San Francisco Cars History

San Francisco rail service began with horsecar lines in the nineteenth century. Though reported dates of the fist horsecar trip vary, the first company to run horsepower was the Market Street Railways in 1860, followed by the horsepower railcars of the Omnibus Railroad Company formally the Red Line, owned by Gustav Sutro, in 1861. Horsecars only lasted until 1889, when Sutro converted the rail to cable; soon after there was a second conversion to electrified trolleys. Throughout the late nineteenth century, many companies operated horsecars that were eventually converted to either cable or electric power, particularly after the 1973 invention of cable cars by Andrew Hallidie. This technology would dominate the San Francisco market for 30 years until the coming of electrification. Other horsecar companies included the North Beach and Mission Railroad Company, who served those neighborhoods beginning in 1863, and the Central Railroad Company whose lines provided the particular convenience of serving several steamer landings, enabling seamless sea-to-land transport. For a complete list of horsecar companies, see the end of this section.

The ability of the URR to buy up smaller lines and form a monopoly so angered voters that this bond measure enabled the SFMR to run its first service in 1912, down Geary Street and 33rd Avenue. These lines eventually became MUNI. URR became the Market Street Railway in 1921, after labor strikes. The unpopularity of the line continued, and in the seventh vote, San Franciscans voted to buy the operations of the Market Street Railway. San Francisco absorbed the company in