San Diego — PCCs Arrive

Rail Transit Online, January 2006

The two PCC streetcars purchased for a proposed downtown loop service arrived at the San Diego Trolley maintenance base on Dec. 14.  The trolleys were acquired by San Diego Vintage Trolley Inc. (SDVTI) from Gunnar Henrioulle, who purchased them from the San Francisco Municipal Railway and stored them on his property in South Lake Tahoe (see RTOL, Sept. & Nov. 2005).  Henrioulle was hoping to use them for a heritage streetcar line in Sacramento or in the Lake Tahoe resort area.  SDVTI, a non-profit, tax exempt corporation, raised enough money to purchase the cars and transport them to their new home.  The group will now seek funding from public and private sources plus voluntary labor and in-kind donations to restore the PCCs, which are not operable to their original condition, including painting them to resemble cars that operated in San Diego from 1936 to 1949.  SDVTI’s goal is to have the cars work a non-rush-hour loop on existing San Diego Trolley tracks along C Street, Park Boulevard and down the waterfront starting in 2008.  They would serve the convention center, the major league baseball park, the historic Gaslamp Quarter and a growing residential community.