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| A Czar Nicholas look-alike poses with then-supervisor Kevin Shelley in front of Moscow tram No. 106 during on Opening Day of the F-line, September 1, 1995. |
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This streetcar must be one of the oddest legacies of the twilight of the Cold War. It comes from perhaps the tramway capital of the world—the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The tram itself was one of thousands built to serve Soviet cities. It is 33' 9" long and uses an unusual hinged single truck. The car’s interior is Spartan, with longitudinal hard wooden seats cut from saplings. One can imagine what it must have felt like to ride this car, with its open end platforms, on a Moscow winter night.
While this model of tram was designed in 1912, when Czar Nicholas still reigned in Moscow, the documentation provided by the Soviets when it arrived in San Francisco claimed that this particular tram was built in 1922. (A cynic at the time observed that the Soviets wouldn’t have been able to present it as a gift if they acknowledged it had actually been built before the 1917 Revolution.) Whatever its true birthdate, that’s how it came to San Francisco...as a gift. The tram had worked more than a full career in the USSR—in Moscow until 1960, then in Orel until 1978—racking up 1.75 million miles of passenger service before being modified into a work car until "final" retirement in 1982, at which time it was cosmetically restored as a historical exhibit in Orel.
But, not for long. The late Maurice Klebolt, a colorful character (and longtime Market Street Railway director) teamed with fellow MSR director Rick Laubscher to bring a Soviet car to San Francisco. Klebolt lobbied the Soviet Consul General of the time, Valentin Kamenev, hitting on the idea of making the gift of an antique Soviet tram for San Francisco’s Trolley Festivals an act of glasnost, or rapprochement with the United States. After a lot of convincing, the idea took hold, and the Soviets selected the Orel tram, dubbing it "Streetcar Named Desire for Peace".
Car No. 106 was presented to San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein by Consul General Kamenev in a Market Street ceremony January 27, 1987. A news account at the time noted that a Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman in Russia, when asked about the gift, commented, "We can also sell refrigerators to Eskimos and carry coal to Newcastle." Clearly, Car No. 106 helped warm the Cold War, even if only a tiny bit. There was much conviviality on both sides of the transaction, and the car was extremely popular when it operated in the 1987 Trolley Festival.
Afterwards, however, with service suspended while the F-line was being built, the car ran afoul of the elements. Lack of covered storage at Muni’s Geneva Division proved costly, as serious rust damage and rot set in. It is currently being restored by Market Street Railway volunteers at our David L. Pharr Historic Streetcar Facility, and is being made accessible to disabled riders while preserving its historic character.
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