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Re: #7 streetcar on Haight Street - Questions...
Author: mook
Date: 09-01-2008 - 18:18
>1917 Bernal Cut San Jose Avenue extension
Nothing could have been done there before it was. It was the original SP line and Ocean Shore RR. When it was widened (1920s?) space was left in the middle for the RR. After the RRs were abandoned (1930s?) the space was eventually used for widened SJAve. There may have been a period when Muni used the Ocean Shore tracks - think I saw a reference to that someplace.
I remember driving through there in the 1950s-60s with a definite choice of which lanes to use - left went through the center sections of the bridges while R went through the sides. In the late 1960s, I think, the bridges were rebuilt to cross the whole cut in one span which allowed SJAve to be rebuilt into a relatively modern layout. Part of the Southern Freeway (280) project IIRC. MUCH later, the current Muni LR line was built, when Federal money became available to do it (modern rail lines cost a fortune!). There was a long time (possibly as much as 50 years) when there was no rail in the Bernal Cut; the old SP line in the 1950s stubbed out somewhere in Balboa Park, just NE of the old Muni Elkton shops (now the location of BART/Muni Balboa Park Station and the Metro shops).
BTW, my grandfather was a conductor on the Geary cars. He retired when service ended there. That was also about the time all the PCCs were converted to driver-only. The PCCs have double-width doors at the center or each end. The conductor worked the center or opposite-end doors collecting fares, and the doors at the driver's end were exit-only. When the Geary line was converted to diesel bus (progress in the 1950s! no more ugly wires or slippery tracks to disturb drivers! time to make it an "expressway" as part of the urban removal project!) the PCCs were converted to single-end driver-only and all the conductors retired or moved to other jobs. Most of the remaining streetcar lines by the end of the 1950s had loops at the end to turn the cars, so single-end worked fine. I think only the J and M had wyes at the end (most lines also had one or two wyes elsewhere for short-turn operations).
Interestingly, at some terminals/stops subject to peak loads, the former job of the conductor was taken by platform-level ticket punchers/fare takers; for instance at the end of the K line (Ocean/Phelan - this was before BART) there might be 3-4 cars queued with the driver loading the front end and the ticket-taker (sometimes more than one) loading the back after school let out. Got the car loaded (sometimes somebody might have to be pushed up the stairs to get the doors closed) and out in only a couple of minutes. Standing room was often tight enough that it wasn't really necessary to hold on even if you were within reach of a pole. Cars ran nearly bumper-bumper on some streets, like Market Street or West Portal, at rush hour.
Nothing could have been done there before it was. It was the original SP line and Ocean Shore RR. When it was widened (1920s?) space was left in the middle for the RR. After the RRs were abandoned (1930s?) the space was eventually used for widened SJAve. There may have been a period when Muni used the Ocean Shore tracks - think I saw a reference to that someplace.
I remember driving through there in the 1950s-60s with a definite choice of which lanes to use - left went through the center sections of the bridges while R went through the sides. In the late 1960s, I think, the bridges were rebuilt to cross the whole cut in one span which allowed SJAve to be rebuilt into a relatively modern layout. Part of the Southern Freeway (280) project IIRC. MUCH later, the current Muni LR line was built, when Federal money became available to do it (modern rail lines cost a fortune!). There was a long time (possibly as much as 50 years) when there was no rail in the Bernal Cut; the old SP line in the 1950s stubbed out somewhere in Balboa Park, just NE of the old Muni Elkton shops (now the location of BART/Muni Balboa Park Station and the Metro shops).
BTW, my grandfather was a conductor on the Geary cars. He retired when service ended there. That was also about the time all the PCCs were converted to driver-only. The PCCs have double-width doors at the center or each end. The conductor worked the center or opposite-end doors collecting fares, and the doors at the driver's end were exit-only. When the Geary line was converted to diesel bus (progress in the 1950s! no more ugly wires or slippery tracks to disturb drivers! time to make it an "expressway" as part of the urban removal project!) the PCCs were converted to single-end driver-only and all the conductors retired or moved to other jobs. Most of the remaining streetcar lines by the end of the 1950s had loops at the end to turn the cars, so single-end worked fine. I think only the J and M had wyes at the end (most lines also had one or two wyes elsewhere for short-turn operations).
Interestingly, at some terminals/stops subject to peak loads, the former job of the conductor was taken by platform-level ticket punchers/fare takers; for instance at the end of the K line (Ocean/Phelan - this was before BART) there might be 3-4 cars queued with the driver loading the front end and the ticket-taker (sometimes more than one) loading the back after school let out. Got the car loaded (sometimes somebody might have to be pushed up the stairs to get the doors closed) and out in only a couple of minutes. Standing room was often tight enough that it wasn't really necessary to hold on even if you were within reach of a pole. Cars ran nearly bumper-bumper on some streets, like Market Street or West Portal, at rush hour.
