Some of you might be interested to check out the January/February issue of Preservation magazine, if you can get your hands on a copy. There's a pretty interesting article in there about houses in San Francisco that include old streetcar bodies as part of their construction. There was apparently a whole neighborhood of them at one time, and a few are still remaining. The magazine is published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They don't seem to be restoration candidates, at least not as streetcars, but it's an interesting article anyways.

I've seen a magazine article or two on the San Francisco "streetcar houses." These seem to definitely be among the most interesting and best preserved residences of that type anywhere. Most former electric cars ended up in more rural settings, many as farm outbuildings which did not see an appreciable amount of upkeep. As a result, well-preserved homes built from ex-electric railway cars are rare. I would hope that someday one of these San Francisco homes will be preserved as is, where is as an example of "alternate re-use."

I'll keep an eye out for the article - thanks!

frank@gats.com

I'll bet they now sell for $1 million each!



bobyar2001@yahoo.com

> I'll bet they now sell for $1 million each!

Providing none of those darn railroad yae-hoos insist on going in and "restoring" the things!



angelinanotgrimk@aol.com

For a minute I thought this said streetcar horses, and I was wondering what Frank Hicks wanted with the bones of a 100 year-old horse car "locomotive."

Then again, with cloning what it is today, is it morally "right" to clone a new horsecar horse?


Rob

superc@monmouth.com

These were probably ex-Market Street Railway Cable cars made surplus when that railway converted to electric after the 1906 earthquake. With most of the city in ruins, these big car bodies made fairly good shelters and were easy to set up.

ironbartom@aol.com