Historic Streetcar Frequently Asked Questions

The F-Market & Wharves line is one of the most unique and popular historic streetcar operations in the world, and we field a lot of questions and requests for information about the line, and about the streetcars that serve it. Following are answers to some of the most frequently-asked questions we receive. If you have additional questions about the F-line, or the cable cars, drop us a line at info@streetcar.org.

Can I charter an historic streetcar? Do chartered streetcars have to remain on the F-line trackage?
Yes, Muni offers private chartering of both historic streetcars and cable cars on a limited basis. Please contact Corey Marshall at (415) 701-4793 or corey.marshall@sfmta.com for more information on rates and availability.

With the exception of the Market Street Subway, the Muni Metro light rail system is compatible with historic streetcar operation, though a few clearance restrictions preclude operation of certain historic cars on certain portions of the Muni Metro lines.

A popular route for historic car charters runs from Fisherman's Wharf out Market Street on the F-line to upper Market, then via 17th Street to Church, and out the J-line through Dolores Heights, with great views of Downtown and the Bay as the car winds through a scenic backyard private right-of-way over the hillside. The route proceeds through the Noe Valley neighborhood to 30th Street, where the streetcar can either reverse direction, or head on to the Balboa Park area where the historic streetcars are stored. Another interesting charter route starts at the storage yard (historic Geneva Car House), follows the K-Ingleside line to West Portal, then the L-Taraval line to the Beach and the Zoo. Both of these routes can be operated within the four-hour minimum charter period under normal conditions.

Why is it called the F-line?
Since its inception in 1912, the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) has assigned letters to its streetcar routes, originally to distinguish its routes from the numbered ones of its private competitor, the Market Street Railway Company. Muni's route designations were assigned in alphabetical order, working through the alphabet (including such lines as the E-Union and F-Stockton) until it reached the letter N in 1928. The N-Judah was, in fact, the last permanent Muni streetcar line to open for almost seventy years, before the Muni Metro T-line opened on Third Street in 2007.

Having purchased the Market Street Railway Co. in 1948, Muni began converting many streetcar lines to bus service, and changed their letter designations to numbers in the process. For example: the B-Geary streetcar became the 38-Geary bus; the E-Union streetcar ultimately became the 41-Union bus; and the F-Stockton streetcar became the 30-Stockton bus.

In 1979, Muni proposed a new streetcar line to run along The Embarcadero on the city's northeast waterfront. It was assigned the letter E to match Embarcadero (and perhaps because the original E-line ran a few blocks along The Embarcadero). The following year, Muni proposed another new streetcar line to take over streetcar service on Market Street after the existing surface streetcar lines (the J, K, L, M, and N) moved into a new subway beneath Market. This line was designated F-Market simply because F followed the letter E.

The proposed E and F lines had a number of supporters, but did not appear to be not moving forward in the planning process by 1983, and there was growing doubt they would ever be built. Then a group of interested business people and preservationists -- including several individuals who later led Market Street Railway -- petitioned Mayor Dianne Feinstein to approve a vintage streetcar demonstration project using the Market Street tracks. It was called the San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival, and was intended to be a substitute attraction for the city's famed cable cars which were shut down for a complete rebuilding of the system. The organizers thought about what route designation to use for what they thought would be a one-time event, and embraced Muni's F-Market designation, because F could also stand for Festival.

The mayor and board of supervisors approved, and the event -- during the summer of 1983 -- was such a success that it ran for five consecutive summers, by which time city leaders had agreed to rebuild the Market Street surface track and make the line permanent. The F-line designation stuck. So, too, has the E-line designation, still applied to a route along The Embarcadero, and now slated for future service. For more information, read A Brief History of the F-line.

What does PCC stand for?
PCC stands for Presidents' Conference Committee, in reference to the Electric Railway Presidents' Conference Committee: a group of transit company executives that got together in the early 1930s to bring modern looks and technology to American streetcars, mainly to compete more effectively with the growing threat from private automobiles.

Their PCC reference design became the most successful streetcar in history, with some 4,500 built in North America to run in 33 cities, including San Francisco. The technology was later exported to Europe, where PCC-type trams ran in many cities for decades.

Are the PCC cars really from all those different cities?
With a handful of exceptions, no. The PCCs in the current F-line fleet came to Muni from three sources: three double-enders that ran their whole lives in San Francisco; fourteen from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and eleven from Newark, New Jersey (that originally ran in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota). They have been painted to represent North American cities that originally ran the PCC-type streetcar.

There was considerable debate about this, with some in Market Street Railway and Muni believing that all the PCCs should be painted in a single Muni paint scheme. But the multiple-city approach prevailed because it demonstrates the continent-wide popularity of this car type, acknowledges the fact that individual cars often ran in multiple cities in their operating lifetimes, and adds color to the route. The paint schemes are as accurate as resources allow, and are wildly popular with riders and onlookers alike.

Although the provenance of the cars is made clear in the informational material on-board the cars, many San Franciscans have 'adopted' individual cars because they remind them of their hometown or a city special to them. In fact, on several occasions, visitors from cities represented in the PCC fleet have insisted that the car they see on the streets of San Francisco actually ran in their town, even when they are told it is merely painted in tribute to their city. To them, it is the real thing.

The five PCCs that really did run in the cities they represent are:

• No. 1010 - San Francisco CA
• No. 1055 - Philadelphia PA
• No. 1060 - Philadelphia PA
• No. 1070 - Newark NJ
• No. 1071 - Minneapolis-St. Paul MN

How many cities ran PCC streetcars, and which ones are represented in the F-line fleet?
PCC streetcars ran in 33 North American cities, and the F-line PCCs represent 21 of those cities and/or metropolitan areas:

• Baltimore MD - No. 1063
• Birmingham AL - No. 1077
• Boston MA - No. 1059
• Brooklyn NY - No. 1053
• Chicago IL - No. 1058
• Cincinnati OH - No. 1057
• Cleveland OH - No. 1075
• Detroit MI - No. 1079
• El Paso TX-Juarez, Mexico - No. 1073
• Kansas City MO - No. 1056
• Los Angeles CA - Nos. 1052, 1061, 1080
• Louisville KY (which never ran its PCCs) - No. 1062
• Mexico City, Mexico - No. 1072
• Minneapolis-St. Paul MN - No. 1071
• Newark NJ - No. 1070
• Philadelphia PA (and Philadelphia Suburban) - Nos. 1007, 1055, 1060
• San Diego CA - No. 1078
• San Francisco CA - Nos. 1010, 1050, 1051
• St. Louis MO (Illinois Terminal) - No. 1015
• Toronto, Canada - No. 1074
• Washington DC - No. 1076

Are the vintage cars (such as the 'Streetcar Named Desire' and the 'Boat Tram') authentic?
Yes, all of the vintage cars (non-PCCs) are completely authentic in both their origins and their liveries (with the exception of car No. 737, which is from Brussels, Belgium, but is painted to honor Zürich, Switzerland). Each is maintained in as close to original condition as possible, consistent with operational safety and the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We are aware of no operating transit system in the world that comes close to the diversity of Muni's vintage rail fleet.

Where can I view the historic streetcars when they're not in service?
Though the F-line cars are stored at Muni's facility at Geneva & San Jose Avenues, the facility is secured and not open to the public. A few of the cars are slightly visible from the sidewalk near the southeast corner of Geneva & San Jose (near the dilapidated brick building known as Geneva Car House). This facility is well served by public transit. It is adjacent to the BART Balboa Park Station, which is also the termination point for the J, K, and M Muni Metro lines. It is served by Muni's #15, 29, 36, 43, 54, and 88 bus lines as well. By automobile, it is located at the Ocean and Geneva Avenue exit from Interstate 280. Take Geneva Avenue south a short block from the freeway and you'll see the old brick building on the corner. Please do not attempt to enter the Geneva Division facility without express permission from Muni.

Market Street Railway's primary mission is to help Muni create Museums in Motion, displaying the historic streetcars, trolleys and trams in their full glory, with the rumble of their motors, the screech of their wheels on curves of the steel tracks, the clang of their gongs signaling their presence to automobiles and pedestrians along the route. These are, after all, street-cars, and Market Street Railway's primary focus has always been returning them to at least periodic operation in their native environment, rather than putting them on static silent display as some museums must do.

How many of the historic streetcars are operating?
Basic service on the F-line is provided by the popular art deco PCC streetcars and Peter Witt-type Milan trams, all authentically historic in their own right. On most days, you will also see at least one car from Muni's unmatched international collection of unique vintage cars. The vintage cars currently available for daily service are:

• No. 1 - Muni's first streetcar ever, built 1912
• No. 130 - original Muni streetcar, built 1914
• No. 162 - original Muni streetcar, built 1914
• No. 228 - the 'Boat Tram' from Blackpool, England, built 1934
• No. 496 - from Melbourne, Australia, built 1927
• No. 952 - the 'Streetcar Named Desire' from New Orleans, Louisiana, built 1924

The vintage cars generally operate only in shuttle service from the Ferry Building to Fisherman's Wharf during daylight hours.

Market Street Railway Co. car No. 578 (Muni's oldest streetcar, built 1895) is operational as well, and has made brief appearances for special events throughout the years. But, because of the car's antiquity, it does not operate in regular F-line service.

There are several other unique vintage cars in Muni's possession that need various levels of restoration before joining the active fleet. Market Street Railway is working closely with Muni to bring these cars to the F-line in coming years.

Are any of San Francisco's PCCs that ran before the subway opened preserved and available for F-line service?
Yes, quite a few of San Francisco's own PCCs have been preserved. First a little history...

San Francisco's PCC history tells a lot about the city's governance and politics. When the PCC was first introduced in 1936, it was filled with breakthrough, patented features. A number of cities, including New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Los Angeles became early adopters of this bold new trolley, but San Francisco had a problem. Its City Charter, taken very seriously by voters and politicians alike, forbade the payment of patent royalties. Not only that, but San Francisco's transit unions -- then, as now -- were very strong, and hostile to the idea of the PCC car which was designed to require only one operator instead of the two then required in San Francisco. (In fact, the labor movement had just triumphed over an attempt by the Market Street Railway Co. to use one-operator cars on some lightly-traveled streetcar lines.)

Muni did, however, manage to acquire five modern streetcars in 1939 that looked very similar to PCCs. Called the 'Magic Carpets', they were numbered 1001-1005, had a two-man crew of motorman and conductor, and avoided the patent problem by utilizing non-royalty features, such as substituting a hand-operated G.E. Cineston controller for the standard PCC foot pedal arrangement. These cars were assigned to Potrero Streetcar Division at 17th & Hampshire, and often worked the L-Taraval line. But with only five Magic Carpets, they weren't much of a presence, and Muni lacked the money to buy anymore of them...then World War II shut down streetcar production anyway. The five Magic Carpet PCC lookalikes were retired in the late 1950s. Only car No. 1003 is preserved (at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista Junction, Solano County).

After the War, Muni wanted real PCCs, but couldn't afford them. Finally, in 1947, a bond issue passed that allowed rebuilding of the Municipal Railway to begin. (Muni also acquired the Market Street Railway Co. in 1948.) The primary emphasis was on replacing streetcars and their tracks with trolley buses, still using the City's Hetch Hetchy public power in the overhead lines, but avoiding the need to rebuild the tracks in the street, which were completely worn out from the heavy wartime ridership, as were the streetcars themselves.

Muni, however, knew it would almost certainly have to retain some streetcar lines, particularly those that operated in the Twin Peaks Tunnel, which was too narrow for bus conversion. So Muni used some bond-issue money to buy ten 'true' PCCs, numbered 1006-1015. Called the 'Big Tens', these cars looked a lot like the Magic Carpets, but thanks to a change in the City Charter, had the patented features of the PCC reference design on them. Being double-ended, they could operate on any city tracks, but they were almost always assigned to lines like the N-Judah that already had loops on both ends, and by the mid 1950s, the cars had been converted to single-end operation. Because of their size and tubular shape, Muni workers came to refer to these cars as 'Torpedoes' as well as Big Tens. Two of these cars (Nos. 1012 and 1013) were scrapped following serious accidents, but the rest were retired in 1982 and preserved.

Three of the Torpedoes -- Nos. 1007, 1010, and 1015 -- have been fully renovated as double-end cars and are used in daily service on the F-line. (No. 1010 is painted in a blue and gold San Francisco livery to honor its Magic Carpet predecessors. The other two are painted to honor systems that ran almost identical double-enders: Philadelphia's Red Arrow line and the Illinois Terminal outside of St. Louis.)

Car No. 1014 was put on permanent loan by Muni to the Sydney Transport Museum in Australia, where it was restored to double-end status and is very popular with riders. Of the other cars, No. 1008 became Muni's non-revenue wrecker (replacing 1914 vintage car No. 130 which was restored for the 1983 Trolley Festival and now operates in shuttle service on the F-line). No. 1006 was also spiffed up for the Trolley Festival and made double-ended again, although it has not operated in service since 1987. The other two, Nos. 1009 and 1011, were stored on the San Francisco waterfront, where they were set on fire several years ago by vandals or vagrants. These last four cars are all scheduled for restoration and future F-line service.

In 1951, Muni ordered 25 additional PCCs, numbered 1016-1040, which came to be known inside Muni as the 'Baby Tens' because they were somewhat smaller than their predecessors. However, they were full-width PCCs (at nine feet, almost a full foot wider than the ex-Philadelphia PCCs now on the F-line, Nos. 1050-1063) and among the largest single-end cars built (with the notable exception of Chicago's giants). The Muni operators union still opposed one-operator streetcars, so these, like the Big Tens, were delivered configured for two operators. Passengers boarded via the rear door and paid the conductor there.

As it turned out, Baby Ten No. 1040 was the last PCC ever built new in North America, and Muni has always considered it to be a special car. At first, this class was limited to lines with loops (the K, L, and N), though being assigned to Geneva Division, they almost never appeared on the B-Geary line. By 1957, with the installation of turning wyes on the J and M, and the abandonment of the B and C, these cars were working every line in the system.

All of the Baby Tens made it to the end of San Francisco's PCC era in 1983. Several cars were then given to museums, while No. 1040 was preserved and used in the Trolley Festivals. It is currently slated for restoration and will wear its as-delivered 'Muni Wngs' livery (seen on F-line PCC No. 1050). Muni also retains three other cars from this class, Nos. 1023, 1031 and 1038, which have been badly vandalized, but are candidates for future restoration. Four other cars from this class are currently in museums around the country, and in 2001, Market Street Railway reacquired another four cars from this class, Nos. 1026, 1027, 1028, and 1034, and donated them to Muni for potential restoration. Thus, Muni could restore at least eight identical cars of the Baby Ten class for future use, in addition to three or four additional Big Tens.

By the mid 1950s, Muni knew it needed more PCCs to replace its aging 'Iron Monsters' (like F-line cars No. 1, 130 and 162), which by then were 30-40 years old and still required two operators. (Muni had finally won the right to run PCCs with one operator by this time, and had converted its existing PCCs.) With no one building PCCs any more, the only option was to buy cars second-hand. Muni found seventy of these cars in St. Louis, Missouri. Built in 1946, they were slightly smaller than the Baby Tens, and had a two-pedal reversed accelerator, deadman, and brake arrangement unique to St. Louis Public Service.

These St. Louis cars were numbered 1101-1170. A couple of the cars in this class were scrapped after accidents, but the rest made it to retirement in 1982. One car, No. 1128, was repainted in its original St. Louis livery and number (No. 1704) and operated in the Trolley Festivals. Several others were given to museums. Muni has preserved six of these cars for possible rebuilding in the future, but the unusual foot pedal arrangement would require special training of F-line operators. None of the remaining 1100s is currently on Muni's list for complete restoration.

Muni also briefly owned eleven additional PCC cars, which it acquired third-hand from Toronto (originally built for Kansas City.) These cars, numbered 1180-1190, were intended to meet the extra car requirements imposed by a track detour on 17th & Church Streets in connection with the construction of the Market Street subway in the late 1970s. But the cars had operating and maintenance characteristics uncomfortable to Muni, and only Nos. 1190 and 1183 ever operated with regularity. They were disposed of in the early 1980s.

Are animals allowed on the historic streetcars?
Any number of working dogs -- guide dogs, signal dogs, or service dogs -- for the disabled may ride free at any time. Working dogs for the disabled do not have to be muzzled, but must be on a leash.

Persons boarding with an animal that is not a working dog for the disabled must pay the same fare for the animal that they do for themselves. These animals are allowed to ride on Muni vehicles from 9am to 3pm and from 7pm to 5am on weekdays, and all day on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Only one of these animals may ride per vehicle. Dogs must be muzzled and on a short leash or in a closed container, and other animals must be carried in closed containers.

Still have questions about the F-line, the historic streetcars, or the cable cars? Drop us a line at info@streetcar.org.