So, the Cable Car’s reign atop the transit tech heap was brief. But on steep hills, cable cars endured because the underground cable can literally pull them up almost any grade, while the steel wheels of electric streetcars, usually powered by an overhead wire, slip on the steel tracks on steep hills.
By 1941, when cable lines in Seattle and Tacoma closed, San Francisco had the only street-running cable cars in America. The 1957 closure of a cable line in New Zealand made San Francisco’s cable cars unique in the entire world. Threatened with scrapping in 1947, cable car lovers rallied to defend San Francisco’s system and when the original installations wore out in the early 1980s, the City rebuilt its cable car network from the dirt up.
The free Cable Car Museum at Washington and Mason Streets is open Tuesdays through Sundays. It’s right where the two Powell lines meet, and two blocks north of the California line. The museum occupies the mezzanine level of Muni’s historic Cable Car Barn & Powerhouse, where you can see the vintage cable winding machinery doing its job and watch the cables leave the barn underground to pull the cars. Antique cable cars, including one from Hallidie’s original Clay Street Hill Railroad, are on display as well, and there’s a shop selling souvenirs.
The free San Francisco Railway Museum, located right on the F-Market & Wharves vintage streetcar line at 77 Steuart Street, across from the historic Ferry Building (and just two blocks from the Downtown terminal of the California Street cable line), celebrates the history of cable cars as well as electric streetcars, which have been an important part of San Francisco since 1892. An integrated gift shop features unique San Francisco transit merchandise, much of it available only at the museum and its online store, which also includes hard-to-find cable car books and genuine cable car track souvenirs.
You can find links to interesting accounts of cable car history, threats, and personalities on this site’s Cable Car Stories page.
Most of this exclusive content comes from the nonprofit Market Street Railway’s website, streetcar.org, a treasure trove of information and stories about San Francisco’s cable cars., including:
For those looking for a wonderful cable car “rabbit hole” to burrow into, we highly recommend the detailed website of historian Joe Thompson, cable-car-guy.com. It’s filled with great stories and facts about cable car systems the world over, with special emphasis on San Francisco.
The San Francisco Public Library offers a comprehensive listing of books about cable cars, including some rare ones. Check it out!
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