San Francisco, California:
The F-Market Heritage Streetcars

Description

Until the early 1980s, PCC streetcars of San Francisco's J, K, L, M and N routes operated on Market Street. A streetcar subway tunnel (the Muni Metro) had been built in the 1970s along with the BART rapid-transit tunnel. However, the PCC's could not operate in the tunnel, because they couldn't turn around at the stub-end Embarcadero station. So the PCC's remained in service until new light-rail vehicles (LRVs) arrived. Then the surface tracks on Market Street became silent.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, occasional "Trolley Festivals" took place on Market Street, featuring old streetcars from around the world. These were so successful that it was decided to restore full-time streetcar service to Market Street, using "old" equipment. Several PCC's were bought from Philadelphia, which had "suspended" service on its last three all-surface streetcar lines. These cars were thoroughly overhauled, restored, and painted in various color schemes similar to those of other cities that had operated PCC's in the past. A new section of track was built on Market Street between Church and Castro Streets, to provide a loop for the cars to turn around on. Service began on the new F-Market line in 1995, replacing the 8-Market trolley coach route.

Interestingly, the streetcars (which all use trolley poles) share one of the two overhead wires used by the trolley coaches that also use Market Street. This is impossible for pantograph-equipped light rail vehicles to do, so they cannot use the Market Street tracks.

Originally, the line operated between between Castro Street and the Transbay Terminal at Fremont and Mission Streets. Since March 2000, it continues along Market Street (bypassing the Transbay Terminal) to the Ferry Building, then northward along the Embarcadero to Jones and Beach Streets in the Fisherman's Wharf area.

• [outside] | [inside] Municipal Railway 7-day passport (May 1997)