Cable Cars
If you're taking a trip to San Francisco it's almost mandatory that you check out the cable cars. Cable cars are really symbolic of San Francisco. San Francisco is the last place on earth that still has a functional cable car system.
But what is a cable car exactly? Well, the cable cars were invented to take the place of carts and carriages pulled by animals. The cable car is pulled along a rail system by a cable that moves in a channel under the street. When the driver, or "gripman", is ready to go he pulls a lever to activate the "grip" which is the part that grabs onto the moving cable. When the driver wants to stop he releases the grip and activates the brakes.
The first cable car company operating in San Francisco started in 1873. It was a partnership between inventor Andrew Smith Hallidie and the Clay Street Railroad. Public service of the cable cars began on September 1st of that year. 4 years later in 1877 the clay street railroad got some competition when Sutter Street Railroad developed its own version of the cable car and began service. By 1889 there were 8 companies operating cable cars.
In the late 1880's or early 1890's the electric street car was coming into favor because it was estimated that it cost twice as much to build and as much as 6 times more to operate the cable car lines than it did the electric street cars.
By the beginning of 1906 there were only 3 companys operating cable cars, the biggest of which was United Railroads Co. or (URR). URR was trying to convert many of its cable lines to electric cars powered by overhead electric lines. But on April 18th 1906 the famous earthquake and fire destroyed much of the City. When rebuilding most cable cars were replaced by electric street cars and by 1912 only 8 cable car lines remained, all of which had steep grades that the electric street cars at the time were not able to handle. In the next couple of decades, improved buses pushed out even more cable cars and by 1944 only 5 cable car lines were left two municipal Powell Street lines and three independent lines owned by Cal Cable.
In 1979 the cable car system was shut down for 7 months for repairs because it had become unsafe over the years. In 1982 it was closed again while it was completely rebuilt and was reopened in 1984.
Today there are three lines remaining, The Powell-Hyde Line, The Powell-Mason Line, and The California Street Line. The Powell-Hyde and Powell Mason lines both stop at the Cable Car Museum. If you're interested in visiting the museum it is located at 1201 Mason Street in San Francisco. Their phone number is (415) 474-1887.
Copyright 2008
S.F. Visitor Pages