Historic Streetcars in California - San Diego, San Pedro, and San Francisco
Historic Streetcar systems are becoming popular all over North America. They provide both a unique link to the past and a practical mode of public transportation. California is one of the best places to see examples of vintage streetcar systems. Let's take a look at these historic streetcars in action in 3 major California cities.
Places to see in ( San Francisco - USA ) Historic Streetcars
Places to see in ( San Francisco - USA ) Historic Streetcars
The story of San Francisco’s historic streetcar service begins in 1962, when the voters of Alameda and Contra Costa counties and San Francisco approved the $792 million bond issue for BART construction in November 1962. The bond issue included funds for the construction of the Market Street subway, so that Muni’s five streetcar lines could be put underground for faster service. San Francisco voters subsequently approved a bond issue for Market Street reconstruction and beautification in 1968.
At first, it was thought that almost all transit service would be removed from Market Street east of Van Ness Avenue, and it took several years before there was an official recognition of the importance of transit on this major thoroughfare. Meanwhile, transit advocates both within and outside city government began advocating for San Francisco to begin its own historic streetcar service, both on Market Street and on the city’s waterfront.
The first proposal for a historic streetcar line on Market Street was made in 1971, and the first proposal for a line on The Embarcadero was made in 1974. The late Maurice Klebolt was one of the leading advocates for the historic streetcar service. In 1979, he was the person largely responsible for obtaining the first historic streetcar from another country, the now-retired #3557 from Hamburg, Germany.
Beginning in 1981, the plan called for two lines, an E Embarcadero Line and an F Line that would serve The Embarcadero and Market Street. There was historic streetcar service on Market Street on summer weekends in 1981 and 1982, before the regular streetcar service on Market had been entirely put underground. Weekday Muni Metro service in the subway had started on the N Line in February 1980. The Metro service was implemented in phases, until all five lines were in the subway on a full-time basis as of November 1982.
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.
Construction for the Market Street Transit Thoroughfare Project took place in four separate phases from 1988 to 1995. The street improvements included streetcar track construction and the installation of new boarding islands, widened crosswalks, and new curbing, as well as the planting of palm trees in the median of Upper Market Street. September 1, 1995, was the first day of service for the F Market historic streetcar line, between Castro and Market streets and the Transbay Terminal at 1st and Mission streets.
Streetcars from Milan, Italy, built in 1928, were acquired by Muni for the extension of the service (now called the F Market & Wharves Line) to Fisherman’s Wharf. The cars are called “Peter Witt” cars because their design is based on one that Cleveland transit commissioner Peter Witt created for faster passenger boardings.
( San Francisco - USA ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting San Francisco . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in San Francisco - USA
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A Trip Down Market Street, 1906 - With Sound!
UPDATE! NEW HIGH-RES 4K SCAN OF HISTORIC MARKET STREET VIDEO, GO HERE:
Historic pre-earthquake San Francisco, 1906, with full sound design.
Background:
This film was shot on April 14, 1906, just four days before the San Francisco earthquake and fire, to which the negative was nearly lost. It was produced by moving picture photographers the Miles brothers: Harry, Herbert, Earle and Joe. Harry J. Miles hand-cranked the Bell & Howell camera which was placed on the front of a cablecar during filming on Market Street from 8th, in front of the Miles Studios, to the Ferry building. A few days later the Miles brothers were en route to New York when they heard news of the earthquake. They sent the negative to NY, and returned to San Francisco to discover that their studios were destroyed.
The origin of the film was an enigma for many decades, and it was long thought to have been shot in September of 1905, after being dated as such by the Library of Congress based on the state of construction of several buildings. However, in 2009 and 2010, film historian David Kiehn, co-founder of Niles Film Museum in Niles, California, dated the film to the spring of 1906 from automobile registrations and weather records. Kiehn eventually found promotional materials from the film's original release and dated the film to April 14th, 1906, and finally gave credit to the filmmakers, the Miles Brothers.
Technical Aspects:
Film:
Sound mix: Silent
Color: B&W
Aspect Ratio; 1.33 : 1
Negative Format: 35 mm
Printed Format: 35 mm
Cinematographic Process: Spherical
Camera: Hand-cranked Bell & Howell
Video format:
HDTV 1080I (1920 x 1080)
Pixel Aspect: Square
Editing Timebase 29.97
Compressor : H.264
Audio:
28 tracks, stereo. (without panning)
Restoration:
This version was transferred from a new 35mm print made from a restored 35mm negative, taken from the 1906-era 35mm print owned by the Prelinger Archives. This version does not appear to have any digital restoration, except minimal contrast and brightness adjustments.
Post Effects:
This version of the film has been digitally stabilized to remove jitter by youtube user Rick88888888 in 2011.
Resources:
Sounddogs, Youtube, Horseless.com, Wikipedia, Archive.org, Streetcar.org, earlyamericalautomobiles.com, Prelinger Archives, Niles Film Museum.
Music:
Crazy Rhythm played by Brad Kaye.
Accuracy:
Automobile sounds are all either Ford Model T, or Model A, which came out later, but which have similarly designed engines, and sound quite close to the various cars shown in the film. The horns are slightly inaccurate as mostly bulb horns were used at the time, but were substituted by the far more recognizable electric oogaa horns, which came out a couple years later. The streetcar sounds are actual San Francisco streetcars. Doppler effect was used to align the sounds.
Produced by:
The Miles Brothers
Photographed by:
Harry J Miles
Sound Design by:
Mike Upchurch
[HD] San Francisco Historic Streetcars, Jan. 26, 2014 - Fisherman's Wharf and Ferry Building
San Francisco Historic Streetcars: Representatives of streetcar systems in the US, Mexico, and Australia are seen in service in San Francisco, California on Sunday, January 26, 2014.
Except for Melbourne 496, all are PCC cars. We see 1055 (Philadelphia postwar), 1058 (Chicago), 1059 (Boston), 1060 (Philadelphia 1938), 1061 (Pacific Electric), 1062 (Louisville), 1063 (Baltimore), 1072 (Mexico City), 1073 (El Paso/Juarez), and 1074 (Toronto).
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San Francisco's Antique Streetcars
San Francisco has the best operational vintage Streetcars in the world. Check the link streetcar.org
⁴ᴷ San Francisco Muni: Historic Streetcars on the (J) Church Line
With Cameron Beach Yard available for the Historic Fleet, (F) and (E) Line Streetcars now use the (J) Church line to get to and from the yard. Thanks to Market Street Railway and Muni, the streetcars remain in service for their trip along the (J) Line. Seen in this video are several different cars. First is PCC 1053 which was on its burn test run before re-entering service. The second clip is of PCC 1078 returning to Cameron Beach after service on the (F) Line. Then, Melbourne Tram 496 heads from the yard to the (E) Line for service. Finally, PCC 1050 picks up passengers at Mission Dolores Park and heads down to Market Street for (F) Line service. Enjoy the action!
San Francisco Trams (1946)
San Francisco, California, United States of America (USA).
We have been very kindly sent the following information about this film:
• 0:00 - 0:04 - View from Twin Peaks looking East down Market Street (the big avenue down the center) and that is the Bay Bridge on the right. In the background is the Bay and Oakland.
• 0:05 - 0:10 - Shot from inside a Motor Coach (i.e. bus), it's looking South. I'm not positive, but I think that may be shot from Twin Peaks.
• 0:11 - 0:16 - Streetcars going down Market Street. You can tell it's a streetcar because there are only two rails. Aside from the buildings in the image, you can tell it's Market Street because the vehicle on the right is a Market Street Railway White Front Streetcar and the vehicle on your left (at the edge of the frame) is a Municipal Railway Streetcar. They were the two remaining competing transit companies in SF. At the time this sequence was shot, it would have already been sold to Muni and they would be in the process of reorganizing the lines, which is why both were running.
• 0:17 - 0:21 - That's the Washington & Jackson Cable Car line, shot across from Union Square, you can see the Westin Saint Francis Hotel in the background on the corner of Geary & Powell Street. The Washington & Jackson line has evolved into the Powell & Hyde Line. Also that is Cable Car 525, the 5 was dropped on all the cable cars not long after this film. So that is actually a film of our Cable Car 25, it's the cherry red one that we restored a few years ago. Here's some info on that specific car...
• 0:22 - 0:26 is Cable Car 525 going up Nob Hill on Powell Street crossing California Street. The roof top on the left is the Fairmont Hotel.
• 0:27 - 0:44 shows a Muni operator being trained.
• 0:45 - 0:51 - That is a Cable Car, you can tell because there are three tracks, the center is for the grip. It is going outbound on the Powell & Hyde Line, down Russian Hill, starting at Hyde and Chestnut Streets. You can see Alcatraz Island in the background. They would have left Lombard Street (crooked street) two stops earlier.
• 0:52 - 0:54 - That is the California Cable Car line, looking west. I'm not sure why it's in here at this point. Muni didn't acquire that until 1952.
• 0:55 - 0:59 - That's the Powell & Hyde Cable Car Line again, I think it's going down the hill from Lombard St to Chestnut St.
• 0:60 - 0:62 - Inbound on the Powell Hyde/Mason line (they merge into one line on the corner of Washington & Mason Streets). This cable car is on Powell St going down Nob Hill, having just crossed over California Street. You can see the Fairmont in the background.
• 0:63 - 0:64 Cable Car operator.
• 0:65 - - The filmmaker is backtracking again, this is shot from Powell and California looking South, the cable car is going down Powell Street to the turnaround at Powell & Market Stst. if you could see it the Fairmont would be on you right, behind you.
General view of San Francisco. Various shots of trams on streets of San Francisco. Drivers undergoing reaction test. Tram in motion, shots taken from speeding tram. More shots of the trams on the streets.
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Did GM really kill the streetcar in Los Angeles?
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Judge Doom’s plan to buy out LA’s streetcar system and build freeways is not fiction, or not totally fiction. It’s based on a US Senate report in 1974 that detailed General Motors’ takeover of the Pacific Electric Railroad, the company that ran Los Angeles’ streetcars. GM replaced the streetcars with buses and the removal of the streetcars paved the way for LA’s famous freeways. That’s the story, anyway. But did it really happen that way? What’s the real story?
A. Adler, Sy. The Transformation of the Pacific Electric Railway: Bradford Snell, Roger Rabbit, and the Politics of Transportation in Los Angeles. Urban Affairs Quarterly 27, no. 1 (1991): 51-86.
B. US Census
C.Jackson, Kenneth. 1985. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. Oxford University Press.
D. Ibid.
E. M. Wachs, Chapter 5. The Evolution of Transportation Policy in Los Angeles: Images of Past Policy and Future Prospects in Allen J. Scott and Edward Soja, eds., The City: Los Angeles And Urban Theory At The End Of The Twentieth Century, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996, pp. 106-159.
F. Ibid.
G. The Electric Railway Historical Association.
H.
Produced in sunny, Sacramento, California.
2013 - HISTORIC STREETCAR „F SAN FRANCISCO / USA
30.05.2013.
Wir fahren mit einer der historischen Straßenbahnen der Linie „F. Die Linie „F ist eine 32 Haltestellen lange Strecke und führt vom District Castro aus über die Marketstreet, streift den Financial District und fährt dann entlang der San Francisco Bay bis Fishermans Wharf. Sie streift viele Sehenswürdigkeiten von San Francisco.
City Rising for the 21st Century: San Francisco Public Transit 1915, now, tomorrow
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition celebrated the emergence of San Francisco from the Devastation of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, launching it as the most modern city in the world, an economic gateway between the emerging United States, the Pacific and Europe, and a cultural center. An artistic and programmatic success, the Exposition's financial success was dependent on its transportation system. The Palace of Fine Arts and the Civic Auditorium are seen as lasting monuments to the PPIE. Learn how PPIE infrastructure improvements have served San Franciscans every day for the past 100 years and how these arteries are being transformed today to serve us during the next century--Central Subway, Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid Transit, and E-Embarcadero Streetcars to Fort Mason.
Panelists include:
Grant Ute - Author and Historian. Author of, San Francisco Municipal Railway, Alameda by Rails, and San Francisco's Market Street Railway
Michael Schwartz - Senior Transportation Planner, San Francisco County Transportation Authority
Peter Albert, Manager, SFMTA Urban Planning Initiatives, SF Municipal Transportation Agency
Greg King (Moderator) - Environmental Manager for Parsons Corp
San Francisco Historic Cable Car - San Francisco Full City Guide - Travel & Discover
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system. An icon of San Francisco, the cable car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway.
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The F Line - Heritage Streetcars in San Francisco 2018
an amazing collection of old PCCs and trams from Milan (model: peter witt) now given a 2nd chance and running in San Francisco...
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The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike the other lines, the F line is operated as a heritage streetcar service, using exclusively historic equipment both from San Francisco's retired fleet as well as from cities around the world. While the F line is operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), its operation is supported by Market Street Railway, a nonprofit organization of streetcar enthusiasts which raises funds and helps to restore vintage streetcars.
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[HD] San Francisco Historic Streetcars, Jan 25 2015
A variety of historic streetcars from the Market Street Railway collection in service on the San Francisco Muni F line, taken at various locations on Market Street, Castro, and at Pier 39. Two of the Milan cars (both in the 1970s-present paint scheme) were in service that day, giving San Francisco a bit of an Italian look to go with the PCC cars painted for cities around the US. The video includes a ride on Milan car 1893.
San Francisco Streetcars How Transit Built San Francisco
Rick Laubscher is a fourth-generation San Franciscan who fell in love with streetcars as a child, when his mother took him downtown on an “iron monster” through the Twin Peaks to see the circus. He worked as a broadcast reporter in San Francisco, then as a corporate executive, where he began his advocacy for vintage streetcar service. He now operates his own strategic communications consultancy, Messagesmith, and serves as president of the nonprofit Market Street Railway.
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[HD] Historic Streetcars in San Francisco, Aug 11 2015
More of the Market Street Railway's historic streetcar fleet in operation on the F line in San Francisco, California on Aug 11 2015. By now I've seen most of the specially painted PCC cars and am on a quest to see the rest. -- Please subscribe to my channel if you haven't already -- thanks!
San Francisco, CA PCC Trolley Cars
A look at the various street , cable and famous trolley cars in San Francisco, California.
Old Streetcars (F-Line) in San Francisco, CA 2018
Vintage classic PCCs running on the famous F-line in San Francisco. A sight to behold indeed!!!
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Thank you for your support. Comment below so all of us can have a productive and insightful conversation about transportation!
The F Line - Heritage Streetcars in San Francisco
an amazing collection of old PCCs and trams from Milan (model: peter witt) now given a 2nd chance and running in San Francisco...
-
The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike the other lines, the F line is operated as a heritage streetcar service, using exclusively historic equipment both from San Francisco's retired fleet as well as from cities around the world. While the F line is operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), its operation is supported by Market Street Railway, a nonprofit organization of streetcar enthusiasts which raises funds and helps to restore vintage streetcars.
San Francisco Streetcar Scenes -- mid 1960s to early 1980s
This presentation features San Francisco Streetcar scenes from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. The pictures are mostly of PCC Cars, but a few Boeing LRVs are included. There are many pictures of Market Street during subway construction.
PCC Streetcars in the Streets of San Francisco
Until 1982 PCC cars ran regular service on the streets of San Francisco until the subway below Market Street took over all services. The tracks in Market Street were retained however and used for Trolley festivals with vintage streetcars during summertime. In 1995 a permanent F-Market line was opened with PCC cars painted in colours from American cities where this type of streetcar once served. In 2000 the F line was extended to Fisherman's Wharf. In 2008 a second heritage line E-Embarcadero was opened between Fisherman's Wharf and Caltrain Railway station.