The Historic Streetcars That Still Roam San Francisco, Part 1

Few cities embrace transit history quite like San Francisco. Alongside its world-famous cable cars, Muni’s fleet of beautifully restored PCC streetcars continues to carry passengers through the city, something that turns an ordinary commute into a rolling museum of American public transportation. Each car tells a story, not only of San Francisco, but of the many cities where these iconic streetcars once ran.

With that as an intro, let’s get going to explore…

No, not the Quinn Martin Production, but the Tbm3fan production of The Vintage Streetcars of San Francisco.

First, a bit of history. The San Francisco Municipal Railway is known locally as Muni; the first publicly owned and operated transit agency in a major American city. It opened for service on December 28, 1912. Before Muni, San Francisco’s transit was operated by a collection of private companies.

The city’s first cable cars appeared in 1873, thanks to Scottish immigrant Andrew Hallidie, who adapted mining cable technology for urban transportation. His legacy lives on today in Hallidie Plaza at Powell and Market, just outside the Powell Street BART station.

The 1906 earthquake and fires devastated much of the city’s transit network. As rebuilding began, many cable car lines gave way to more economical electric streetcars, though the steepest routes retained their cable cars. Meanwhile, private operators consolidated into large monopolies such as United Railroads, whose corruption, labor disputes, and poor public image ultimately prompted voters to approve a municipal transit system in 1909. Muni began service three years later, while United Railroads eventually became the Market Street Railway before being acquired by the city in 1944.

Today, Muni operates motor buses, trolley buses, light rail vehicles, historic streetcars, and, of course, everyone’s favorite—the 40 surviving cable cars. Electricity has long been central to San Francisco’s transit system, powered by the city’s hydroelectric Hetch Hetchy project. Although Hetch Hetchy supplies the power, transmission to the city has relied on PG&E’s lines ever since San Francisco ran out of funds to complete its own—a complicated arrangement that has been a source of controversy for nearly a century.

This post focuses on Muni’s historic Presidential Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars. Once common in 32 North American cities, they disappeared from most systems during the 1950s and ’60s, while San Francisco kept them in service until 1982. Their popularity during the city’s Trolley Festivals (1983–1987) led to their permanent return on the F-Line in 1995. Today, Muni’s fleet consists of surviving local cars and examples acquired from other cities, each restored in the distinctive livery of the transit system it originally served.

I happened to find a picture I shot in 1995, when the F-Line reopened. As you can see, there is an electric bus and electric streetcar. Note the cars, mostly 1990s.

These photos were taken over several months, from just before Christmas through the end of April, as I tried to photograph as many of Muni’s historic streetcars as possible. Living just a mile from the Concord BART station, getting into San Francisco is quick and easy, making it far more practical than driving. We’ll be covering these by their identifying numbers, from lower to higher.

Car No. 1008 was built for Muni in 1948. I photographed it after writing up No. 1010 below. It’s one of ten PCCs Muni ordered as double-end cars, a feature that’s easy to spot thanks to the doors on both sides. Muni preferred these over the sleeker, more automotive-looking single-end PCCs, even though its lines already terminated in loops, making double-end operation largely unnecessary. Compared to a single-end PCC, the larger dimensions of No. 1008 are immediately apparent, as it belongs to one of the biggest PCC variants ever built. When delivered, it wore the attractive “Wings” livery seen here, though by the mid-1950s Muni had sealed the doors on one side, converting it to single-end operation.

Car No. 1010 was built for Muni in 1948. Can you tell which direction it’s headed? Its blue-and-gold paint scheme pays tribute to Muni’s original “Magic Carpet” streetcars, the nickname given to the system’s first five modern-design cars. When PCC streetcars debuted in 1936, San Francisco was unable to purchase them. The city’s privately owned operator lacked the funds, while the Municipal Railway was prohibited by its charter from paying the licensing fees required for several patented PCC features. Instead, Muni commissioned five custom-built, double-end cars (Nos. 1001–1005), which entered service in 1939 —the “Magic Carpet” streetcars.

After World War II, those charter restrictions were lifted, and Muni ordered ten true PCC streetcars (Nos. 1006–1015) from the St. Louis Car Company in 1948. Only one of the original “Magic Carpets,” No. 1003, survives today at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista. When No. 1010 was restored, it received this distinctive blue-and-gold livery in honor of those pioneering cars.

Car No. 1011 served Muni throughout its entire streetcar career, from 1948 until its retirement in 1982. During its restoration, Muni chose to honor its former rival, the Market Street Railway, which operated alongside the municipal system during the 1930s. Unable to afford new PCC streetcars, the private company instead refreshed its aging fleet with a striking green-and-cream paint scheme accented by a bold white stripe to give the cars a more modern appearance. No. 1011 now wears Muni’s interpretation of that distinctive livery. After suffering extensive vandalism while in storage, the car was fully restored by the Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania. Like Nos. 1006–1015, it is one of Muni’s double-end PCCs, known as the “Big Ten” or “Torpedo” cars.

Car No. 1015 was the last of Muni’s original “Big Ten” PCC streetcars, delivered in 1948. Today it wears the colors of the Illinois Terminal Railroad (IT), an interurban system that served southern Illinois. The Illinois Terminal operated eight double-end PCCs, though unlike Muni’s they lacked rear doors. As automobile ownership eroded passenger traffic after World War II, the line was abandoned in 1958. Their unusual configuration and high cost made the cars difficult to sell, and six were scrapped in 1964. The remaining two found a brief second life in Cleveland between 1975 and 1979, leased from the museums that had preserved them. As far as I know, both still survive today. Note how the front and rear of No. 1015 are virtually identical, a hallmark of the double-end PCC design.

Car No. 1040 was the last of almost 5,0000 PCC streetcars ever built, delivered to Muni in 1952. Unlike the earlier “Big Ten” cars, it is a single-end PCC and has spent its entire career in San Francisco. Muni had hoped to order more double-end cars, but by the late 1940s demand for PCCs was declining, and the St. Louis Car Company was unwilling to build such a small batch. The result was this wider-bodied single-end design, nicknamed the “Baby Ten.” Restored in its original “Wings“ livery—minus the rear “wings,” as originally delivered—No. 1040 retains many of its factory features. Meanwhile, the first car of this class, No. 1016, has been preserved at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista.

Car No. 1050 was built in 1948 for the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) as No. 2119. While St. Louis Car Company built thousands of PCC streetcars, some 300 were operated by the St. Louis Public Service Company (SLPS). Like many systems after World War II, St. Louis saw ridership decline, allowing surplus cars to be sold. The largest single group—66 PCCs—was leased to San Francisco in 1957, enabling Muni to replace its aging “Iron Monsters” with more modern equipment on several lines, with 4 more units arriving in 1962. Streetcar service in St. Louis ended in 1966, though a number of former SLPS cars remain in Muni’s collection awaiting restoration. In 2016, No. 1050 was repainted in the green-and-cream SLPS livery to commemorate its former home.

Car No. 1051 was built in 1948 for the PTC as No. 2110 and was originally a Philadelphia streetcar. Like No. 1050, it wears Muni’s simplified green-and-cream livery, which replaced the original “Wings” scheme on many streetcars after advertising panels introduced in 1963 obscured much of the winged design. By the 1970s, this had become Muni’s standard paint scheme; part of the reason why No. 1051 was chosen to appear in the 2008 film Milk, honoring San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, a strong advocate for public transit who frequently rode the streetcars between the Castro District and City Hall. No. 1051 was restored once more in 2016, officially rededicated to Harvey Milk in a 2017 ceremony.

Car No. 1052 was built in 1948 for the PTC and today wears the colors of the Los Angeles Railway (LARy), better known as the Yellow Car system.

 

Los Angeles proudly introduced its first PCC streetcar in March 1937, with child star Shirley Temple presiding over the ceremony. The railway had been transformed into one of the nation’s premier urban transit systems by Henry Huntington, nephew of railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington. Despite its success, however, the postwar rise of the automobile sealed its fate. Sold in 1945 to a consortium of oil, tire, and bus interests, the Yellow Car system was gradually abandoned as Los Angeles embraced the car like no other American city. No. 1052 preserves the memory of that once-vast network.

Car No. 1053 was built in 1947 for the PTC as No. 2721. Today it wears the colors of the Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corporation (B&QT), whose PCC streetcars—known locally as trolleys—served Brooklyn from 1936 to 1956. (Yes, the original “Trolley Dodgers” are today’s Los Angeles Dodgers.) B&QT played a key role in the development of the PCC, providing test trackage for the new design before eventually operating a fleet of 100 cars. After the New York City Board of Transportation took over the system in 1940, no additional PCCs were purchased, and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia favored buses over streetcars. Ironically, the attractive cream-and-green livery adopted in 1946 lasted barely a decade before Brooklyn’s PCCs disappeared, followed a year later by the Dodgers themselves.

Car No. 1055 was built in 1948 for the PTC as No. 2122. It wears the green, cream, and red livery PTC adopted in 1955, a scheme that remained in use until 1968. After World War II, PTC purchased 210 PCC streetcars, but its fortunes changed when National City Lines—the consortium of oil, tire, and bus interests—acquired the system and began replacing streetcars with buses. More than 1,000 Philadelphia streetcars were eventually scrapped as routes were converted to bus operation. By 1990, the city’s last worn-out PCCs had been retired, and Muni acquired 14 of them to help launch the F-Line historic streetcar service in 1995.

Car No. 1056 was built in 1948 for PTC as No. 2113. Today it wears the striking livery of the Kansas City Public Service Company, whose 184 PCC streetcars were distinguished by a bold black “swoosh” that emphasized their modern styling. Kansas City had originally planned to purchase 371 PCCs, but World War II limited the initial order to just 24 cars before production shifted to the war effort. Although another 160 were delivered after the war, declining ridership and worsening finances eventually brought streetcar service to an end in 1957.

Most of Kansas City’s PCC fleet was scrapped. Muni was offered the final 41 cars but declined because of financial constraints. Some instead went to Toronto, and, through a circuitous route, eleven eventually found their way to San Francisco, where they operated between 1973 and 1979. No. 1056, one of the original cars restored for the F-Line’s 1995 opening, accumulated the fewest operating hours of the fleet. After surviving an accident and later requiring structural repairs, it was fully restored in 2016 and repainted to honor Kansas City’s distinctive PCCs.

Car No. 1057 was built for PTC in 1948 as No. 2138. Muni acquired it from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in 1992, and it was restored by Morrison-Knudsen the following year. Today it wears the bright Canary Yellow livery of the Cincinnati Street Railway (CSR).

Cincinnati operated PCC streetcars from 1939 to 1951 under a city-run transit system. The CSR purchased 26 PCCs in 1940 and ordered another 25 in 1947, though the city cut that order in half as it increasingly favored buses over streetcars. The first routes were converted in 1947, and by 1951 the entire system had been abandoned, making Cincinnati one of the earliest major cities to give up streetcars. Its nearly new PCCs were sold to Toronto. Uniquely, Cincinnati’s cars used two overhead wires—one for power and one for the return current—because city officials distrusted the more common practice of using the rails as the electrical ground. I even tested Muni’s system myself and can confirm I’m still alive, although my wife insists I now glow faintly at night. Mind you, I’m no saint… at least not yet.

Car No. 1058 was built for PTC in 1948 as No. 2124. Today it wears the colors of the Chicago Surface Lines, whose PCC streetcars operated from 1936 to 1958. Chicago boasted one of the largest PCC fleets in North America, eventually numbering 683 cars. Its first PCCs, introduced in 1936, were the longest single-end examples ever built, with three sets of doors designed to handle heavy commuter crowds—a feature unique to Chicago. Those early cars became known as the “Blue Geese,” while the postwar green-painted fleet earned the nickname “Green Hornets.”

Streetcar service ended in 1958, though many of Chicago’s PCCs enjoyed a second life as elevated trains on the “L.” Their legacy even lives on in the song “Old Days” by the band Chicago (originally known as the Chicago Transit Authority). As for No. 1058, it proved one of the most elusive cars in Muni’s fleet. Along with No. 1057, it took me more than four months of weekend visits to finally photograph it, having begun my search in December 2025 before finally catching it on April 25.

Car No. 1059 was built for PTC in 1948 as No. 2099. Outside of San Francisco, no city is more closely associated with PCC streetcars than Boston. The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) introduced its first PCCs in 1937 and greatly expanded the fleet after World War II. No. 1059 is painted in the later BERy livery, paying tribute to those Boston cars. While the original BERy streetcars wore larger picture windows, Muni retained the earlier, smaller-window design seen on this car.

Boston runs some of those PCC’s on the Ashmont-Mattapan Line.

Car No. 1060 was built in 1947 for PTC as No. 2715. Unlike many of Muni’s tribute cars, this one is an actual Philadelphia PCC wearing the classic cream-and-green livery introduced in 1938. Its resemblance to the packaging of Philadelphia Cream Cheese earned it the affectionate nickname “Cream Cheese Car.” Muni acquired No. 1060 in 1992 in preparation for the opening of the F-Line in 1995. Originally restored in the colors of Newark, the car later suffered extensive body damage after taking the curve at Market and Steuart too fast, derailing and striking a light pole. Following a lengthy repair, it was repainted in its current Philadelphia livery, bringing the car’s history full circle.

Car No. 1061 was built in 1948 for PTC as car No. 2116. Muni acquired it in 1992 in preparation for the 1995 F-line reopening. It was restored in 2017, only to be involved in a collision with a truck shortly after returning to service. My guess is that it happened along the Embarcadero, where left turns across the tracks are still possible—unlike Market Street, where left turns across the tracks and private automobiles are prohibited. The car was restored once again by Brookville in 2018 and returned to service wearing the livery of the mighty Pacific Electric Railway of Los Angeles. Does it look familiar to anyone?

This is the moment to recall that the owner of Pacific Electric was the nephew of one of the founders of the mighty Southern Pacific.

 

That covers the first part of this look at San Francisco’s historic PCC streetcars, of which more can be learned on their official page. More to come on Part 2 next week.