Re: Running Ws in service&old trams generally.>

Yes this is exactly what I (and David Cawood presumably) meant in
earlier messages. But I have to accept that it won't happen without
(a) a groundswell of support (b) the people in places of power who
are prepared to push it (c) a lot of hard work. And it won't happen
if 93 people on this group just sit about staring into their computer
screens will it?

--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "Peter D. Ehrlich" <norcalrr@s...> wrote:

Muni got it done through a lot of blood, sweat and tears--hard work

by

dedicated and interested people both within Muni and without. The

trolley

booster organization Market Street Railway was most influential in

getting

the job done, but the support of neighborhood groups such as Castro

Street

merchants, and also ones boosting downtown--the Chamber of

Commerce, Market

Street Merchants associations, etc.

A lot of hurdles had to be overcome. One was the mindset within

many layers

of Muni management to have nothing to do with old streetcars after

their

retirement in 1982. In fact, the master plans at the time were to

rip up

the tracks. Fortunately, they were still in place in 1983 when the

first of

the summertime Trolley Festivals began. With the success of the

Trolley

Festivals, and the support of a general manager who was a dyed-in-

the-wool

railfan, the Mayor worked on a plan to line up funding for

rebuilding the

Market Street tracks, obtain the cars needed for the service, etc.

Still,

there was a lot of opposition within middle management, which

stalled the

project as much as they could before political pressure forced

these people

to see the light, begrudgingly. And after September 1, 1995, the

rest is

history.

The other impetus was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It damaged

the hated

(except by Chinatown interests) beyond repair. In 1992 it was

demolished,

opening up the Embarcadero to residents. The project to create and

rebuild

the Embarcadero Roadway included trolley tracks to Fisherman's

Wharf was

substantially complete by March 4, 2000, allowing F-Line service to

open to

the Wharf.

The original F-Line carried betwen 8,000 and 9,000 riders a day. In
February 2001, with the line now extended, over 19,000 riders

packed into F

cars. The line has been instrumental in getting residents to ride

to the

Northern Waterfront, whereas before the F line, the alternatives

were to

ride slow, bumpy buses with a transfer required.

I wrote an article on the original F Line opening, which was

published in

the now-defunct magazine Passenger Train Journal in June 1996. It

describes

in detail how the process was done. I have been planning to make

copies of

it, but have been reluctant to do so without contacting the

publisher first

(even though it's MY article! LOL). If you're interested, e-mail

me

privately at <norcalrr@s...>.

You folks in Melbourne have a lot of work cut out for you to make

it a

reality there. But it can be done. An organization similar to

Market

Street Railway would be a big help in the process.

Milantram

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