Purgatory Station: Inside San Francisco's Vintage Streetcar Boneyard

Recently, Telstar Logistics had an opportunity to take an authorized tour of the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Marin Division yard, thanks to our friends at Market Street Railway. 

The Marin Division Yard is home to San Francisco's derelict streetcar storage facility — a kind of purgatory for old streetcars as they await either restoration or piecemeal destruction as parts-donors for the active streetcars in Muni's thriving vintage streetcar fleet.

Most of the old streetcars here are streamlined PCCs built roughly between 1940 and 1952. Some survive as spooky time capsules of the day when they were removed from service:

Much of the original signage remains:

There's a PCC from Philadelphia here, looking just as it did when San Francisco snatched it up as surplus from Septa, Philly's mass-transit agency:

Some of the old PCCs were left exposed to the elements — and vandals — for years until they finally found refuge inside the boneyard fence. They're now painted blue, but the scars from those feral years are still clear to see:

There's a even retired California Street cable car parked among the hulks:

 

There's also a streetcar from Hamburg, Germany. After retirement in Hamburg, it was imported to the United States and operated in San Francisco during a series of Trolley Festivals held during the 1980s. Now, after years of inactivity, it awaits rehabilitation:

The good news is that as hopeless as some of these old streetcars seem, they are stored here because they remain valuable. Many will enjoy better days again — eventually. Consider this rather grim photo of ex-Muni PCC streetcar No. 1040, as it looked in 2009:

Shortly after that photo was taken, 1040 was fully rebuilt and restored. And here's how streetcar No. 1040 looks now:

Good as new.

Until Restoration Day comes, then, here's a photoset of streetcar survivors preserved at Muni's Marin Division yard. PRO TIP: Embigged to fullscreen.

PHOTOS: All photos by Telstar Logistics, except restored exterior of streetcar 1040,, by Kevin Mueller.

Comments

[tarik]

Fantastic, was In San Francisco earlier this month and was finally able to ride the complete current line from Fishermans Wharf to the Castro. I think the F market appeared (reappeared?) shortly before I left Oakland and it was my favorite then and stuill is now, it really is the jewel of the excellent and diverse San Francisco public transportation system Thanks for all your photos over the years

[Bob Davis]

I have some "before" photos of 1009 and 1040 taken at Metro East. Especially with 1009, I wonder how much "historic fabric" is left in the car that came back to MuniLand. I noticed 1033--this is one of the two cars that came to Orange Empire in 1982. The other car that journeyed to my "home museum", 1039 ran there for a short time, I even got to operate it on the main line. I understand that of all the unrestored "Tens" it's in the best shape, but who knows when the funds will be available for a rehab.