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| PHOTOS: Muni Heritage Weekend, Part 1B (1325136) | |||
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PHOTOS: Muni Heritage Weekend, Part 1B |
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Posted by milantram on Sun Nov 23 22:25:25 2014 On November 1 and 2, 2014, the San Francisco Municipal Railway hosted its third annual Muni Heritage Weekend.This is a weekend where Muni brings out a slew of historic streetcars, cable cars, trolley coaches and motor buses that don't normally run during the year. Special services and displays are offered. The historic transit booster organization Market Street Railway was heavily involved in promoting this weekend. This year, such treasures as Muni A-Type 1, its very first streetcar from 1912, 578S, built in 1895, and its newest Blackpool "Boat" tram, car 233, were in service or on display. Among the buses and trolley coaches used were a 1950 Marmon-Herrington trolleybus, a "Baby White" from 1938, a GMC Fishbowl form 1969, and others. And an original O'Farrell, Jones & Hyde cable car operated on the California Street line. This was also the first Heritage Weekend that I was able to attend. I missed the first two years due to Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and my father's death in 2013. There are many aspects of Heritage Weekend I will cover with these pics. Some of these are routine operations. So sit back, enjoy the ride! Part 1B, Saturday, November 1, 2014--General and special streetcar operations, displays, and historic bus operations. (Rather than do a separate feature on BusChat for the buses, I feel it's better to lump it here on SubChat with the rail shots, all in one swell foop.)  One of the first special streetcar movements of the day was to send Car 1 out to 17th and Castro. Old Number One's at Market and 4th Street outbound. The historic buses and trolley coaches operated in a loop from Steuart and Don Chee Way via Steuart, Market, Sutter, Mason, left of Market, 1st Street, oft on Mission and back to Steuart. The only stop made was inbound at Market and 4th Street. Five historic vehicles were assigned: 1938 "Baby White" 042, painted the bus colors of the period, pumpkin orange and black; 1950 Marmon-Herrington trolley coach 776, in "Muni Wings" green and cream; 1969 GMC fishbowl 3287, in red and gold; 1975 AM General 4154, and 1976 Flyer E800 trolley coach 5300. Both 4154 and 5300 had their only service livery of Landor 2-tone orange and white livery, with worm logo.  The buses and trolleybuses usually parked on Steuart Street, but these two started out on Mission Street. AM General 4154 was also known as an "Amy" or "Gremlin." The White got its original number of 042 back; perviously, it had been numbered 062. The Baby Whites were famous for holding down the 39-Coit Tower run for 36 years, making them the longest-lived buses in Muni history.  Marmon 776 crosses Ellis Street on Mason…  …as does the Baby White…  …and the Flyer trolleybus, which is leading a pack of rerouted Stockton Street trolleys. This wire is in place to reroute southbound 30 and 45 line coaches off Stockton Street because of subway construction, which is why this special bus service is do-able.  The "Jimmy" crosses Eddy Street. An interesting fact: Muni never bought new General Motors buses until 1969!  I tried very hard to get this bunch of Philly-area railfans to call Muni's electric trolley buses by their proper local nomenclature: Trollley Coach. So I said, "One, Two, Three," and they all answered "Trackless Trolley", which is what they call them in Philly. It was futile…  Another historic rubber-tired vehicle on display was 1941 St. Louis Car Co. trolley coach 506. These opened Muni's first trolleybus route, the R-Howard (later part of the 41-Union/Howard).  506 needs a compressor to be made operational. Maybe next year…  As a way of segueing into the rail portion of this post, I close the bus portion with this shot of "Amy" 4154 at Market and 4th Street. Milano 1807 is several blocks back. One of the interesting aspects of the vintage car operation between Don Chee Way and Pier 39 was how they loaded, and the increased use of the Steuart/Mission Loop. Vintage cars heading to Pier 39 would load on the outbound platform on Don Chee Way, and then loop around the Hotel Vitale and head north. Cars blocking ones heading to Pier 39 would also have to move around the loop.  B-Type 130 has just loaded up and will loop around.  So has 578S. I boarded it and rode to Sansome Street to set up shooting the parade of streetcars.  Of course, regularly-scheduled cars needing a switchback would also have to loop, such as 1011 (Market Street Railway).  So I hopped off the Dinky at Sansome Street and The Embarcadro, one of my favorite spots to shoot, as trams round curves in both directions. Now I wait for the parade of cars.  The diminutive car now heads northward.  First in the parade was 1059 (Boston), heading toward Castro. It was packed to the doors. HDR image.  Next, and the first inbound car, was 1073 (El Paso), also packed to the doors.  578S returns from Pier 39.  The next through outbound car was 1079 (Detroit). Sister ex-Newark PCC 1073's in the background, at Bay Street heading toward Fisherman's Wharf.  Car 1 approaches, headed to Pier 39.  Five minutes later, PCC 1077 I(Birmingham) arrives, followed in rapid succession by Milano 1895.  Outbound "Torpedo" PCC 1008 (Muni Wings) comes nest, followed by…  …A BUS! (And Car 1.) The motorman of Car 1 had to lay on the gong to get the bus driver to move. (He didn't know about the streetcar movement signals.) HDR image.  Back at Don Chee Way, there were some SFMTA exhibits, including one honoring Maya Angelou, who was the first black female conductor hired by Market Street Railway Company back during World War II. Next, I walked over to California and Drumm to take a ride on original O'Farrell, Jones and Hyde cable car 42, which was restored by Market Street Railway and made operational by Muni. Like Muni streetcar 578S, car 42 only operates on special occasions.  Gripman Val Lupiz and Terrence Darby, a light rail operator for VTA down in San Jose, pose with the car.  Cal and Hyde was where the California line and the original O'Farrell. Jones & Hyde line crossed. The carbarn was on the southwest corner, out of the picture.  After the cable car ride, I took one last streetcar ride and called it a day. But another fun-filled day was to come! Next: Muni Heritage Weekend, Part 2A. |
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