page_title: N Judah
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: N Judah / Route description
caption_attribution_description: San Francisco Muni LRV (Light Rail Vehicle) 1243, built in 1979 by Boeing, is eastbound on Duboce Avenue at Church Street, on the N-Judah line, on March 24, 1980. As its rollsign shows, it was en route to Embarcadero Station, through the then-new "Muni Metro" light-rail subway, the portal to which (for routes J and N) is located just behind the photographer. At the time of the photo, the Muni Metro had opened for passenger service only five weeks earlier (on February 18, 1980), and the N-line was the only line using it (and using it on weekdays only). All four other streetcar/tram routes were still using PCC cars at all times and running on the surface of Market Street through downtown. Although the Muni Metro did not open until 1980, the Boeing LRVs had first run in service in April 1979, on a K-line shuttle service operating only on the outer portion of that line. The tracks in the foreground were for the J-Church line, and car 1243 was also crossing trolleybus wires for route 22-Fillmore.
context_page_description: The N Judah is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California, so named as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system, serving an average of 41,439 weekday passengers in 2013. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines, beginning operation in 1928, and was partially converted to modern light-rail operation with the opening of the Muni Metro system in 1980. While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the N Judah remained a streetcar line due to its use of the Sunset Tunnel.
context_section_description: The line runs from the Caltrain depot in the Mission Bay district to Ocean Beach and the Great Highway in the Sunset District. From the Caltrain depot at Fourth and King Streets, it runs along King Street and the Embarcadero, passing by Oracle Park. It then enters the Market Street subway, which it shares with the five other Muni Metro lines. It exits the tunnel at Church Street and, after a brief stretch along Duboce Avenue to Duboce Park, enters the older Sunset Tunnel. This tunnel serves to avoid a hill and contains no underground stations. From the western end of the tunnel, the route goes along Carl Street, past UCSF-Parnassus Campus, on Irving Street, until it turns onto 9th Avenue for one block and reaches Judah Street, which the N runs on for the rest of its route. On Judah between 9th Avenue and 19th Avenue the N runs on a right-of-way that is slightly raised above the surrounding street. There is a loop in the intersection at Judah, La Playa and Great Highway that the N uses to turn around.
caption: A Boeing LRV newly in service on the N Judah, on Duboce Avenue, in March 1980
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "San Francisco Boeing LRV 1243 eastbound on Duboce Ave. at Church St. on March 24, 1980.  Photo by Steve Morgan.", "Image Make": "Plustek", "Image Model": "OpticFilm 7600i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.6.6", "Image DateTime": "2012:12:02 12:53:28", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.6.8", "Image ExifOffset": "350", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1183"}