Three Hours, One Camera, and the Oldest Streetcar in America
Line Scan Photos from MUNI Heritage Weekend in San Francisco
I spent three hours by the tracks at Muni Heritage Weekend 2026 with my custom line scan camera, capturing San Francisco's historic trams. Highlights include Muni No. 1, the first publicly owned big-city streetcar in the US, and No. 578 'Dinky' from 1896, which looks like a cable car but runs on electricity. The photos are freely licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
Muni No. 1 is the first publicly owned big city streetcar in the US. Before then, all streetcars were privately owned.
- dllu
OP here, ask me anything! I've also written about the process previously:
- Line scan camera image processing: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2025-09-21-line-scan-camera-... Previous discussions:
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44996938
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46383593
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46388084
- Standalone line scan camera hardware: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2026-06-12-standalone-cnc-li...
- Line scan camera image processing 2: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2026-08-02-line-scan-camera-...
- matja
I like the photos, they look like architectural diagrams.
I suppose the subjects moved past the camera perpendicular to the lens direction, so you only see one side.
Are there any examples of what it looks like with a line scan camera when a subject goes past at an angle?
Also, for anyone setting up a tripod with a tripping hazard in public, do consider public liability insurance :)
- abeppu
Ok the photos are cool and it's nice to see the vintage street cars. But Muni has a budget shortfall and is planning on cutting a bunch of bus lines and reducing frequency on lines across the system. Meanwhile, it has an internal supply chain to custom build replacement parts for vintage vehicles that no other city will operate, and teams of specialist restorers. Viewed in isolation, they look cool! Viewed in context, is this ... irresponsible?
- Goatsgiats
These are really lovely.
- gerikson
Very cool images!
What lens are you using? Does it have to cover 135 format?