Cable Car Museum

Located on Nob Hill, the San Francisco Cable Car Museum is the perfect place to learn how San Francisco's favorite means of transportation works. The museum has been operating since 1974.

The museum's main exhibition explains the history and operation of the Cable Car. On learning how it functions you will understand the great expense that is involved in keeping the system running.

On the ground floor you will see the enormous machinery on which the cables that make the trolleys circulate throughout San Francisco rotate.

In the Cable Car Museum you will also be able to see some old trolley cars and some photographs of its evolution over the years as well as learning how it was affected by the great earthquake which destroyed a large part of the system.

Operation of the Cable Car

The cable car's operating system is very simple. It is basically a long cable under the streets that continuously goes around the city. The conductors of the cable car hook the cable car onto the cable when they want to move and unhitch it to brake.

Finding Out More

The cable car is part of the charm of San Francisco; everyone wants to travel in it and to photograph it climbing the steep hills. The best way to get to know it is in its own museum and, better yet, with free admission.