Inside the SF streetcar yard that's closed to the public

Streetcars from all around the world and from several different eras of public transit are maintained at the Cameron Beach Yard, which is closed to the public. These streetcars sit in the garage of the facility, where streetcars undergo maintenance. less Streetcars from all around the world and from several different eras of public transit are maintained at the Cameron Beach Yard, which is closed to the public. These streetcars sit in the garage of the ... more Photo: Drew Costley/SFGate Photo: Drew Costley/SFGate Image 1 of / 79 Caption Close Inside the SF streetcar yard that's closed to the public 1 / 79 Back to Gallery

Kevin Sheridan sits on the bench of the first streetcar ever made in San Francisco at Cameron Beach Yard on a recent Monday morning, talking about the pride he takes in his work as the assistant supervisor of the historic streetcar fleet for Muni.

The streetcar he's sitting in is surrounded by several other streetcars, from all over the world and from all eras of transit in the Americas and beyond. The streetcars sit under a protective car barn in Balboa Park, a garage, body shop and storage facility that's not open to the public, but where many of the city's streetcars live when they're not out transporting people around S.F.

The barn — which looks like a pyramid elongated horizontally — has a sign on its facade bearing the Muni logo and the name Cameron Beach, who served on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for four years. Inside, there are several tracks, overhead lines, and lined-up streetcars in a dark-ish interior with a dusty floor that makes the space feel both like an attic with mementos of the past, and a bit dirty like, well, a garage.

F-LINE PHOTOGRAPHY: Photography show celebrates Muni's F-stops

"Even before I came to Muni, I found very early on that if I enjoy what I'm doing it makes it a lot easier to get up and go to work every morning. You know, even if I can achieve that four days out of five," Sheridan says.

Then Sheridan, a third generation S.F. streetcar worker, points to one of the other streetcars — San Francisco Municipal Railway No. 1006 — on the next track over.

"But for me, it's on a deeper level because... so you look at that streetcar 1006, my father operated that very streetcar in regular service out of this very same yard [in the 1960s]," he says. "So there's kind of this deep rooted passion and from that comes a sense of pride. I take a lot of pride in what I do and I try my best to instill that in the people who work around me, too."

He lists five types of people who work at the Cameron Beach Yard – mechanics, bodymen, carpenters, painters and car cleaners. Each of these people plays a role in maintaining the streetcars, some of which are over 100 years old.

BART RAGE: The science behind why people get so mad on BART

"This is an original streetcar named Desire from New Orleans," explains Rick Laubscher, president of Market Street Railway, a nonprofit that works to raise awareness about the city's historic street and cable cars and spearheads efforts to get public funding to maintain both fleets. Laubscher, a third-generation San Franciscan sitting next to Sheridan in the first S.F. streetcar, says he knows for a fact that his grandparents rode that very car when it served the H-Potrero line.

He and Sheridan consider the historic streetcars, especially the ones made in San Francisco, part of the city's heritage, carrying the family histories of San Franciscans from generations ago.

The barn that houses the historic streetcars is like a living transit museum. He points out a streetcar that was built in 1946 in Melbourne, Australia, and another one that was built in 1929 in Portugal. There are also streetcars in the fleet from other countries like Japan (1927), Milan (1928) and Zurich (1952), plus U.S. cities like Washington, D.C. (1946), Chicago (1947), Los Angeles (1948) and Philadelphia (1948).

The acquisition of historic streetcars from around the world began as a tourist attraction created at the request of then-S.F. Mayor Dianne Feinstein for carting people around the city during one summer when the city's cable cars were out of service for rebuilding. But then it became an every-summer occurrence to wheel the vintage streetcars out for tourists. And over time, many of the cars in the historic fleet have been put into regular service by Muni.

WHERE STREETCARS ONCE ROAMED: Interactive maps show where streetcars used to go in San Francisco, Oakland

"What started out as a replacement for the cable cars being shut down and what might have been considered a tourist attraction has really grown into an integral part of the transit fabric here in San Francisco," Sheridan says. "So we're moving tourists, but we're also moving people. But also, we've created an experience for people."

When he speaks about his work for Muni, Sheridan emphasizes the human element and the collaboration that goes into maintaining the city's streetcars. It's like he's describing an artistic process. If a car undergoes a major accident, each type of tradesperson who works at the Cameron Beach Yard might play a role in restoring the car, Sheridan says.

As you might imagine, maintaining the city's streetcars is hard work. During a tour of the Cameron Beach Yard, there's a carpenter working on a trolley pole on one of the city's boat cars from England. There are two mechanics, one was working underneath car No. 1056 from St. Louis and the other was cleaning the limiter for another car. And there are two car cleaners wiping down the windows, seats and floors of one of the historic cars.

J. Randy Catanach, deputy director of rail maintenance for Muni, says he wishes that the passengers who ride the streetcars knew about "all the hard work that the employees put into" the cars.

"So for instance, we had a car pull in from last night and the seats were cut open," Catanach says. "These guys work very hard trying to keep the interiors [and exteriors] very beautiful and for it to come back with a sliced seat. That's just devastating to them."

WHY CABLE CARS?: Why does San Francisco have cable cars?

Where others might see power tools and machines, Sheridan sees canvasses and history. And he says that caring for streetcars is becoming a "lost art."

"You just look at the age of the equipment and the people were around who were proficient in working on these cars, they've since moved on," he says.

"So, again, this goes back to the dedication and the care and pride that goes on around here. We have people who are willing to exert themselves and apply themselves to become proficient at maintaining these cars so this carries on for generations to come."

Drew Costley is an SFGATE editorial assistant. Email: drew.costley@sfgate.com | Twitter: @drewcostley