Charter Service on the N-Judah! HELL YES!

Over the weekend our friends at the Market Street Railway noted on their blog that a ban on chartered historic streetcars on the N Judah line may come to an end. It seems that some tests were done at night and several of the old cars can successfully navigate past the boarding platforms after all.
The ban on any historic trains west of Arguello came about when a wider car hit one of the boarding platforms. However, after last week’s test, there’s some hope that at least some of these cars could make their way out to Ocean Beach.
This is not unprecedented, and there’s plenty of photographs of old cars making the trip. However, I can safely assure you, the Loyal Readers, that if in fact they restore this to Ocean Beach, I am SO going to organize a charter trip, hopefully on the “boat tram” on a sunny day.

5 Responses to Charter Service on the N-Judah! HELL YES!

Brian says:

August 23, 2010 at 2:48 pm

That is such good news. My fingers are crossed. The historic cars are one of my favorite things about Sam Francisco, and I live right on the tracks in the Inner Sunset. Thanks for posting this.
P.S. Do they have the new clipper card machines?
Erik says:

August 23, 2010 at 2:59 pm

It’s pretty dumb that the problem is the wheelchair platforms being designed wrong, and instead of fixing them they just limit service to only use cars that can fit past the screwed-up platforms.
Greg Dewar says:

August 23, 2010 at 3:20 pm

The platforms at UCSF and at Carl and Cole have never been particularly useful. I know people who rely on them and they have complained that at Carl And Cole, sometimes the train goes by because the operator doesn’t see them waiting, and others don’t like the way the one at UCSF kinda leaves you in the middle of the street, and you have to cross, then cross past the parking lot exit to go to the med center.
One would hope that there’d be a better way to do this so that people who need these could be able to get where they’re going easier, but I’m not holding my breath. Just like I’m not holding my breath on when the bus shelters will return (I’ve been waiting for a response for months now!)
Rachel says:

August 23, 2010 at 4:05 pm

I love the boat tram… It would be cool to see some of those historic cars in other parts of town.
anonymouse says:

August 24, 2010 at 11:49 pm

Ideally they’d just switch to high platform boarding along more of the N line, at least up to UCSF or so, because that’s a busy station and seems like it would be a popular destination for riders in wheelchairs. And of course they should install ticket machines at the busier stations. And remove all the stop signs along the line too while we’re at it.