San Francisco Railway Museum

The San Francisco Railway Museum is marked by the authentic nineteen-eleven operator’s stand from a streetcar parked right inside its front window. This small space tells the story of how the city’s transit system survived the nineteen-oh-six earthquake and the shift toward the automobile. While many cities ripped out their tracks in the mid-twentieth century, San Francisco kept its streetcars running. The museum houses the original controller handles, fare boxes, and vintage photographs that show riders clinging to the open-air cable cars.