Owner of the museum knows a lot about railway history. His wife is from Liaoning Province, China. He is really a nice person.
Worth a quick visit to view some memorabilia about San Francisco railway cars
While this place is quite small, what is here is very interesting to look at. The day I visited, the gentleman who was working was extremely kind and helpful! He took the time to give me more information about each of the exhibits and answered each of my questions.In addition to the fun exhibits, this is also a fantastic place to get information about San Francisco’s transportation system. The man working helped me map out my day with the available buses and cable cars. It was very helpful!
Small, but super cute Museum!
This was more of a last minute decision since the lantern thing was canceled. The wait was pretty long but I would say worth the wait. We had so much fun playing with these illusions. If you check in on yelp you get $5 off
An excellent and quick diversion while you wait for your tram to take you to the pier.
I expected more. I was hoping that there would be more on trains in general. I found it to be much less informative that the Golden Spike National Park Visitors center - that had a fair bit of history on the building of the transcontinental railroad and other such stuff. This was a nice gift shop, not much of a museum.
Nice little museum once you get down from the train at ferry building. The museum has pictures|tee|small train souvenirs one can buy. There are miniature models of ferry trains inside. Museum also provide the history of San Fransisco city transportation. The supervisor of the museum is a funny and helpful person.
Friendly, knowledgeable!
The museum is free and from the outdoors it has an unassuming appearance. There are marvelous stories about San Francisco and there are wonderful novelty gifts you can purchase as well. Dont miss the annual streetcar calendar.
A small museum to discover the history of San-Francisco streetcars and a driving cab where you can take the driver place on an old car. There is also a lot of goodies on the store. If you like PCC streetcar running on the historical line, its a must have to do!! To finish, the staff is very kind and always ready to answer at your questions.
Small..But interesting. and its free. its worth checking out. And they have some neat stuff for sale.
Quite a small place with lots of historical information. Best to go when tours are not there to navigate around. Staff is lovely in personality.
Really small museum but pretty interesting. Photos, models, books, postcards and some other exibits. You can get here information about history of rail transportation in San Francisco. The entrance is free.
What a great little museum detailing the history of streetcars, trolleys, and trains in the city. It is run by the organization that purchased and restored the streetcars in the city and is sustained entirety on donations and gift shop sales. If trains fascinate you like they do me, stop by here and have a look.
I love this place so much I got my husband and I a membership! Always great exhibits and fun things to look at and learn. My personal favorite is the gem and mineral section, which is easily the best collection Ive seen outside of maybe a trade show.
Great place to get some historical information. Very friendly staff and also kids friendly. Great stop for a few minutes
Small but staff is super nice.Very kid friendly with streetcar cab they can play in; plus small coloring table.Shop has a good selection of train related books and some cool collectors items.
A cool piece of history. In addition to a wealth of information about streetcars in An Francisco, theyve also got free colouring pages and a replica trolley complete with controls that kids can operate. My 3 year old was enthralled, and heartbroken when we had to leave. Well definitely come again.
A great place to visit for a look at some historical items from the SF. Municipal Transportation Agency. The store could use a better collection of clothing. The store has a good selection of postcards and magnets. The store is accessible by the F-Line Street Car. The exit stop is Don Chee Way.
Lovely little one-room museum. Free. We gave a donation anyways. So much history, and really well presented with good historic photographs. Perfect for the attention span of a twelve-year-old boy.
Small but interesting take on San Fran street cars. Worth it for young kids. There is fully functioning street car controls, including bell.
This is a small, one room, free museum that is packed with history. So much of San Francisco is defined by transportation: the street cars, cable cars, Golden Gate Bridge, to name a few. This museum has photos of early San Francisco, from the 19th century before the Ferry Building was built. It has a time line of San Franciscos transportation history, photos of the San Francisco Bay before the Golden Gate bridge was built, a replica of the front of a street car, with the gears that show how it was opperated, and a lot more! I spent nearly an hour in this one small room, and I dont think I saw everything. I am definitely going to go back again. And did I mention, its free!
Must see. Great little museum to learn about San Francisco. Free and staff friendly and knowledgeable about past and present San Francisco
Its a bit small - only one room - but it has quite a lot of information packed in. I spent 2.5 hours reading through all the text they had up at the time (although exhibits apparently change on occasion). If youre bringing kids, theyll love the models and the mock-up streetcar front, but itll probably only hold 30 min interest. If youre interested in transit history though, this is a nice trove you can spend some time enjoying.
My review would be 3.5 stars if the option were available. While the proprietors of this museum are extremely friendly and some of the content is interesting, the museum is so small that it is not worth going out of your way to see. If anything, this is closer to a gift shop then a museum. While its worth seeing if you are in the area, I would not go out of your way to visit.
Small museum with some nice information displays. Tons of gift shop items to choose from.
This place is really small for a museum. There are just few recordings over there. Good part is it is connected to the trolley station and It is free of cost. If you have limited time it is not the place to go
Fantastic, though small, museum detailing the history of San Franciscos electric streetcar history. Many models and information boards. Friendly staff were able to provide all sorts of neat facts and additional history. Needs to be much bigger.Free admission.
I love SF history and riding the cars so this spot is great.
It is a cute little place but very small. Dont expect to spend more than about 10 minutes here if you have a kiddo with you!
The museum is small but its also very dense with information. The real gems are to be found from chatting with the volunteers. It was quiet enough that we could have a fairly in depth conversion over some wonderful history and their knowledge of San Francisco history is astounding.
The museum is tiny. You can see everything in 5 minutes unless you stop to watch the series of videos they have on touch screen computers.
This museum is a nice small museum with a cool kids play trolley control front. Nice souvenirs to take home from San Fran too
Very small museum-- its mostly a gift shop. The staff is super friendly and its in a convenient place near the bus stop
Worth a visit. Lots of little known facts about SF. Insiders place to visit.
This is a nice place, also they were very friendly and we could talk about public transport. It seems they are well prepared, no entry fee.
Lovely friendly people who are happy to talk and suggest. I only had a short time to visit, however was still worth it and will visit again more when back in SF.
Both of the people working today were incredibly kind, helpful and knowledgeable they even told us about cable cars in the city we are from. Its a quick stop but nice to see
Tiny space more of gift shop than a museum. Staff very informative. Definitely worth a visit.
Really well done for a small museum, Knew alot about the old interubans that ran in the area (eg the Sacramento Northern)
If you are in the area swing by send check it out. Lots of information about the San Francisco street cars. The museum is very small and the gift shop part is about as big as the actual museum. The lady working here was super friendly and gave me a short tour of that place.
Small but has really cool stuff and old vintage stuff from there railway and other places. 👍👍👍👍👍
Not sure what is there to see. A few posters with a bit of information for the tram fans plus a couple of model trains. The gift shop has a couple of things but theres nothing overwhelming. Good enough for a stop but I would not cross the town to see it
Quick fun. You can be in and out in less than 10 minutes or stay almost an hour like we did. Our toddler was engaged in his conductor role, official hat and all, playing with all the levers in the old training car while grandpa looked at the model trains and old SF rail footage.
Very well done pocket museum. Knowledgeable staff and friendly.
Interesting small museum. Make sure you see the cable car museum too as theyre related. Free entry but suggested $4 donation.
Mostly a gift shop but has lots of cool vintage memorabilia and some good infographics. Staff is knowledgeable.
This is a nice small museum. They have a 100 yrs old StreetCar model with the controls that you can try. Some really old photos. There was a 5$ sale on some of the streetcar posters thaf I could not afford to miss. A nice old ticketing machine really caught my attention. Enjoy!
Good place to learn about the history of San Francisco streetcars (not to be confused with cable cars)
Mostly a gift shop but still good to read about the history.
If you love the PCC streetcars, this is a must. Great merch, too.
Great little museum to learn all about streetcars and railways in the city. They also have some unique momentos and fantastic magnets.
A fun small and free place to visit. Packed with lots of information about the history of the cable cars and street cars.
Cute museum. Good history of SF mass transit
Tiny, but the staff is super friendly
I visited from nyc. The man working was so nice we spoke about the trains in new York city. He showed me pictures of the trains from nyc in the 40s. I learned so much about the railway in san Francisco. Great place wonderful employees.
If you love trains and youre in San Francisco dont forget to stop by this place.
Calling this a museum is an insult to museums. This is basically a gift shop with various trinkets and some information on the wall. If you really want to see a cool museum check out the trolley museum up Nob Hill.
Not much of a museum. One room but fun.
Extremely small, but cute and interesting. Would be nice to see future plans displayed here.
If you are waiting between lines it may be worth it for you to pop in. Dont go out of your way. Museum is very small and in the back of the store after you walk through all the gifts.
Loved the part where you get to play with the control of a street car!
This is a must-see place for any rail fan or street car fan. Its a small half museum/half store with plenty of unique things that you cant buy anywhere else.Im a sucker for the limited odds and ends they sell here and I have a growing collection of things like cable car track pieces and genuine Muni rollsigns that have retired from service.And dont forget to pick up a calendar. My photos have been featured in it for several years.
Very informative, great for history buffs like me!
Excellent attention. Very helpful and friendly people
Cool little place that showcases the history of Muni. Really like the poster showcasing all the Muni trains, as well as the postcards with the trains on them.
The gentleman at the counter was very helpful
Small museum but they had some great information.
Great sf transit related memorabilia and profits go to a great cause to maintain the historic streetcars. some cool stuff you wont find anywhere else.
Its more of a Rail Gift Shop...Still it encases the historical cars and memorabilia...Between the exhibits, the video, and the artefacts, one can spend a good 35 mins there.
Very nice place. Small, but informative, and the man who runs the place is very nice and helpful!
Small museum devoted to electric public transportation, mostly cable cars and trolleys.
Great free museum about the Muni streetcars & cable cars of San Francisco!
A good place to know information on establishment of muni etc. Good stuff inside must for children to visit for general knowledge purpose and nice goodies inside for price
Aside from the front section of a streetcar where you can see the drivers controls, there isnt much in the way of actual artifacts to see. Its mostly pictures and interactive touch panel displays. Its really more of a gift shop than a museum.
Awesome historical information!
Tiny, informative and informal free museum. Lots of photos and explanations of urban trains in SF since the horse-drawn days.
A nice taste of the history of public transport in SF. Free entry and a good stop in this side of town.
Awesome museum!
The store associates were very kind and helpful.
Learn some interesting history about Muni inside this museum.
Theyre closed on labor day. The day most people have off to go about and do things in the city. Pretty disappointing.
Nice little shop with a lot of info on SF street cars.
Really cool, especially for locals and railway enthusiasts.