Photos from San Francisco Railway Museum
There are 101 tram and light rail photos from San Francisco Railway Museum on Tram Travels.
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Photos of trams in San Francisco
Cable Car Fresh Sandwiches, Cable Car Hotel, Market Street Railway (MSR), Muni Metro, San Francisco Cable Car Museum, San Francisco Cable Cars, and San Francisco Railway Museum.
Added San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 228 at The Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2025)Take a cruise! 228 "Boat Tram" from Blackpool, England Learn more at streetcar.org/streetcars MUNI San Francisco Railway Museum
Added San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1 close by The Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2025)Enter at Rear. Nowhere in Particular. Marina → Fort Mason → Chinatown → Santa Fe
Added San Francisco E-Embarcadero Steetcar with railcar 578 by Railway Museum (2025)By Silas Boye Nissen.
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Added Model tram: San Francisco in Railway Museum (2025)Car House. Municipal Ry. Fishermans Wharf. Downtown. Last stop. 9th & Market.
Added Model tram: Tram 1940 (2025)Ferry. Civic Center Auditorium. Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach via McAllister.
Added Sign: San Francisco inside Railway Museum (2025)See how they run More different types of trasit vehicles have rum along the steets of San Francisco than almost any other city. The Sutter Street Railroad Co. operated some distinctive horsecars designed by owner Henry Casebolt in the 1870s. The car with the round body (left) could rotate on its truck, so at the end of the line, the horse could be walked around to reverse direction without unhitching and rehitching. The car marked 'To Seal Rock Road Direct' (right) features decorative oval windows that let standing passengers see out...very similar to the steamliner PCC streetcars running on Market Street an The Embarcadero today. The Sutter company later upgraded almost all its routes to cable cars. The Powell Street Railway Company's fleet included some open cars that operated on pleasant days. Looking at the heavy wool uniforms of the crew, we hope it wasn't too hot when this shot was taken-somwhere around 1890-probably at what was then the western terminal of Washington-Jackson line, at Central Avenue (now Presidio Avenue) & California Street. San Francisco's early electric streetcars generally followed the 'California-type' design, named for California Street cable cars-operable from either end, with an enclosed center section and open end sections. Adolph Sutro built a streetscar line in 1896 to serve his recreational complex at the city's northwest corner neal Seal Rockks, Sutro Baths, and the Cliff House (the fanciful structure in the background, which burned to the ground in 1907). San Francisco added trolley buses to its variety of transit vehicles in 1935, when Market Street Railway Co. converted the rollercoaster 33-line across Twin Peaks from streetcars. Trolley buses can negotiate much steeper grades than streetcars (and most motor buses as well) with their combination of powerful electric motors and rubber-tired traction. Muni's original E-Union line used high-traction single-truck streetcars to climb grades too steep for conventional streetcars, but even these cars had to detour arund the steep Union Street grades between Van Ness and Larkin. Muni's first trolley buses, purchased in 1941, handled the Union Street hill with ease. Our nonprofit Market Street Railway has preserved one of these orginal Muni trolley coaches, No. 506. When Mayor Roger Lapham wanted to get rid of Powell Street cable cars in 1947, trolley bus technology would have been the best choice for the steep hills. But without funding for the wires and power supply, Muni bought 10 gasoline buses with two large engines that were supposed to work in sync to push the bus over the hills. Lapham lost, of course, and the buses, assigned to other routes, never worked very well, requiring removal of one of the engines. One of these buses (No. 0163)-historic for what it almost did-is preserved by Muni. Identical looking trolley buses by the same builder, Twin Coach, were mainstays of many Muni lines for a quarter-century, until the mid-1970s.
Added Model tram: San Francisco inside Railway Museum (2025)Car 952 New Orleans. Car 1000 Melbourne.
Added Sign: San Francisco in Railway Museum (2025)Streetcars & Cable Cars: What's the Difference? Visitors often confuse the two remaining vintage rail transit vehicle types in San Francisco. Many refer to both as 'trolleys.' Here is an explanation... Cable Cars Cable cars run on steel rails with a slot between them. Underneath the street, there's an endless cable powered by complex winding machinery housed in a central powerhouse. The car grabs the moving cable with a gripper that functions like a giant pair of pliers, reaching through the slot beneath the street. This type of street-running cable car first appeared in 1873, invented in San Francisco by Andrew Hallidie, a British mining engineer, with design work by William Eppelsheimer. Although cable cars were the most advanced form of American urban rail transportation in the 1880s, San Francisco was the last city in the world to operate them in revenue service, doing so until 1957. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom introduced cable car No. 42 into Muni's historic fleet during UN World Environment Day 2005. Market Street Railway's volunteers played a key role in restoring this very special cable car. Streetcars Streetcars also run on steel rails but have a trolley pole on the roof that connects to a single overhead electric wire for power. Made practical by Frank Sprague in Richmond, Virginia, in 1887, electric streetcars dominated urban mass transit in the US until World War II. In some cities, especially in the Eastern US, streetcars were called trolleys after the wheel at the end of the pole that collects current (today represented by a carbon slider in San Francisco). In most parts of the country, however, they were known as streetcars or simply cars—back when what we now call cars were called automobiles, horseless carriages, or machines. Trolley Buses Trolley buses add more confusion. San Francisco is one of the few North American cities still operating these rubber-tired electric buses with two poles and double overhead wires. These vehicles don't run on rails, but their powerful electric motors let them climb hills that a cable car could handle—and streetcars couldn’t. Their pollution-free operation makes them very popular among San Franciscans.
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1008 near The Embarcadero & Greenwich (2024)By Gustav Robert Boye..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 496 at The Embarcadero & Washington Street (2024)By Gustav Robert Boye..
Calendar: San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1079 near The Embarcadero & Sansome (2023)PCC 1079, honoring Detroit, on the Embarcadero, Glen Brewer photo
November 2023
Brick has long been a common building material in Detroit, honored by PCC 1079's livery. It was also used in San Francisco for warehouses and industrial buildings. Until the 1906 earthquake, that is. But there are splendid survivors, such as One Lombard Street, built in 1901 and designed by the famed architect Willis Polk. Now offices, it's on the National Register of Historic Places.
Half a block north and 65 years earlier, the rails on this part of the Embarcadero belonged to the State Belt Railroad, which shuttled freight between ships and mainline railroads along the waterfront. Alco S-2 Switcher 22 shares a frame with the engine roundhouse (right), which is still there but now repurposed as upscale offices.
Photo from opensfhistory.org,
wnp27.3268By Glen Brewer, Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Calendar: San Francisco E-Embarcadero Steetcar with railcar 496 at The Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2023)Melbourne Tram 496 at the Ferry Building.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of a Melbourne tram running on Muni's tracks-the first Trolley Festival. Since then, one or more of the sturdy, iconic "W-class" trams from Down Under have been part of Muni's historic fleet, continuing to operate over the decades.
Muni's Melbourne trams have been part of several promotional campaigns for their home country, including this one at East Bay Terminal around 1986, promoting Australian tourism. That's Olivia Newton-John standing in the motorman's doorway.
MSR ArchiveBy Adolfo Echeverry, Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Calendar: San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1051 at 17th & Castro (2023)PCC Streetcar 1051, honoring Harvey Milk, at the F-line Castro Terminal.
In 1978, Harvey Milk became one of America's first openly gay elected officials when he joined San Francisco's Board of Supervisors. A staunch advocate of public transit, Milk commuted daily to City Hall from the Castro in Muni PCCs, often painted in this simplified style. Assassinated in November 1978, he was honored by naming a public school and Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport for him, and by dedicating this streetcar to him.
Muni's PCCs had to run almost 5 years longer than planned because of delays in procuring new light-rail vehicles for the subway. Some were spiced up, but when Harvey Milk rode them, most were pretty rough-looking, regardless of their paint scheme. At the exact location above, but facing the other direction, the Baby Ten PCC has just emerged from the temporary portal of the Twin Peaks Tunnel to head downtown on the 17th Street detour.
George Locke photo, MSR ArchiveBy Adolfo Echeverry, Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Calendar: San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1056 close by Don Chee Way & Steuart (2023)PCC Streetcar 1056, honoring Kansas City, turns onto Don Chee Way l Wayne Worden photo
August 2023
Building the F-line tracks and overhead was a lengthy
and involved process, requiring interaction and collaboration with other city departments, neighborhood groups and more. As Muni's lead project manager, the late Don Chee blended technical expertise, management skills, and diplomacy to get the job done. The F-line connection between the Embarcadero and Steuart Street is named Don Chee Way in his honor.
The PCC design evolved over time. After World War ll, rows of small oval shaped windows were added above the side windows, to allow standing passengers to get a glimpse outside. But the president of Kansas City Public Service, Powell Groner, hated the look of the standee windows andtiful livery decreed he would have "none of those little apertures" on his cars. So , St. Louis Car Company built him 160 PCCs without them, including KCPS 515, shown here in 1950. He'd be dismayed to see Car 1056 in his beautiful livery with those "little apertures" (the car itself came to Muni from Philadelphia).
Don Ross collectionBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum, Wayne Worden - .
Calendar: San Francisco railcar 1061 near Church & 18th (2023)PCC 1061, honoring Pacific Electric, at Church and 17th Street.
Of the streetcars painted for out-of-town transit agencies, none is more photographed than Car 1061, resplendent in the red, orange, and silver livery of Pacific Electric, Southern California's once-sprawling rail system (owned by Southern Pacific, which also had a similar spectacular livery for some of its passenger trains). Here, the car turns onto non-revenue tracks on 17th Street to reach the Castro Terminal and start its day.
The same intersection from a different angle in 1934, looking south on Church, with 17th Street just beyond, showing J-line Car 46 and the firetruck. The tracks on 17th didn't exist until the 1970s, built as a detour for the K, L, and M lines to reach the Twin Peaks Tunnel while upper Market Street was being dug up to build the Muni Metro subway. The tracks ended up being ideally located for streetcars traveling between the car barn and the F-line Castro terminal.
SFMTA ArchiveBy Henrik Boye, Jon Porter, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Calendar: San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 162 on 17th & Castro (2023)Muni "Iron Monster" 162 turns onto Market Street at Castro l Steve Ferrario photo
June 2023
As soon as it poened in 1912, Muni began expanding, buying 125 new streetcars in 1914 from the Jewett Car Co. of Ohio, including two that survive: Car 130, painted in 1940s blue and yellow livery, and this one, painted in its the green and cream "Wings" livery it wore at its 1958 retirement. Car 162 was purchased by Market Street Railway and returned to Muni 20 years ago.
Car 162 was changed from its original gray and red livery into blue and gold around 1940, then painted into the late 1940s. here it is on the J-Church line at Market and Geary in 1952, sharing the scene with two vehicles built by St. Louis Car Co.: a double-ended "Torpedo" PCC and an 8-Market trolley coach. The 8-line buses were replaced by F-line streetcars in 1995.
MSR ArchiveBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum, Steve Ferrario - .
Calendar: San Francisco railcar 1062 at Church & 18th (2023)PCC Streetcar 1062, in Pittsburgh tribute livery, in Dolores Park l Ian Martin photo
April 2023
Muni's PCC streetcar flett includes cars that originally ran in either San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul (and then Newark NJ), or Philadelphia. Most of PCCs are colorfully painted in accurately repliveries of most of the 33 North American cities that once ran these iconis streetcars. Of these PCC cities, nome had as many challenging hills as Pittsburgh, so it's fitting to show Car 1062 on the Steepest streetcar hill in San Francisco today (about a 9% grade).
The all-time steepest San Francisco electric streecar grade was this one (17%), on Potrero Hill's 24th Street. Here in 1903, a single-truck "Dinky" identical to preserved Car 578 tiptoes down, with only a hand brake brake to stop it. The steepest currest current cabble car grade is on Hyde Street, 21%
John Henry Mentz photo, SFMTA ArchiveBy Henrik Boye, Ian Martin, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Beer mat from San Francisco Railway Museum (2023)Cruise via boat tram.By Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Coasters from San Francisco Railway Museum, the back (2023)Historic Streetcars in San Francisco
MUNI
San Francisco Municipal Railway
Preserving Historic Transit in San Francisco Market Street RailwayBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Coasters from San Francisco Railway Museum, the front (2023)Design your own Streetcar livery.
A livery is a unique design - including color combinations, stripes, and other patterns, words, and graphics - painted on the city's streetcars. The livery for a large city could be painted on hundreds of vehicles and often remained unchanged for many years.
Imagine that you've been asked to design a new livery for the public transportation system where you live. What colors and patterns would you like to see on your city's streetcars?
Pacific Electric (Southern California)
DC Transit (Washington, D.C.)
Municipal S.F. Railway
Learn more at Streetcar.org.
Preserving Historic Transit in San Francisco Market Street RailwayBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Model tram: San Francisco inside Railway Museum (2023)Model tram: Tram 1940 (2023)By Henrik Boye - .
Model tram: San Francisco on Railway Museum (2023)Model tram: Tram 105
6
Municipal Ry.
Fishermans
Wharf
Downtown
Last stop
9"& MarketBy Henrik Boye - .
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1076 at The Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2023)By Henrik Boye..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1076 near Don Chee Way & Steuart (2023)By Henrik Boye..
Fridge magnet: San Francisco Vintage Streetcars (2023)Printed by Lantern Press-It's all about the Image. Image #32942By Henrik Boye, Lantern Press - .
Calendar: San Francisco railcar 1895 near Church & 27th (2023)March 2023
The Covid pandemic turned San Francisco's transit world upside down, shutting down the vintage steetcars and cable cars for more than a year. Muni staff would take some of the steetcars out without passengers on occasion to keep them in operating shape. The pandemic also saw proliferration of "parklets" outdoor dining areas, some of them imaginative, like this one meant to resemble a Lisbon tram outside a Portuguese restaurant.
The first Trolley Festival 40 years ago featured two streetcars from Portugal, but from Porto rather than Lisbon. Here, Car 122 leaves the Mint storage yard. This car now runs on Dalles' McKInney Avenue line; Car 189 awaits restoration at Muni.
MSR ArchiveBy Henrik Boye, Matthew Lee, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Calendar: San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1040 at Fisherman's Wharf (2023)PCC 1040 at Fisherman's Wharf.
Almost 5,000 of these sleek streetcars were built in North America, with more in Europe. A group of private US transit company executives, known as the Presidents' Conference Committee (PPC), commissioned the original design in the mid-1930s to better compete with the automobile for riders. Muni's Car 1040, delivered in 1952, was the very last one built new.
Here's Car 1040 40 years ago, nose-to-tail with Muni PCC 1128, which had been restored to its original St. Louis livery and number (1704) for the first Trolley Festival. A few years earlier, Car 1040 had been repainted into Muni's then-new Landor livery. Soon, it would be restored to the green and cream it had worn before and has worn ever since.
Roger Fox photo, MSR ArchiveBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum, Wayne Worden - .
Calendar: Museums In Motion (2023)San Francisco's historic streetcars and cable cars
San Francisco is loved around the world for its unique sights... Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and, of course, its historic cable cars and streetcars, which carry more than 45,000 riders daily. Riding these historic transit vehicles is the best way to experience Market Street, the waterfront, the Castro District, Union Square, Chinatown, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and Fisherman's Wharf. This calendar features twelve vibrant color photos of Municipal Railway's unmatched fleet of cable cars and historic streetcars, taken by members of Market Street Railway, Muni's nonprofit preservation partner.
Visit the San Francisco Railway Museum at the Steuart Street F-line stop (within the 1 Hotel San Francisco building) to learn more about how charming transit has shaped San Francisco... and to shop for great souvenirs and gifts. Call (415) 974-1948.By Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
Calendar: San Francisco inside Railway Museum (2023)Looking Back from 2023
Notable anniversaries
We keep San Francisco's vintage transit on tranck
San Francisco Railway Museum
Join, support, or volunteer to help Market Street RailwayBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum - .
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1052 at Market Street & Larkin Street (2022)By Silas Boye Nissen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1055 near Market & Battery (2019)By Silas Boye Nissen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1077 close by Market & 4th (2019)By Silas Boye Nissen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1077 near Market & Stockton (2019)By Silas Boye Nissen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1080 near Market & Stockton (2019)By Silas Boye Nissen..
San Francisco E-Embarcadero Steetcar with railcar 1009 near The Embarcadero & Stockton (2016)By Silas Boye Nissen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1053 near Embarcadero & Stockton (2016)By Silas Boye Nissen..

San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1062 near Market & Van Ness Avenue (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1010 at The Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1010, the back Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1077 at Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 162 at The Embarcadero & Ferry Building (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1010 at The Embarcadero & Stockton (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1010 near Don Chee Way & Steuart (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1050 near The Embarcadero & Bay (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1056 near Don Chee Way & Steuart (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1057 at The Embarcadero & Sansome (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1057 near Don Chee Way & Steuart (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1057 near The Embarcadero & Bay (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1060 at Don Chee Way & Steuart (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1077 at The Embarcadero & Stockton (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1010 near The Embarcadero & Stockton (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1053 close by Embarcadero & Stockton (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1053 near Embarcadero & Stockton (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1056 at Embarcadero & Stockton (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1076 at Don Chee Way & Steuart (2010)By Michael Olsen..
San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 1062 at Jefferson & Taylor (2009)By Jytte Bach Jensen..

Postcard: San Francisco railcar 3557 at United Railroads Geneva Carhouse (1989)Historic Trolleys of San Francisco:
Hamburg, West Germany tram 3557 poses at Geneva Yard, with the historic United Railroads Geneva Carhouse office building in the background on June 20, 1989. Tram 3557 operated in Hamburg from 1952 to 1978.By Henrik Boye, Peter Ehrlich, Samuel R. Ganczaruk - .
Postcard: San Francisco F-Market & Wharves with railcar 228 at Market & Buchanan (1986)Historic Trolleys of San Francisco:
Blackpool, England "Boat" Tram 228 being readied for service on May 26, 1986 at Market and Duboce streets. The San Francico Branch of the U.S. Mint is to be seen in the background.By Henrik Boye, Jeff Morcau, Samuel R. Ganczaruk - .
Postcard: San Francisco E-Embarcadero Steetcar with railcar 1704 near Church Avenue & Duboce (1985)San Francisco, California, U.S.A. Photo: Bill MacDonald
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
#1704 - St. Louis PCC - Built Street car. Location Church & Dubcoe - Sept/85
Features:
Length: 46'5"
Width: 8'4"
Height: 10'3"
Seats: 54
Total Weight 33.180 lbsBy Bill MacDonald, Henrik Boye, J. Barnard Photographer - .
Postcard: San Francisco E-Embarcadero Steetcar with railcar 42 near 2nd & King (1984)CTP #13
Edmonton, AB
#42 - St. Louis 1912 - At St. Louis, Car Co. St. Louis, Missouri U.S.A, Arch Roof, Brakes - Air Westinghouse D1-EF, Truks - St. Louis 47-B-4'6'' Wheel base -, 34" Wheels Controller Motor Gear Ratio =, K-6-FE 80A (4) 40H8-69:17, Weight: 42,000 1 BV, Total Length 0 45'0", Height = 8'6", Double end - Wood Steel reinforced, Seats = 36
Coach No.42.By Henrik Boye, J. Barnard Photographer - .
Postcard: San Francisco E-Embarcadero Steetcar with railcar 1008 near Market Street & Sanchez Street (1969)CTP #6
San Francisco, Ca
# 703 Trolleycoach
Marmon - Herrington
Model - TC 44
Seats - 44
Built - 1949
# 1008 PCC Streetcar
Model - Class D
Built - 1948
Builder - St. Louis Car Co.
Seats - 59
Controls - G.E.-FC
Trucks - St. Louis B-3
Brakes - WH-Electric
San Francisco - Marmon-Herrington T.C. & St. Louis PCC streetcar.By Bill MacDonald, Henrik Boye, J. Barnard Photographer - .
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