SF Muni 496 Heritage Loop Ride | Muni Heritage Weekend 2025 (9/21/2025)

Recorded on August 21st, 2025 Muni Heritage Weekend has come around in 2025! In this video, we take a ride on a streetcar from the land down under! Specifically from Melbourne, Australia. Car #496 takes us from the Ferry Plaza, to Pier 39, and back. This car used to serve the E-Embarcadero when it was in service, but the car is now restricted for training and excursion services after the pandemic. Come along as we go around the heritage loop on a Class W2 streetcar! About Melbourne #496: Car #496 is a Class W2 class streetcar first purchased by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board. This streetcar was specifically assembled and built by James Moore & Sons in the year 1928. It was one out of the 406 streetcars built under the W2/SW2 classification. It started service on Melbourne streets on February 18th, 1928 as part of the replacement of their cable car lines. It served until the late 1970s when more modern trams took over their operations, about 50 years from when #496 went into service. This streetcar, along with car #586, was purchased by the SFMTA. Car #496 entered service the following year following restoration and minor upgrades. From April 2016 until March 2020, it was used on the newly expanded E-line service between Fisherman's Wharf and the Caltrain depot. Today, you can see this car out on the street during the annual Muni Heritage Weekend or during training. Will it return to E-line service like it used to before the pandemic? We will never know.