The Historic Streetcars That Still Roam San Francisco, Part 2

Last time we looked at the origins of San Francisco’s remarkable fleet of restored PCC streetcars and several of Muni’s own historic cars. This time, we continue the tour with another group of preserved survivors, all lovingly restored in the liveries of transit systems from across North America. Together they form a rolling museum, honoring not only San Francisco’s streetcar heritage but also the cities whose PCC cars once carried millions of passengers before disappearing from everyday service.

No. 1063 was built in 1948 for the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) as car No. 2096. It wears the livery of the Baltimore Transit Company (BTC), one of the earliest PCC operators, introducing the type in 1936. At its peak, BTC operated 275 PCCs, about a quarter of its streetcar fleet, alongside the older wooden “old plug” cars. During and after World War II, National City Lines gradually gained control of the system, and streetcar routes steadily gave way to buses.

This car also brings back a personal memory. In 1962, my family moved to Catonsville, a suburb of Baltimore, and I clearly remember PCCs rumbling along Frederick Road as I walked home from St. Mark’s Elementary School. Farther down the line, they turned onto what is now Streetcar Path before reaching the carbarn. By late 1963, they were gone. The livery seen here dates from the administration of Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., whose young daughter—future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi—rode these very streetcars as a child.

No. 1070 was built in 1948 for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company of Minneapolis–St. Paul before being sold to Public Service Coordinated Transport in Newark, New Jersey, in 1953, where it became car No. 14. Newark’s PCC fleet outlasted New York City’s streetcars by decades, remaining in regular service until 2001 thanks to meticulous maintenance. Muni acquired this car in 2002 and was impressed enough to purchase eleven more former Newark PCCs. It is painted in its original Newark livery as introduced in 1953.

No. 1071 is another former Newark PCC, though it began life in 1948 as Twin City Rapid Transit No. 362 in Minneapolis–St. Paul. Following a bitter struggle for control of the transit system, Twin City’s streetcar network was abandoned in June 1954 in favor of buses. Because the PCC fleet was still relatively new, many cars found second lives elsewhere: 91 went to Mexico City, 20 to Shaker Heights, Ohio, and 30 to Newark. This car became Newark No. 23 in 1955 and today wears the original Twin City Rapid Transit livery it carried when new.

No. 1072 is painted to honor Mexico City, whose extensive PCC fleet operated from 1947 to 1984. The car itself was built in 1946 for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT) as No. 339. After the Mexican government took over a private tramway in 1945, its transit agency—Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos del Distrito Federal (STE)—began modernizing the system. That effort included the purchase of Mexico’s only brand-new PCC, No. 2000, nicknamed La Bella Rosa, which entered service in 1947. It remained the city’s lone PCC until 1954, when 91 secondhand cars arrived from Twin City. Another 183 former Detroit PCCs followed in 1955, and by 1957 the entire streetcar fleet consisted of PCCs. In time, however, deteriorating infrastructure and the rapid expansion of the Mexico City Metro brought the PCC era to an end.

No. 1073 was built for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company before being sold to Public Service Coordinated Transport of Newark, New Jersey, in 1953, where it became car No. 22. Muni acquired the car in 2004 and had it restored by Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania between 2004 and 2011. Today it wears the livery of the El Paso–Juárez streetcar system, which operated from 1950 to 1974 and holds the distinction of being North America’s only international PCC line.

The El Paso City Lines, owned by the notorious National City Lines, acquired its PCCs secondhand from San Diego (represented in Muni’s fleet by No. 1078). Although National City Lines was known for replacing streetcars with buses, the El Paso–Juárez route survived because the company held permission to operate only streetcars—not buses—across the international border. The cars were fitted with longitudinal seating to simplify customs inspections, and by the early 1970s they had become a familiar cross-border sight. Service finally ended in 1974 after merchants in Juárez successfully lobbied for its closure, arguing that too many shoppers were traveling into El Paso. The car is finished in the line’s late-1960s livery rather than the more familiar National City Lines “fruit salad” scheme (seen on No. 1080), and a closer look reveals crossed American and Mexican flags adorning the front.

No. 1074 is painted in the colors of Toronto, whose PCC fleet operated from 1938 to 1995. With 745 cars, the Toronto Transit Commission fielded the largest PCC fleet in North America. This particular photo was kindly provided by Riley Probst, as No. 1074—along with Muni cars No. 1006 and No. 1007—never appeared during my visits. Before the arrival of the PCC, Toronto relied heavily on Peter Witt streetcars, some of which remained in service until 1963. The TTC not only purchased new PCCs but also acquired secondhand cars from other cities whenever they became available. By the late 1970s, the famous “Red Rockets” began giving way to Canadian Light Rail Vehicles, which have since been replaced by yet another generation of modern streetcars.

No. 1075 began life as Twin City Rapid Transit No. 336 before becoming Newark No. 17, and today serves as Muni No. 1075. It is painted in the colors of the Cleveland Transit System (CTS), which operated PCC streetcars from 1946 to 1953. CTS acquired 75 PCCs, including 25 originally built for Louisville but never delivered there. As the system developed a long-term transit plan, officials ultimately chose trolley and motor buses over expanding the PCC fleet. The streetcars were sold off in 1953, with most going to Toronto. A handful of older Peter Witt cars, named after former CTS commissioner Peter Witt, remained in service for a few more years before being retired, with ten eventually finding their way to Muni. The brown-and-cream livery worn by No. 1075 is reminiscent of the Cleveland Browns’ uniforms of the early 1950s.

No. 1076 was built in 1946 and is painted in the colorful livery of D.C. Transit. Washington’s streetcars were unique because Congress banned overhead wires in downtown Washington in 1893, considering them visually intrusive. Instead, the cars drew power from a conduit between the rails in the city center before switching to conventional overhead wires on suburban routes.

Originally operated by Capital Transit, whose cars wore a subdued blue-green and gray scheme, the system changed dramatically after a new owner lost the company’s franchise in 1956. Its successor, D.C. Transit, planned to replace the streetcars with buses and adopted this tropical-inspired paint scheme after being folded into the owner’s business empire, which also included Trans Caribbean Airways. The airline’s influence even extended to ticket offices and decals on the streetcars, including the one preserved on No. 1076 that reads, “An Affiliate of Trans Caribbean Airways.” Although D.C. Transit itself was taken over by the government in 1962, this distinctive livery lives on in San Francisco’s historic fleet.

No. 1077 was built in 1947 and wears the livery of the Birmingham Electric Company (BEC), which operated PCC streetcars from 1947 to 1953. Like many early transit systems, Birmingham’s streetcars were run by the local electric utility, whose financial resources made it possible to build and maintain the network. Birmingham was one of only two cities in the South—along with Dallas—to operate streamlined PCC streetcars. By the end of World War II, its aging and heavily used fleet was worn out, prompting an order for 48 new Pullman-Standard PCCs. They served the busiest routes, while lighter lines were gradually converted to trolley buses and motor coaches. In 1953, the privately owned system was abandoned and the entire PCC fleet was sold to Toronto.

In the second photo, you can also appreciate the dense web of overhead wires that once accompanied streetcar systems. It’s easy to see why some city officials considered them visual clutter, though after a while you hardly notice them—just don’t go flying a kite beneath them, Charlie Brown.

No. 1078 was built in 1946 and is painted in the colors of the San Diego Electric Railway (SDER), which operated PCC streetcars from 1937 to 1949. Owned by the sons of sugar magnate Claus Spreckels, SDER also controlled the Hotel del Coronado and the San Diego & Arizona Railway. In 1937, San Diego became the first West Coast city to introduce PCC streetcars, beating Los Angeles by a few weeks—though without Shirley Temple to christen the occasion. The 28-car fleet served the city well until rapid postwar suburban growth rendered the system increasingly impractical. Sold in 1948 to a former National City Lines executive, the railway was quickly converted to buses, and streetcar service ended in 1949. Twenty PCCs found new homes in El Paso, while most of the rest were scrapped, though two survived into preservation.

Since 2011, PCC service has returned to San Diego in a small way, with former Muni car No. 1123 operating on the downtown Silver Line in its original SDER livery. Appropriately, the destination sign on Muni No. 1078 reads “Balboa Park”—a name shared by a small San Francisco park, though the famous Balboa Park in San Diego is closer in scale and importance to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

No. 1079 began life as Twin City Rapid Transit No. 330 before becoming Newark No. 11, and today serves as Muni No. 1079. It is painted in the colors of the Detroit Department of Street Railways, which initially resisted buying PCCs in favor of its older Peter Witt streetcars. Efforts to modernize the Witts proved unsuccessful, and once the carmen’s union accepted one-person operation, Detroit ordered 186 new PCCs between 1947 and 1949. Their reign was brief, however. As Detroit’s population spread into the suburbs and the automobile reshaped the city, officials approved abandoning the streetcar network. By 1956, Detroit had become an all-bus city.

No. 1080 was built in 1946 for Twin City Rapid Transit and today wears the livery of the Los Angeles Transit Lines (LATL), which operated PCC streetcars after World War II. In 1945, the Los Angeles Railway was acquired by the infamous National City Lines, whose owners were later convicted on federal conspiracy charges for their role in promoting bus conversions. Yet Los Angeles proved to be an exception. Rather than immediately abandoning streetcars, LATL purchased 40 extra-wide PCCs in 1948—including the type represented by No. 1080—to serve heavily traveled routes such as the P-Pico line, where buses simply couldn’t handle the passenger volume. Thanks to consistent maintenance, PCC service continued on several major routes even as streetcar systems disappeared elsewhere.

No. 1080 wears LATL’s standard cream-and-red livery, a scheme also used on other National City Lines properties, including El Paso. Massive freeway construction in the late 1950s ultimately sealed the system’s fate, concentrating the remaining cars on just a handful of routes before the publicly owned Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (LAMTA) took over in 1958. Despite carrying some 40,000 passengers a day on the busy P-Pico line, Los Angeles’ last PCC streetcars were retired in 1963.

We’ve been looking at these in ascending order of car ID number, but here’s a late addition that didn’t make it in time for Part 1. No. 1007 has been a San Francisco Muni streetcar throughout its entire life, having entered service in 1948 on the J, K, L, M, and N lines before being retired in 1982. Restored for the opening of the F-Market line in 1995, it initially wore a modern silver-and-red Muni scheme that proved unpopular with enthusiasts. Just two years later, it was repainted in the handsome colors of the Red Arrow Lines, the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, whose interurban routes connected Philadelphia with its western suburbs.

The Red Arrow fleet was unusual in that its 14 streamlined cars, delivered in 1949, resembled PCC streetcars but were specially equipped for high-speed interurban service, capable of speeds approaching 70 mph on private rights-of-way. They served the West Chester, Media, and Sharon Hill lines until 1982, when they were replaced by modern light rail vehicles. Muni’s No. 1007 is a fitting tribute, as its own double-ended body is nearly identical to the Red Arrow cars it commemorates, making it one of the most authentic heritage liveries in San Francisco’s remarkable PCC fleet.

That pretty much closes this tour with the streetcars that I could document. But before we go, a few last tidbits.

Here’s a wonderful period photo showing Muni No. 1004, one of the original five “Magic Carpet” streetcars built in 1939 before the city was allowed to use the patented PCC design. As I told in Part 1, these distinctive double-ended cars were custom-built for San Francisco and marked the beginning of Muni’s modern streetcar era. Trailing behind is one of Muni’s older Type A streetcars, built in 1913, a reminder of the transition taking place at the time. Of the original Magic Carpet fleet, only No. 1003 survives today, preserved at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista. As luck would have it, one of my longtime patients recently retired and now volunteers there—so it sounds like I have an excellent excuse to pay the museum a visit.

Finally, I’d like to thank the two websites that proved invaluable while researching this series. One provides a live roster showing which historic streetcars are operating on any given day (HERE), while the other offers detailed histories of every car in Muni’s extraordinary heritage fleet (HERE). Both are excellent resources for anyone wishing to learn more about one of the finest collections of preserved streetcars in the world.