Geary Street, Park and Ocean Railway
The Geary Street, Park and Ocean Railway commenced operation on 16 February 1880 as a Russian gauge tram pulled by steam dummy locomotives. The route soon proved quite popular.[1] The line was purchased by the Market Street Railway in 1887.[2]
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | San Francisco, California |
| Transit type | cable cars |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 1880 |
| Ended operation | 1912 |
| Operator(s) | Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railway (1880-1887), Market Street Railway (1887-1912), San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (1912-present) |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), |
| Old gauge | 5 ft (1,524 mm), converted in 1892 |
The powerhouse was in a two-story wooden building on the northwest corner of Geary Boulevard and Buchanan Street.[3] The car barn was in a building on the northwest corner of Geary Boulevard and Arguello Boulevard, later an Office Max store.[4]
Baldwin Locomotive Works built four 0-4-0 tank locomotives for the line. Numbers 1 and 3 (C/N 4801 & 4817) had vertical boilers while numbers 2 and 4 (C/N 4827 & 5115) had more conventional horizontal boilers. The two locomotives with horizontal boilers were sold to redwood logging railroads when line was converted to cable car operation on 7 August 1892. Locomotive #2 became #6 for Hobbs, Wall & Company of Crescent City, California; and #4 was sent to the Glen Blair Redwood Company on the California Western Railroad.[5]
In 1912, the city declined to renew the franchise and instead took over operation of the Geary Street railway.[6] The line was converted into an electric streetcar line, forming the first element of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) that was to come to be synonymous with transit in that city. Muni replaced the street cars with motor coaches in 1956. Today, the bus routes that serve the Geary corridor are the most heavily used in San Francisco.[7]
References
- Thompson, Joe. "The Cable Car Home Page - Geary Street Park and Ocean Railway". Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- "Cable Car Company - Geary Street Park & Ocean Railroad". Cable Car Museum. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- LaBounty, Woody (May 2002). "Streetwise: Run Out of Town". outsidelands.org. Western Neighborhods Project. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- "Geary Street Car barn, Geary Street Park & Ocean Railway". outsidelands.org. Western Neighborhoods Project. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- Borden, Stanley T. (1971). "San Francisco Steam Dummies". The Western Railroader. Francis A. Guido. 34 (376): 3.
- LaBounty, Steve W. "Run Out of Town - Western Neighborhoods Project". Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- "Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) Data". San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2008.