San Francisco Railway Museum
Encyclopedia
Railway museum
A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives , railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment.See List of railway museums...
located in the South of Market area of San Francisco.
This small museum features exhibits on the antique streetcars of the F Market & Wharves
F Market
The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike the other lines, the F line is operated as a heritage streetcar service, using exclusively historic equipment both from San Francisco's retired fleet as well as from cities around the world...
and national landmark cable cars
San Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...
that continue to run along the city's major arteries. The museum is located at the Steuart Street F line stop, across the street from the Ferry Building
Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city...
. Admission to the museum is free.
In addition to the permanent collection of San Francisco railway artifacts from Market Street Railway Company
Market Street Railway Company
The Market Street Railway Company was a commercial streetcar and bus operator in San Francisco. The company was named after the famous Market Street of that city, which formed the core of its transportation network...
and San Francisco Municipal Railway
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
, the museum produces unique exhibits such as a retrospective on the 1906 Earthquake and a replicated end of the now extinct MSR '100-Class streetcar'.
The museum is a project of the nonprofit Market Street Railway
Market Street Railway (nonprofit)
Market Street Railway is San Francisco Municipal Railway's 1,200-member nonprofit preservation partner. It relies on private contributions to help keep San Francisco’s famed historic streetcars of the F Market & Wharves line and the national landmark cable cars running to this day.Market Street...
, Muni’s historic transportation advocacy group.
External links
- San Francisco Railway Museum official website
- Market Street Railway includes news and information on Muni's entire fleet of historic streetcars and cable cars
- Let's hear it for the old F line San Francisco Chronicle article, ran 10/09/06