Kobe/Hiroshima tram No. 578-S runs through Dolores Park on the J-Church tracks.

In 1958, the car was rebuilt and renumbered No. 578, and rebuilt again in 1968 when it was converted to one-person operation. When Kobe closed its street railways in 1971, this car was acquired by the Hiroshima Electric Railway Company where it ran in passenger service until it came to San Francisco in the spring of 1986.

Through the efforts of longtime MSR director Maurice Klebolt, working with Japan’s Corporate Railway Assembly, an industry trade group, car No. 578-J arrived in San Francisco just three days before the opening of the 1986 Trolley Festival, but thanks to amazing efforts by Muni shop forces, was ready to lead the parade on opening day, with Mayor Dianne Feinstein at the controls. It was very popular during the two Trolley Festivals in which it operated before the Festivals were discontinued for the construction of the permanent F-line.

The car needed some modifications to operate here. Muni shop forces had to add sanding devices for added traction on San Francisco’s hills. They had to install trolley poles to replace the roof pantograph, and they had to rewire the car for right-hand operation (in Japan, traffic drives on the left). So, while the car could be handled by one operator in Japan, it requires two here, as there is no right-hand front door.

The car’s exterior dark green color is very handsome, as is its interior, with plush mohair longitudinal seating in green, with gray sidewalls and creme ceiling. This car had been fully updated in its renovations, and came equipped with electronic destination signs, public address system, electric-eye door controls which sound an alarm if a person is in the stepwell, thus alerting the operator not to move the car.

One item the car did not come equipped with: a hand brake, which was recently added as a requirement for F-line operation. Muni shop forces have been working on fitting one since early 2000, but until they do, the car cannot be operated in revenue service.