A history of rail in San Francisco
Rail first came to San Francisco in July of 1860, when Thomas Hayes (namesake of the valley and the street) began running steam powered streetcars on rail, which ran from Third Street, turned onto Market, then turned again and headed south on Valencia. Hoping to help develop land he owned, he also ran a branch into modern day Hayes Valley. This line was successful, and served as the catalyst for a passenger rail boom in San Francisco, though it wasn’t all smooth railing—I mean sailing.
In 1868, the City banned steam vehicles from Market Street, citing the loud noise they produce. Companies operating rail service in the city switched over to horse-powered railcars, a quieter but equally as noxious alternative. Though much like steam-engine powered railcars, the horse-drawn hay-day wouldn’t last forever.
In 1873, former gold-miner, inventor and cable enthusiast (yes, really) Andrew Hallidie secured a contract from the City allowing him to operate a new kind of rail service on Clay Street: one that didn’t need on-vehicle power, but was pulled by a below-ground cable that was always moving and was powered at a powerhouse (now located at Washington and Mason streets). The cable would lie underneath the street and between the tracks. Cable car cables are always in motion, and cable cars control their motion by grabbing onto the cable or letting go.
Fun fact: the South of Market (SoMA) neighborhood’s name originates in Market Street’s history of cable cars. South of Market traces its routes to the phrase “South of the slot,” slot referring to the slot which cable cars grabbed the cable through.
Cable cars were a huge success. They could move faster than horse-drawn cars and could handle hills that horses could not. Hallidie’s first cable car line ran along Clay Street and terminated on the east at Clay and Kearny Street.
And while cable cars in San Francisco still run today, the majority of cable car lines were replaced with electric streetcars during the end of the 19th century. Made possible by advancements in power delivery and motor technology and debuted in Richmond, Virginia in 1888, electric streetcars began to replace cable and horse drawn cars. In 1891, San Francisco’s first electric streetcar line went into service. This line would be known as the 40 San Mateo Suburban Line, and ran from the east end of Market Street at Steuart Street all the way to Daly City, with stops in Colma, San Bruno, Millbrae and more (sound familiar?).
While electric streetcars were the new hip thing, lines on San Francisco’s notoriously steep streets remained cable cars, mainly due to the fact that electric streetcars couldn’t handle hills that steep.
Many of the independent rail operators in the city were eventually consolidated into Market Street Railway Company, later renamed and further consolidated into United Railroads in 1902. Electrification of its Market Street service was a top priority for United Railroads, however City law had banned overhead wires on Market Street, so cable cars remained on Market Street until the 1906 earthquake destroyed most of the cable car infrastructure on Market Street and United Railroads was able to secure a permit to hang overhead wires on Market Street. United Railroads, in an attempt to become more profitable ahead of the expiration of many of their franchise agreements with the City, began instituting brutal working hours on their employees, which led to a strike which began on May 5, 1907. The strike became infamous with the events of Bloody Tuesday, when 2 were killed and 20 were injured in a shootout on Turk Street. The strike was broken by police, who were ordered to operate streetcars. United Railroads had won, for now.
The strike had long-lasting impacts though. The anti-union and anti-labor behavior shown by the company had turned the pro-union San Francisco public against United Railroads, and in 1909, San Francisco voters approved a measure to establish a municipal railway, creatively named the Municipal Railway.
The Municipal Railway started by buying and modernizing the Geary cable car line, one of the few lines not controlled by United Railroads. United Railroads situation became more and more dire, as the City refused to renew its franchise agreements to operate its lines, instead handing them over to the Municipal Railway as they came up for renewal.
In December of 1914, the Municipal Railway opened the Stockton Street Tunnel, which allowed streetcar service from downtown directly to the Marina and North Beach. Tunnels would become the Municipal Railways biggest and best weapon. They improved quality and reach of service, and were only possible for the Municipal Railway because of it being a government agency.
In October, 1928, the Municipal Railway opened the Duboce Tunnel (late renamed to the Sunset Tunnel), which brought streetcars to the Sunset District on what would become and still is San Francisco’s busiest line: The N-Judah.
Another blow to United Railroads came in 1918 with the continuation of the tunnel trend with the opening of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, which ran from East Portal (Market and Castro), under Twin Peaks, to West Portal. The Twin Peaks Tunnel was for the Municipal Railway only, despite lobbying attempts from United Railroads. The Tunnel allowed access to a huge swath of land previously inaccessible. The newly developing neighborhoods were served exclusively by the Municipal Railway.
The opening of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, combined with accidents and another strike in 1917 put the final nail in the coffin of United Railroads, its assets being transferred to Market Street Railway Company, which would operate Untied Railroads franchises until 1944, when it was finally acquired by Municipal Railway, which now carried the name we all know and love: Muni.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned and subscribe so you don’t miss the second part of this story, where we’ll cover the history and birth of modern Muni, BART and CalTrain. Part 3 will briefly cover California High Speed Rail.