In the early part of the 21st century two San Francisco Muni trams made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean for a hoped for new life in the UK but that hope now appears extinguished with news reaching us that the last remaining car – 1226 – has now been scrapped in Derby.
It was 2002 that 1226 and 1326 made the journey to the UK with Manchester Metrolink set to test their suitability to add capacity to the network with, at the time, only a fairly small fleet of T68 and T68A trams available for use. 1326 went directly to Manchester – arriving there on 11th January 2002 – with 1226 being diverted to Derby where it was set to be checked over by the Railway Inspectorate to see whether it would meet UK safety standards.
Sadly it soon became apparent that the Muni cars would not be suitable for either Manchester Metrolink or use in the UK – some reports suggesting their safety standards were not as good as other vehicles running on the streets. Problems were also experienced with testing 1326 in Manchester with a number of derailments and also the realisation about how much would be needed to bring them up to standard (although 1326 did manage to reach Eccles at least once on test – a photograph of this run exists in Superb – A Tribute to the Manchester Metrolink T68 & T68A Light Rail Vehicles). 1326 was scrapped on site in Manchester once the project had been formally cancelled.
As for 1226 this remained in Derby at the premises of Stored Energy Technologies where it could be seen stored and open to the elements for a number of years alongside the Derby to Birmingham railway line. This was until the start of May 2016 when it was reported that the scrapman was on site reducing the tram to a pile of metal and thus bringing an end to San Francisco trams in the UK.
Inevitable I suppose, it appeared to be in far too poor condition to have any other use. A pity though, it was something vaguely interesting to look out for the train heading out of Derby.
I was always surprised when these came to the UK.
Boeing had a production line of Bell Huey helicopters for the Vietnam war and when this conflict came to an end they decided to build street cars instead! They designed the tram and picked up orders from San Francisco and Boston.
The Muni trams were OK in the climate of the west coast but the Boston climate was a real challenge and Riverside Car Barn became full of trams stripped for spares. The thought of bringing these trams to Manchester made me chuckle when I first read the news.
I always wondered why they brought them over. They wouldn’t have been withdrawn if they were still any good!
Cheap & Available….
At least they had the sense to bring over and test just the two before committing to buying any larger quantity…
I rode on this kind of tram when they were in service in San Francisco and they appeared to be flimsy with a poor finish, clearly made with little care and attention. Crich should have had one to show what serious mistakes were made when an aerospace company tried to design a rail vehicle. Museums should have lemons as well as illustrious prototypes and glorious successes,
Two are preserved in USA museums.
Erm its not a British Tram so no Crich shouldn’t have one! There are a few preserved in the USA where they should be. The sad thing is that MUNI didn’t see fit to keep one, despite their dedication to the heritage fleet!
Erm, Crich has got several non-british trams, so why not?
Two main reasons: space and priorities. Anyway Crich already have a few ‘lemons’ – I’ll leave it to someone else to nominate them!
Where there’s a will etc. and lemons need saving as well.
Maybe so, but we don’t really need a museum full of them! I’d suggest that Crich already have more than enough trams that prompt a reaction of “why on earth did they get that?”, so adding one of those San Fran cars would have been a step too far in my opinion, especially when they are so short of space.
I wonder how much high floor stuff was actually out there and available at the time?
I preferred riding these cars to the Breda ones which replaced them but my favourites were of course the PCCs. When I first saw the one at Stored Energy sitting beside the railway it did not seem to have much wrong with it. Unfortunately during the last few years it has been reduced to a wreck by vandals. I hope that they do not acquire any more trams.
I went past the site on Friday and there was no sign anything had ever been there! Sad to see it gone but over the past few months it had been the subject of further vandalism. I’d have quite liked to have had it as a summer house in my back garden.