SF’s “Muni Heritage Day” 2023: Ride Rare Historic Bus & Trolleys (Sept. 23-24)

The popular Muni Heritage Weekend is on for Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The traction (and bus) action will again center around our San Francisco Railway Museum, across from the Ferry Building on Steuart Street.

The family-friendly Muni Heritage Weekend lets you ride vintage streetcars and buses and special cable cars that rarely operate.

You’ll be able to experience transit at its finest from decades past…riding through the streets of San Francisco on vintage streetcars, your parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents rode (if they lived here). Heck, if they lived in several other places, for that matter.

Besides Muni’s very first streetcar (from 1912), and an even older electric streetcar (1896) built for one of its predecessor companies (that looks just like a cable car because it was built by the same local firm that build many of those little hill-climbers), this year should see the return (after a ten year absence) of the “Iron Monster”, the 1914 big Muni streetcar painted in the 1950s green and cream “Wings” livery in which it closed out its first life.

Yes, of course a Blackpool Boat Tram will be cruising the waterfront again, celebrating its 90th birthday, along with a 1928 Melbourne tram, a 1952 European PCC tram honoring Brussels, and more. And the rides on all these streetcars will be FREE all weekend as they run between the Museum and Fisherman’s Wharf. Additionally, the colorful vintage PCC streetcars of the F-line will be in regular service between Castro Street and Fisherman’s Wharf, stopping right in front of our museum.

You can ride, for FREE, vintage buses as old as a 86-year old model that Muni management of the day had delivered in orange and black, 20 years before the Giants even came to town! For the first time, you can also take a double-engine ride on the 1947 Faegol Twin Coach bus bought by a misguided mayor to replace the Powell cable cars (how’d THAT turn out?). And for fans of the ’60s, both a Diesel bus and a trolley bus in that iconic Wings livery. Fans of later buses, you’ll have some great choices too!

Last but hardly least, the world’s oldest operating cable car, dating to 1883 (when it first ran on Market Street!) and Muni’s 1907 O’Farrell St. cable car (pictured together above), will both be running on the California Street cable line all day, just a block from the museum, at the regular cable car fare. (Again, the bus rides and special waterfront vintage streetcar rides are free that weekend.)

Beyond all this, our nonprofit will have some special merchandise on sale and interesting history displays at our museum (77 Steuart Street), and we’ll host a big transit book and memorabilia sale outside the museum both days. We’ll have book signings, other vintage vehicles, and displays from other transit advocacy and preservation groups. Please join us. Questions? E-mail info@streetcar.org.

It’s a super family-friendly event…for every kind of family. And if you don’t have family nearby, you’ll find a warm welcome…to the family of transit fans! See you on September 21-22 at the San Francisco Railway Museum for Muni Heritage Weekend!

The annual Muni Heritage event is an opportunity to ride special vintage transit vehicles that are rarely seen on the streets of San Francisco. The festivities are located at the San Francisco Railway Museum at 77 Steuart Street, near the Ferry Building and Embarcadero Plaza.

Activities will include:

• Rides on unique historic streetcars, buses, and cable cars
• Exhibits and stationary vintage vehicles on the outdoor plaza outside of the San Francisco Railway Museum
• Displays kids’ games

Come celebrate San Francisco’s transit history and ride some of the Muni vehicles your grandparents rode or that you rode as a kid!