Branford-San Francisco swap

Thanks to Bill Wulfert, who passed along some information on a recent trade between Branford and the Market Street Railway Association in San Francisco. Branford received an out-of-service San Francisco cable car, which will help them interpret 19th-century street railway history (they already have the best collection of horse cars on the continent and several pre-1900 electric cars). In return, San Francisco has received a pair of Peckham 14B3 trucks and four GE motors (more info below). The trucks will go under Market Street Railway 798, the most modern surviving car from that system, which has been the subject of a very long-term restoration from car body status.

Car 798 originally had either Peckham 14B3 or Brill 27G1 trucks, both of which are 1890s or turn-of-the-century designs. The car was built in the company shops and was obviously fitted with equipment from an older car. The Peckhams acquired from Branford are of a type used by this series and possibly by car 798 itself at some point. Another surviving piece of equipment from MSRy, crane 0130 at Rio Vista, also has Peckham 14B3 trucks, but intriguingly there are no other cars known to exist with GE 52 motors like the ones sent to San Francisco.

UPDATE: The below message, and photos, were submitted by Bill Wall of Branford and this post has been corrected as a result. Thank you for the additional info, Bill!

Branford now has cable car 28, an 1887 Mahoney Bros. car that was used on the Powell Street lines by SF Muni. Since arrival, 28 has had quite a bit of work done to prepare it for display. As a 42 inch gauge car, it has been placed on two specially prepared track dollies which have strap rail on them set for 42 inch gauge. The car sits a bit higher than normal (as it is still on its original trucks on the dollies) but this gives Branford the ability to move it around on standard gauge track.  We did not want to bastardize the car with other trucks. The car also came with a complete grip mechanism and some cable, so we can show how a cable car operates.

What went out to Muni were 2 Peckham 14B3 trucks with GE-52 motors (one on each axle). The car series that 798 belongs to could have used Brill 27G1, Peckham 14B3 or other trucks, as that car series was equipped with a number of different types. Market Street Railway used whatever was on hand, reclaimed from older cars and had no problem swapping out different sets of trucks of a different style. So it is entirely possible that 798 did indeed have Peckham trucks at some point in its service life. That was the big attraction in sending these to Muni – right car, right trucks.  Source for this info is the book “The White Front Cars of San Francisco."

The trucks were originally under a Rhode Island Company line car that was scrapped at Branford in 1950. Silk Road delivered them to San Francisco by flatbed, with the same trailer bringing 28 back east. Photo attached of the trucks being delivered to Muni Metro East maintenance facility.

Branford has long wanted a real cable car as the missing piece in the street railway story. We have an ex-cable car from Third Avenue Railway in NYC, but it has nothing on it to show what it once was. When you mention cable car to the general public, San Francisco comes to mind and in particular the Powell Street cars, seen in all those Rice-a-Roni commercials. We expect it to be a big hit with our visitors, complete with a Rice-a-Roni ad.