The Iron Monster Hits the Rails

Many thanks to our friend Jeremy Whiteman, who sends along the photos below showing San Francisco Municipal Railway 162, one of the "iron monsters" preserved by Muni on home rails.The good news is that after many years out of service, car 162 has started burn-in testing in preparation for reentering revenue service on the F Line. Car 162 has an unusual history: built by Jewett in 1914 to the "class B" design, it was retired in 1958 and acquired by the Orange Empire Trolley Museum (today the Southern California Railway Museum). That organization sold the car back to Muni in 2002, and after it returned home the following year it was fully restored to its end-of-service green-and-cream livery. It returned to active use in 2008. Unfortunately, in 2014 it was involved in an accident that bashed in the end of the car. Muni sent it out for rebuilding and it returned home in 2018, but for reasons that I'm not clear on, it hasn't been returned to operation until now. Its status on the PNAERC…