Cars reverse into the barn off Jackson Street and run out into Washington Street, coasting downhill for both moves. To ensure that single-ended cars leave facing in the correct direction, the car barn contains a fourth turntable. Cars are moved around the car barn with the assistance of a rubber-tired tractor. As of 2018, the cable-car barn was staffed with 17 mechanics, six custodians, three carpenters, two painters, two supervisors and one superintendent. The car barn is situated directly west of the power house and the Cable Car Museum. The museum's entrance is at Washington and Mason. It contains several examples of old cable cars, together with smaller exhibits and a shop. Two galleries allow the visitor to overlook the main power house, and also to descend below the junction of Washington and Mason Streets and see the large cavern where the cables are routed out to the street via huge sheaves. Crew The car is driven by the grip, whose job requires strength, coordination, and balance. The grip must smoothly grip and release the cable, know the points at which the grip must be released to coast over intersecting lines or places where the cable does not follow the tracks, and maintain clearance from other traffic. The conductor collects fares, manages crowding, and controls the rear-wheel brakes on some hills. On the second or third Thursday of each July, a cable car bell-ringing contest is held in Union Square between cable car crews, following a preliminary round held during the second to last or the last week of June. The preliminary round determines which contestants go on to the finals in Union Square, by a process of points awarded by a panel of judges. See also 49-Mile Scenic Drive List of heritage railroads in the United States San Francisco Railway Museum St. Charles Streetcar Line, a streetcar line in New Orleans with National Historic Landmark status References Notes Further reading Val Lupiz and Walter Rice (2004). "San Francisco: cable cars are here to stay". Tramways & Urban Transit, October 2004, pp. 376–378. Light Rail Transit Association and Ian Allan Publishing Ltd. External links Cable Car Museum website Cable Cars Information on the official SFMTA website Market Street Railway Cable Car Page 1873 establishments in California 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in the United States Cable car railways in the United States Cableways on the National Register of Historic