Sitting in on a MSR board meeting
At 6:30, I walked over to the Flood Building around the corner to sit in on a Market Street Railway meeting. I wanted to see what kind of people attended, how the meetings were conducted, and find out the who’s who.
As with any meeting, minutes were called, and the budget was discussed. Various tidbits were discussed, the meat of the gathering being about the new museum and store opening near the Ferry Building. It was your standard meeting stuff, finding out what they can sell, profit margins on their calendar, and the like.
A few MSR members brought some old photos they had dug out of their closets, mainly photos of old rail cars in Hayes Valley, as well as they stories attached to them.
“The 21 line, seen here at 700 Hayes St on it’s last day of service, had to have it’s rail replaced on the last day of service. Muni had little choice, other street cars needed to cross that line, so the 21 got to run over some freshly laid track on it’s last day of service. All these buildings you see here in the background are still there to this day. Circa 1941.”
One of the local landmarks presidents said a few words by proxy for a very old gentleman who wanted to preserve the old LRV shelters. There are about 6 in San Francisco still, the two I can remember are the Fort Mason one, and the other is the Dolores Park shelter. When taking the J-Church through Dolores Park, note the old street car passenger shelter as you come out of the right away into the park. Back behind that is an old Muni LRV shelter, part of the original line, fenced over and covered in litter and graffiti. There is an effort to restore that brewing, so if anyone wants to help clean that up, I’m sure Dolores Park would look even more beautiful after.
I wouldn’t say an MSR meeting is the most exciting thing in the world, though I may show up to the September meeting. If you like trains, and you like to see all the people in their 50’s discuss train politics, that’s the place to be.
Also, Muni is all powerful. Bow to Muni. Nothing happens without Muni’s grace.