Re: #7 streetcar on Haight Street
Author: "Key Route Ken"
Date: 08-29-2008 - 21:21
synonymouse Wrote:
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> My daughter's boy friend just couldn't believe it
> recently when I assured him that standard heavy
> streetcars used to run on Haight Street in San
> Francisco. But after trying to visualize this
> myself it hit me that the motormen must have had a
> truly interesting time coping with auto traffic on
> those hills. I know from the photos they used the
> 100 series Jewett cars which look pretty heavy and
> I'm sure they didn't have the more modern HL
> controls.
>
> Is there anybody out there who remembers this line
> in operation? Did the cars make passenger stops
> on the grades or out in the middle of the
> intersections, like the cable cars. I believe the
> Haight Street line was a cable car before 1906.
>
> Thinking about this reminded me of just how much
> we lost. And it also made me think of the
> infamous Muni bond issue of 1946 wherein the city
> fathers promised to refuirbish the streetcar lines
> but of course tore out most of them and replaced
> them with trolley buses as soon as the money came
> in. A reminder the public has to watch these
> projects like a hawk.
Mr. S-Mouse...
The 101-180 class Jewett cars ran out almost their entire life on Haight Street Division lines.
Thos included the PRW thru Golden Gate Park.
They started on Sutter St but were shifted to Haight in 1914.
The line was cable but electrified on December 26, 1906. On February 7, 1916 the line was extended over the old # 20 line prw thru the Park.
Charles Smallwood has a photo of Car 121 climbing Haight Street on its way to Playland and the beach in 1933. The steepest streetcar line in SF would have been the old Fillmore Street counterbalance line- replaced by buses about 1941..
Not sure about passengers boarding or alighting on grades or in middle of intersections.
KRK