St. Louis Public Service 1726

The PCC car takes its name from the Electric Railway Presidents Conference Committee established in the early 1930s to design a modern, streamlined streetcar. It was a successful design with approximately 5000 PCC cars being built between 1936 and 1952 for systems in the U.S. and Canada. Some PCC cars built after World War II used the all-electric variation having electric brakes instead of the earlier air-operated brakes. In the 1920s, St. Louis Public Service operated over 500 miles of track with over 1600 cars. Starting in 1940, St. Louis acquired 300 PCC cars. No. 1726 is one of 100 unusual PCCs acquired by St. Louis Public Service in 1946. They had the door layout of a pre-war car with windows like a post-war car. They had two pedal control, push the left one to go and the right one to stop - unique to St. Louis. St. Louis painted its streetcars in a red, cream and white scheme. The last St. Louis streetcar line closed in 1966. The San Francisco Municipal Ry. was an eager participant in the PCC development program. Royalties on PCC car sales were applied to further research and development, but PCC purchases by the Muni were restricted by a law which forbade city agencies from making royalty payments. Using loopholes in the law, Muni was able to buy 40 PCC cars in the 1940s and early 1950s. This left the San Francisco system with over 100 cars dating to before 1920. So, in 1957, the Muni leased 70 PCC cars, including No. 1726, from St. Louis Public Service. The catch was that when the lease expired, Muni couldn’t return the cars. In effect they had bought them, which was all well and good with St. Louis which abandoned its final streetcars in 1966. The Muni renumbered No. 1726 to No. 1155. Except for adding a backup pole, re-gauging the cars from St. Louis’ 4’ 10” gauge to 4’ 8 ½” standard gauge, and applying their standard green and cream paint job, the Muni did little to alter the St. Louis Public Service cars. San Francisco placed its PCCs in storage after purchasing new Light Rail Vehicles in the early 1980s. San Francisco has since developed a new PCC fleet with second-hand cars acquired from Philadelphia and Newark for its E and F heritage lines. A number of 1155’s sister cars remain in storage and may be restored for future route expansion. In 1995, Seashore acquired No. 1155 at auction from San Francisco Muni. The museum’s intention is to restore the car as St. Louis No. 1726.