San Francisco – No. 1 Gets and Overhaul

Rail Transit Online – April 2009

San Francisco's first municipally-owned streetcar will get a $1.88-million refurbishment after being mothballed for almost three years. Car No.1 will be trucked to Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania and given a complete mechanical and electrical refit, returning to the city in about a year in like-new condition.

The double-ended car had been used on the F-Market & Wharves line until water seepage damaged some of its wiring. In addition, rust and rot are gnawing away at the structure, the wicker seats are deteriorating and mechanical parts including the motors are worn out.

No.1 was delivered in 1912 by the W.L. Holman Car Co. of San Francisco and last overhauled in 1962 for the Municipal Railway's 50th anniversary; it's hoped this restoration will last another 50 years.

"Streetcar No. 1 has historical significance," Rick Laubscher, president of the volunteer preservation group Market Street Railway (MSR), told the San Francisco Chronicle. 'This is not only San Francisco's first publicly-owned streetcar, but it's also America's first."

Laubscher also reports in his MSR blog that, "Muni is currently evaluating proposals from two companies to rewire the 11 troubled ex-Newark PCCs and completely restore five ex-Muni PCCs. That contract is expected to be awarded in June, with the first Newark PCC returning finished within 12 months, and the first ex-Muni PCC returning within 24 months."

http://blog.streetcar.org