (streetcars) and interested component suppliers.
ERPCC's goal was to design a streamlined, comfortable, quiet, and fast accelerating and braking streetcar that would be operated by a seated operator using floor mounted pedal controls to better meet the needs of the street railways and appeal to riders. ERPCC prepared a detailed research plan, conducted extensive research on streetcar design, built and tested components, made necessary modifications and revisions based upon the findings, and ultimately produced a set of specifications for a standardized and fixed design. It included a modest list of available options with ample room for customer customization but was to be built with standard parts as opposed to a custom designed car body with diverse parts added depending on the whims and requirements of the individual customer. Numerous national and international users operated large fleets of PCC cars for many years.
San Francisco #1011
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San Francisco #1051
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San Francisco #1053
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San Francisco #1054
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San Francisco #1055
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San Francisco #1071
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PCC Car #1073
San Francisco #1073
San Francisco #1073
San Francisco, Ca / Sep 2023 / RWH
San Francisco #1073
to Public Service Coordinated Trans #22
to New Jersey Transit system
to San Francisco Muni #1073
restored Brookville Equipment Co, PA
Market Street Railway
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San Francisco, Ca / Oct 2017 / Bernard Spragg
San Francisco #1074
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San Francisco #1075
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San Francisco #1076
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San Francisco #1077
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San Francisco #1080
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New Orleans #952
New Orleans #952
New Orleans #952
San Francisco, Ca / Sep 1998 / Peter Ehrlich
New Orleans #952
to Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel
to Regional Transit Authority #952
to San Fran Muni system, 1998 lease
this streetcar also posted in New Orleans Away from Home
Market Street Railway
he most iconic transit vehicle in American literary history is Tennessee Williams’ “Streetcar Named Desire” from New Orleans. Muni currently has two such icons.
Both cars were built in 1923, part of an order of 73. They ran on a variety of lines, including the famed “Desire” line, a route that included Bourbon Street through the French Quarter as well as its namesake Desire Street. The Desire line lost its streetcars in 1948, and by 1964, bus conversions left only the venerable St. Charles line operating with streetcars. A few surplus cars, including these two, were sold to museums or attractions; the rest were scrapped.
Car No. 952 was repurchased by New Orleans from an attraction in Chattanooga to serve a new Riverfront line in 1984, and then retired again in 1997 when replaced by replica cars. It came from New Orleans to San Francisco in 1998 by agreement between Mayors Willie Brown and Marc Morial, for the world premiere of Andre Previn’s opera of Williams’ novel. Its lease was subsequently extended and it has operated regularly on the streets of San Francisco ever since.
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San Francisco, Ca / Rick Laubscher
from Trolley Talk magazine / Sep 1998 / collection
See also our complete New Orleans Streetcar system scrapbook in Streetcars
Publications
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2022 magazine / collection
2023 magazine / collection
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Snapshots
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Links / Sources
- San Francisco Railway Museum & Gift Shop web page
- Market Street Railway website
- San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) historic streetcar page
- Wikipedia article for Market Street Railway
