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FREE
FREE
Date:
Mar 05, 2026
Time:
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
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Featured Image Courtesy Market Street Railway; photo credit Ken Chan. Muni’s F-line streetcars follow the same route down the City’s Market Street used by rail transit vehicles since 1860: steam trains, horse cars, cable cars, and then, since 1906, electric streetcars. Here, PCC 1058 painted in tribute to Chicago Transit Authority’s famed “Green Hornets”, passes City Hall, sharing the lane with a following trolley bus.
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Past in Motion: Saving San Francisco’s Historic Streetcars

Thursday, March 5th | 12pm - 1pm

Join CPF as we explore the story behind San Francisco’s beloved historic streetcars—and the unlikely, grassroots preservation effort that brought them back to life as working transit.  Rick Laubscher, president and CEO of the nonprofit Market Street Railway, will take participants inside the multi-decade journey to save, restore, and operate vintage streetcars on today’s F-line, tracing the effort from early advocacy and experimentation to full integration into the city’s modern transportation system.

Rick will begin with a brief look at San Francisco’s transit history and the role streetcars played in shaping the city, comparing it to the path Los Angeles followed. He will then share how a small group of advocates—often learning as they went—navigated technical, political, and financial challenges to transform endangered vehicles into a globally recognized preservation success. Along the way, he’ll reflect on key turning points, partnerships, and hard-earned lessons from keeping historic infrastructure both authentic and operational.

The program will also look ahead, examining current restoration and maintenance priorities, evolving funding and governance challenges, and the ongoing role historic streetcars can play in creating a more people-centered, sustainable Market Street. This behind-the-scenes conversation offers valuable insight for preservationists, planners, and anyone interested in how historic resources can remain active, relevant parts of urban life.

A red and white vintage streetcar travels along curved tracks on a sunny day, with two more streetcars visible further down the track. Trees and lampposts line the tracks under a partly cloudy sky.With the nonprofit’s advocacy, Muni restored its very first streetcar, built in 1912 — the first big city publicly-owned streetcar in the US — Car 1. It’s joined here by a 1934 open-top “Boat Tram” from Blackpool, England, one of three of this type acquired by Market Street Railway over the span of 40 years, and donated to Muni. Photo courtesy Market Street Railway; photo credit Rick Laubscher.

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