The Lonely Streetcar
Sometimes a picture just comes to you.I was taking the M Balboa MUNI streetcar from San Francisco State to the Balboa Station the other day. Since the Balboa Station is the M line's terminal it needs to turn around at some point. What the driver usually does is lets everyone off and then goes into the yard to turn around. On this occasion, however, the many lucky passengers on board got to stay in the car while the driver turned around. Thus, we got to see what was in the yard.
The streetcar on the the left is part of the fleet manufactured by Italy's Ansaldobreda S.P.A. that currently runs through town. The car on the right is part of MUNI's historic "F" line. The 'F" line is made up of streetcars that were once used in places such as St. Louis, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Kansas City, and Blackpool, England.
What I am interested in, though, is the car in the middle. From what I gather, this car predates the original U.S. Standard Light Rail Vehicles that were used by the MUNI system from the 1970s until as late as 2001.
Therefore, I can only assume that this is a leftover from the 1940s or 1950s. If that is true, then why is it out here exposed to the elements? I know that MUNI has some historic busses and trolleys on hand should they be needed in film productions (for example, when they recently filmed the Will Smith movie in the Financial District).
Is this car used for such purposes? Why is this being exposed to the elements so that it could just rust away? Shouldn't this be in a museum somewhere? Why is MUNI always late and keeps increasing fares?
So many unanswered questions.
Have a wonderful weekend.
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More info on the history of San Francisco's Municipal Railway can be found here.
