http://streetcar.org/blog/2010/03/the-o ... f-the.html
The odd story of the Lost Streetcars of San Francisco has taken another very odd — and unfortunate — turn.

Here’s how the odyssey begins: During the 1980s, after Muni began selling off some of its old PCC streetcars to make way for more modern Boeing LRVs, a gentleman in South Lake Tahoe purchased 18 of the cars with an eye toward someday establishing PCC service in the Lake Tahoe area.

That was his goal, but alas, it never happened. Instead, the fleet of ex-San Francisco PCCs spent two decades languishing incongruously in the snow, hundreds of miles from the Bay Area.

The Market Street railway, Inc. reports in their newsletter that two of the Lake Tahoe cars have been re-purchased by the Muni.

They are the large double ended cars of the 1000 series. They like them for the "F Line" because they can swallow more of the large crowds that are typical of the line during the summer.

This latest pair will give the Muni all the existing cars from this group. As it happens, i was on the line a couple of weeks ago and along came the PCC #1010 which is painted in the San Francisco green and cream wings style. Which is one of my favorites.

They are easy to spot on the line because they have the doors on opposite corners; unlike the Philadelphia PCC cars that only have them on one side of the car,

The newest buy back cars will take their turn in the re-build program that is sending the cars to I believe New York state for rebuilding.

Ted Miles

Some S. Lake Tahoe PCCs also found a home in San Diego.
Sloan

http://www.sdera.org/vintage_trolley.shtml

Folks,

I should have mentioned above that the issue of [i]Inside Track[i] I was refering to was the Winter 2010. The color pictures of the PCCs on the cover were great!

And to add a bit of fanciful; they have the Art Deco design of a Market Street Railway color scheme for a PCC that they never had the money to purchase was also interesting.

Ted Miles

I find it somewhat humorist the author of the linked online article seems to forget that the cars were built by the St. Louis Car Company, and operated for several years for the St. Louis Public Service Company before being sold to MUNI. While they are very very far from the Bay Area, they are very close to their original "home turf."

In other news, the Museum of Transportation Trolley Volunteers are working away on former St. Louis Public Service 1743. This car also went to MUNI, and ended up in East Troy, WI in the 1980s. It has been at MOT for some years now, but has been undergoing heavy restoration activity for the past year and a half. The work has included much body work, and work to backdate the car to the proper SLPS appearance.

The Muni cars are being rebuilt by Brookville, in Brookville, Pennsylvania.

I was in S/F last week and enjoyed seeing the blue & yellow 1010 on Market Street as well as all the other cities wheeling past me. Of course, I has to ride a few just for nostalgia as I grew up in the Philadelphia area in the 1940-1950 era.

Yes Ted, I was also at the Western Railway Museum for a visit and a ride as my wife and I were staying in Fairfield.

Ira Schreiber
Aurora,CO