California - San Francisco Cable Car Turntable

San Francisco
Cable car turntable at Powell and Market Streets.

Photo by Ken Glaser Jr. 1987
postmarked in 2013

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The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system. An icon of San Francisco, California, the cable car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Of the twenty-three lines established between 1873 and 1890, three remain (one of which combines parts of two earlier lines): two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf, and a third route along California Street. While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, the vast majority of their 7 million annual passengers are tourists. The cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

To reverse travel direction, the single-ended cable cars require manually operated turntables to rotate the car around. There are three outdoor turntables to do this: at Market & Powell Streets (shown above), Taylor & Bay Streets, and Hyde & Beach Streets, with a fourth one located inside the car barn on Washington and Jackson Streets.