On Track: A Field Guide to San Franciscoas Historic Streetcars and Cable Cars

by Rick Laubscher

Book Overview

San Francisco just wouldn't be the same without its colorful streetcars and cable cars. These vintage forms of public transit are not only practical ways to explore the City--they're amusement rides that jangle through a mix of historic buildings and vibrant new development, filling your ears with the sound of cables clicking as steel wheels rumble under your feet. At the same time, they're a fleet of unique traveling museums. This field guide from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597142786
• ISBN13: 9781597142786
• Release Date: February 2011
• Publisher: Heyday Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.6" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great color, great history!

The history of surface public transit in most American cities is pretty dull: local transit districts phased out their trolley cars and trolley buses decades ago, to be replaced by air-polluting diesel buses. But San Francisco is different. San Francisco takes chances. Just when streetcars were on the brink of extinction, the "Muni" (SF's transportation district) started bringing them back! Now there are lots of colorful streetcars plying the streets, and historic cable cars too. This book allows visitors and other enthusiasts to pick out and catalog their favorite rolling stock and concoct do-it-yourself tours based on the various routes' itineraries. All the photos in this very useful guide are in color, and any visitors besides just public-transit fans can benefit from it.