Cable Car Museum. |
94108 San Francisco, CA, United States of America (USA) (California) |
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Address |
1201 Mason Street
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Floor area | unfortunately not known yet |
Opening times
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April 1 - September 30: 10am - 6pm; October 1 - March 31: 10am - 5pm Closed: New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas |
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Status from 04/2013
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Free entry. | ||||
Contact |
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Homepage | www.cablecarmuseum.org |
Location / Directions |
Located in the historic Washington/Mason cable car barn and powerhouse. The car barn is located between Washington and Jackson streets just uphill of where Mason Street crosses them. Access: Ramp and elevator for disabled visitors are located on the Washington Street side of building. Please contact museum staff for additional assistance. |
Description | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:Car barn, power house and museumThe car barn is located between Washington and Jackson streets just uphill of where Mason Street crosses them. Cars reverse into the barn off Jackson Street and run out into Washington Street, coasting downhill for both moves. To ensure that single-ended cars leave facing in the correct direction, the car barn contains a fourth turntable. Cars are moved around the car barn with the assistance of a rubber-tired tractor.The car barn is situated directly above the power house and the Cable Car Museum. The museum's entrance is at Washington and Mason. It contains several examples of old cable cars, together with smaller exhibits and a shop. Perhaps of more interest are two galleries which allow the visitor to overlook the main power house, and also to descend below the junction of Washington and Mason Streets and see the large cavern where the haulage cables are routed out to the street. There are four separate cables: one for the California Street line, one each for the separate parts of the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines, and one for their common section. Each cable is 1.25 inches (3.175 cm) in diameter, running at a constant speed of 9.5 mph (15.3 km/h), and driven by a 510 horsepower (380 kW) electric motor via a set of self-adjusting sheaves. Each cable has six steel strands, with each strand containing 19 wires, wrapped around a sisal rope core (to allow easier gripping). The cables are coated with a tar-like material which serves as a sacrificial lubricant (much like a pencil eraser erodes away rather than the paper) The museum contains several examples of old cable cars, together with smaller exhibits and a shop. The cable cars displayed include: Sutter Street Railway - grip car 46 and trailer 54 dating from the 1870s Clay Street Hill Railroad - grip car 8, the only surviving car from the first cable car company The museum is part of the complex that also houses the cable car power house, which drives the cables, and the car depot. The car depot is not accessible, but two overlook galleries allow the visitor to view both the power house, and also to descend below the junction of Washington and Mason streets in order to view the large cavern where the haulage cables are routed out to the street |
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