Calendar: San Francisco cable car Powell-Mason with cable car 15 by Cable Car Museum (2023)Powell Cable Cars 15 and 11 decorated for Lunar New Year l Val Lupiz photo
January 2023
The Cable Car Barn has stood at Washington and Mason Streets since 1887 and for decades has been considered part of Chinatown. Muni workers and volunteers, led by gripman Val Lupiz, decorate cable cars for holidays and special events, including Lunar New Year. Car 15 wears the yellow livery of Powell-Manson line in 1890s; Car 11 ran on Sacramento-Clay line in 1890s and wears the red livery used then for that line.
This is why cable cars built for the Sacramento-Clay line ended up on Powell. This is Washington-Mason cable car barn on April 18, 1906 photographed by John Henry Mentz of United Rairoads. Car 455 was badly damaged by falling bricks before it could pull out for morning. Then it and the rest of the fleet inside were incinerated later that day. But 27 Sacramento-Clay cars, including today's Car 11, were stored outside the fire zone and took over service on Powell.
SFMTA ArchiveBy Henrik Boye, San Francisco Railway Museum, Val Lupiz -
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