The following message was sent to me from Yahoo group
Bay Area Rail History. I thought some of you all would be iterested in this.Message: 1
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 17:45:42 -0000
From: "ricklaubscher" <ricklaubscher@yahoo.com>
Subject: Help Bring Muni #162 home!We at Market Street Railway are reaching out to the railfan community
to ask your support for the most important project we've undertaken
in our 25-year history (except, of course, for our work to help start
San Francisco's F-line and now the E-line). We have agreed to fund Muni's reacquisition of car #162. This "B-
type" Muni car is one of only two survivors of a class of 125 cars
(preserved car #130 is the other). The B-types were built in 1914 by
Jewett Car Co. of Ohio to enable Muni to expand from its Geary Street
beginnings to serve the 1915 World's Fair and then the southwest
quadrant of San Francisco opened up to development by the Twin Peaks
Tunnel. Car #162 served San Francisco faithfully for 44 years, then
rested for 44 more years at Orange Empire Railway Museum in Riverside
County.The plan is to leave this car in its 1958 retirement configuration:
rear platform doors and green and cream "wings" livery. This would
give Muni vintage cars representing all three liveries of
the "battleship" (sometimes called "Iron Monster") period: gray and
maroon (car #1), blue and yellow (car #130), and "wings" (#162).At this writing, we have raised about $16,000 of the $70,000 purchase
price. Our volunteers, who are well along on the work of ex-Market
Street Railway Co. "California Comfort Car" #798 (1924), are excited
about working on #162, which is complete and sound, but obviously
will need significant work before going into service on the F-line
(and later the E-line as well). When restoration is complete, the first operation of car #162 (after
the formal dedication ceremony) will be our charter of it for a
scenic trip out the J-Church, K-Ingleside, and L-Taraval lines to
Muni's last original piece of trackage (the Taraval spur, Belgian
block still in place, from 46th to 48th Avenue, built in 1923).
Those who join the 162 Charter Club ($500 or more contribution) will
be invited on this first run. This is almost certainly the last streetcar from Muni's original
heavyweight fleet (1912-1928) that we'll have the chance to bring
back to San Francisco. Only two others survive, both K-types built
in 1923, one at Orange Empire (#171) and one at the Western Railway
Museum in Solano County (#178). Both are part of those museums' core
collections and it is highly unlikely either would be offered for
sale. So this is literally a unique opportunity.You can make a tax-deductible donation online, and learn more about
car #162 and Market Street Railway, at www.streetcar.org. You can
also donate by sending a check to Market Street Railway, 870 Market
Street, Suite 803, San Francisco CA 94102. Thanks very much for your
consideration.Rick Laubscher
President, Market Street Railway
The end Regards,
Erik Pierson
Sacramento, Ca
SP_MSTS Member http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SP_MSTSwww.sacramentolocomotiveworks.com
Bringing 1940s Southern Pacific to the digital age.
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