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This is a working museum in an original and still used cable car barn. Very good displays and you can watch the cables in action. It is centrally located in Chinatown and free - I take all my visitors here, they love it.
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Date of experience: November 2019
1 Helpful vote
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Stumbled on this gem and glad we did! Great history lesson and an amazing engineering feat back in its day. Great its still operational.
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Date of experience: December 2019
1 Helpful vote
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I'm not usually one for museums or have a particular passion for trains/trams, but I found it interesting to learn how the cable cars actually work here, and to see the mechanics in action! There's a good photographic display of San Francisco history too. Worth a stop in for half an hour or so, and to grab a cable car souvenir.…
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Date of experience: March 2020
2 Helpful votes
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A really interesting museum to see how the cars are pulled all around San Francisco. Considering it’s free it’s well worth a visit.
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Date of experience: January 2020
1 Helpful vote
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The visit was beyond my expectation. When you approach the museum by foot, you can hear and smell machinery through the open windows. Enthusiastic I went inside and after climbing the stairs, there was a wide view down on the engines that spin the large wheels to pull the cables through the streets and hills of San Francisco. The museum has a lot of explanations how stuff works, like picking up and releasing the cable, corners, street inclines. And of course the basement where you can see the large pulleys to direct the cables in the correct angles under the streets. Just spend one or 2 hours here (it's free) and you will even enjoy your cable car more. And your walk through the streets get's more intense, because now you know what kind of genius solutions are beneath all the steel lids and covers.…
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Date of experience: July 2019
1 Helpful vote
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