The Cable Car Home Page Archive - What's New
by Joe Thompson

• Counter History
• News
• Anniversaries
• Ten Years Ago
• Pictures of the Month/Quarter 1997-2006
• Pictures of the Month 2007-

What's New

• 01-June-2023
  • Picture of the Month: "San Francisco's Folly." An item from the travel section of Newsday shows a drawing of a Clay Street Hill Railroad grip car and passenger dummy. (Source: Newsday (Suffolk Edition), 1973-07-29, Page 95).
  • On the Centennial and Sesquicentennial of the Birth of the Cable Car page: Newspaper items about the centennial from far and wide. A cosmetics ad from Sydney referring to San Francisco cable cars. Sesquicennitial websites and events. I will continue to update the page for much of the year. New sections about other important anniversaries and Centennial collectibles.
  • On the Horse Car Home Page: An article about the last horse car line in Pittsburgh.
  • Archived March 2023 What's New.
• 01-May-2023
  • Picture of the Month: I loved Margot Patterson Doss' column San Francisco at Your Feet in the Sunday Chronicle-Examiner. I had two of her books and I took many of the walks that she described. For the anniversary of the cable cars, she offered a walk from Golden Gate Park to Washington/Mason. Hills Brothers provided coffee for a nickel a cup. (Source: San Francisco Sunday Chronicle-Examiner,
  • On the Centennial and Sesquicentennial of the Birth of the Cable Car page. Updates about both Centennial and Sesquicentennial events. I will continue to update it for much of the year.
  • Archived February 2023 What's New.
• 01-April-2023
  • Picture of the Month: A detail from an ad for the Emporium, a classic San Francisco department store, marking the cable car centennial (Source: San Francisco Examiner, 1973-08-01, Page 14).
  • Rolled out the new Centennial and Sesquicentennial of the Birth of the Cable Car page. I will continue to update it for much of the year.
  • On the Kitsch page: More collectible detritus about cable cars, including: A new section with items from the Centennial of the cable car; A toy cable car commemorating the Warriors' latest NBA title; A 1973 Emporium ad for centennial collectibles;
  • On the Cable Car Businesses page: a 1971 newspaper ad for Cable Car Clothiers
  • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to a front three-quarter view of car 504 with uncommon free-standing figures.
  • Archived January 2023 What's New.
• 01-March-2023
  • Picture of the Month: Car 81 makes the final trip of Tacoma's cable railway (Source: ""Writing Finis To Tacoma Cable Car History," Tacoma News-Tribune, 08-April-1938, page 1.)
  • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More pictures and information about the Tacoma Railway and Motor Company, including newspaper items about the end of the line.
  • Also on the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: Updates to the article about Tacoma's Steve's Cable Car Room.
  • Added News item about a derailment
  • Archived December 2022 What's New
• 01-February-2023
  • Picture of the Month: Two cars of the Portland Cable Railway pass on the trestle's 20% grade. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.)
  • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More pictures and information about the Portland Cable Railway, including selected newspaper articles.
  • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: A new item about the Astoria Cable Railway
  • On the Who page: A new article about Joe Orengo, a major league player and Giants executive who was involved with cable cars.
  • On the Cable Car Models page, a model of a Powell Street cable car covered with flowers was San Francisco's entry in the 1948 Tournament of Roses Parade.
  • Archived November 2022 What's New
• 01-January-2023
  • Picture of the Month: Last Cable Ride -- When the first Madison street cable car started up Madison 50 years ago, one of the passengers was Mrs. George Heilbron, whose husband was one of the founders of the line. And on the last trip Sunday Mrs. Heilbron rode again. She is talking to Col. C. D. Mills, general manager of the transit system, ahe aged cable car sways along the tracks to the barn. Today gasoline buses operated up and down the hill. (Source: Seattle Star, 15-April-1940, page 11)
  • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More pictures and information about Seattle cable cars, including newspaper accounts of the closing of three lines in 1940. Aside from the lines in San Francisco, these were the last three Hallidie-type cable car lines in the United States.
  • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable cars decorated for Christmas 2022.
  • Added News item about the Cable Car Cleanup
  • Archived October 2022 What's New, 2022 Anniversaries, and July-December 2021 News items.

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• 01-December-2022
  • Picture of the Month: On 11-December-1955, the San Francisco Chronicle published a story by Catherine Christoper, "The Cable Cars Become Santa's Helper"
  • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit the late Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables (22nd anniversary this year), and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
  • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: I added A Big Fat Family Christmas, a Hallmark Christmas movie shot in San Francisco and featuring gripman Val Lupiz. Also a News item.
  • Archived September 2022 What's New
  • 01-November-2022
    • Picture of the Month: The voting machine entry for Proposition 10, which required the city to keep the Powell Street cable car lines operating, despite the wishes of Mayor Roger Lapham. On the Cable Car Lines in San Francisco page: A new article about San Francisco Proposition 10, 1947, which required the city to continue to operate the Powell Street cable car lines. Also see The Cable Car Lady & the Mayor by Walter Rice and Val Lupiz an article about the epic battle between Mrs Friedel Klussmann and Mayor Roger Lapham.
    • Add News items about the 75th anniversary of the first Save the Cable Cars movement.
    • Archived August 2022 What's New
  • 01-October-2022
    • Picture of the Month: "Plainclothes security men hang onto cable car and policeman blocks route as cable car whisks Prince Charles through Financial District." San Francisco's official greeter Cyril Magnin rides next to him. (Source: Examiner photo by Bob Bryant. San Francisco Examiner, 28-October-1977 All Rights Reserved.)
    • On the More Muni Pictures page: A new article about the Prince of Wales' 1977 visit to San Francisco, where he rode a California Street cable car.
    • Add News items about the passing of The Friends of the Cable Car Museum board chairman Gerry Graham and more about the pandemic.
    • Archived July 2022 What's New
  • 01-September-2022
    • Picture of the Month: "A Runaway Electric Car Crashes Into a Sutter Cable Car." (Source: San Francisco Call, 12-December-1897)
    • On the Sutter Street Railway page: A third 1897 article about a collision between a Sutter Street cable car and a Fillmore Street electric car: Collision at Sutter and Fillmore (from the San Francisco Call).
    • Add News items about the passing of Fred Lyon and more about the pandemic.
    • Archived June 2022 What's New
  • 01-August-2022
    • Picture of the Month: "A Runaway Electric Car Crashes Into a Sutter Cable Car." (Source: San Francisco Examiner, 12-December-1897)
    • On the Sutter Street Railway page: Another 1897 article about a collision between a Sutter Street cable car and a Fillmore Street electric car: Collision at Sutter and Fillmore (from the San Francisco Examiner).
    • On the Links page: A page of historic transit information suggested by a member of a stem club for girls. We need more young women in STEM.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: Banner from the the Wellington Cable Car about their annual maintenance shutdown and a stop bullying campaign. A map showing how to reach the Interim Cable Car Building of the Dunedin Heritage Light Rail Trust. A banner for a centennial lecture about the Penang Hills Railway.
    • On the UK page: A banner advertising Cliff Lift Day 2022.
    • Archived May 2022 What's New
  • 01-July-2022
    • Picture of the Month: "Fillmore and Sutter Street Cars Crash Into One Another -- Several Passengers Injured." (Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 12-December-1897)
    • On the Sutter Street Railway page: An 1897 article about a collision between a Sutter Street cable car and a Fillmore Street electric car: Collision at Sutter and Fillmore (from the San Francisco Chronicle).
    • Archived April 2022 What's New
  • 01-June-2022
    • Picture of the Month: "Disastrous Collision Between a Trolley and a Cable Car." (Source: San Francisco Examiner, 24-February-1897)
    • On the Ferries & Cliff House Railway page: An 1897 article about a collision between a Powell Street cable car and an Ellis Street electric car: Collision at Ellis and Powell.
    • Added News item about gripman Val Lupiz being featured on the local television news.
    • Archived March 2022 What's New
  • 01-May-2022
    • Picture of the Month: "Scene of the daring $4,100 robbery of officials of the California street cable road on a street car at California and Jones streets yesterday." (Source: San Francisco Examiner, 04-January-1922)
    • On the California Street Cable Railroad page: Read newspaper articles about the 1922 holdup of a California Street cable car at California and Jones: The Great Cable Car Robbery.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: The Easter schedule of the Wellington Cable Car and a photo promoting their 120th birthday. .
    • Archived February 2022 What's New
  • 01-April-2022
    • Picture of the Month: A necktie from gentlemen's store Cable Car Clothiers. I have a red one and a navy blue one.
    • On the Kitsch page: More collectible detritus about cable cars, including: A Hard Rock Cafe pin; a Cable Car Clothiers necktie; a Warriors jersey; "2 Classic Streetcars".
    • Added News items about the passing of Charles Gertsbacher, conductor and about an outage
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to a "2 Classic Streetcars" set.
    • Archived January 2022 What's New.
  • 01-March-2022
    • Picture of the Month: After I spoke about cable cars to the Sixth Grade class at Good Shepherd School in Pacifica, I received thank you notes from the students. Very well done.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the experimental cable car installation on Newark's Essex Passenger Railway and Newark and Irvington Street Railway, including a newspaper item about a stable fire that killed 50 of their horses.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A list of cars decorated for Black History Month 2022. No photos yet.
    • Added News items and chronology items about the ongoing pandemic, the graduation of Catrena Brown, who is only the fourth woman to pull grip on a cable car, the rollout of rebuilt Powell Street Car 8, a talk I gave to school kids about cable cars and two cars being decorated for Black History Month. Also Chronology and Roster updates
    • Archived December 2021 What's New
  • 01-February-2022
    • Picture of the Month: Powell Street cable car 524 at the Chicago Railroad Fair. From the 03-Aug-1949 San Francisco News: "Two thousand miles removed from its regular route, a San Francisco cable car is being operated by Western Pacific at the Chicago Railroad Fair. The car carries capacity loads up a steep incline to return to a turn-table the replica of the one at Market St., San Francisco" (Source: San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, AAC-8005).
    • On the Chicago page: A ten and twenty year update about Powell Street cable car 524 at the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A list of cars decorated for Chinese New Year 2022. No photos yet.
    • Added News items about the COVID-19 pandemic and cars being decorated to celebrate the Lunar New Year
    • Archived November 2021 What's New
  • 01-January-2022
    • Picture of the Month: A stereo view of a car on the cable-operated Hoboken elevated
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: I find it hard to believe that it has been twenty years since I first wrote about Hoboken's North Hudson County Railway. Here we have some ten and twenty year updates inclunding an excerpt from The History of the North Hudson County Railway, 1898.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A list of cars decorated for Christmas 2021. No photos yet.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: the holiday schedule of the Wellington Cable Car.
    • Added News items about San Francisco Mayor London Breed talking about cable cars and Metallica being symbols of the city and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Archived October 2021 What's New, 2021 Anniversaries, and July-December 2020 News items.

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  • 01-December-2021
    • Picture of the Month: Cable car crew members watch car 504 being decorated as Santa's sleigh. (source: Trolley Topics, January, 1952).
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit the late Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables (21st anniversary this year), and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car, a funicular, allows dogs to ride the line as a test.
    • On the Links page: Bruce Kliewe's site about the Great Reconstruction has a new url. It is a great site to visit
    • Added News items about the Dunedin Cable Tram Calendar, the death of engineer Dr Peter Pfaelzer and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Archived September 2021 What's New
  • 01-November-2021
    • Picture of the Month: In May, 2008 Val Lupiz photographed the newly rebuilt Powell Street Car 25 at the Washington/Mason barn. The car had just been labelled for the "United Railroads." Photo by Val Lupiz. All rights reserved.
    • The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of The Cable Car Home Page - November, 1996 - November, 2021
    • On the Why page: "Twenty-Five Years From Home," a new article about where I have been and where I am going with the site.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in San Francisco page: A new article about San Francisco Proposition Q, which froze minimum cable car service in the city at the levels of 01-Jul-1971.
    • Added News item about the passing of Gilberto Godoy, who owned the foundry that produces bells and other metal parts for the cable cars
    • Archived August 2021 What's New.
  • 01-October-2021
    • Picture of the Month: A station of the cable-operated Glasgow District Subway. (Source: "Glasgow District Subway", The Engineer, December 4, 1896).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the UK page, updated article on the Glasgow District Subway, including an 1896 Engineer article, The Glasgow District Subway and new photographs
    • Added News item about the retirement of Byron Cobb. passing of Carl Payne and Melvin Van Peebles. Also about the extended shutdown caused by an electrical fire.
    • Archived July 2011 What's New
  • 01-September-2021
    • Picture of the Month: Ten-time grand champion Carl Payne gives an exhibition at the 2016 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. Defending champ Byron Cobb stands to the left. Photo by Joe Thompson.
    • On the Who page: Added an article about Carl Payne, who was ten-time grand champion of the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. He served the people of San Francisco and our visitors for many years
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: A 1962 magazine article about Angels Flight,
    • Added News and Chronology items about the passing of Carl Payne, the return of the cable cars and more about the pandemic resurging
    • Archived July 2021 What's New
  • 01-August-2021
    • Picture of the Month: "CARS ... OF THE DOUGLAS CABLE TRAMWAY". (Source: Railway World, October, 1896).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the UK page, updated article on the Isle of Man's Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, including a second 1896 Engineering article, "The Douglas Cable Tramway"
    • Added News items about the return of the cable cars and more about the pandemic resurging
    • Archived May 2021 What's New
  • 01-July-2021
    • Picture of the Month: "DIAGRAM OF GRADIENTS OF THE DOUGLAS CABLE TRAMWAY", from "The Douglas Cable Tramway", an October 23, 1896 Engineering article.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the UK page, updated article on the Isle of Man's Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, including an 1896 Engineering article, "The Douglas Cable Tramway"
    • Added News and Chronology items about the planned return of the cable cars, the unearthing of long-buried cable car tracks at California and Van Ness, a History Happy Hour with the San Francisco Cable Car Museum, and more about the pandemic and California opening up
    • Updated some pages with information about reopenings: San Francisco Municipal Railway, Kansas City Streetcar, Angels Flight, the Great Orme Tramway and two Cliff Lifts
    • Archived April 2021 What's New and January-June 2020 news items
  • 01-June-2021
    • Picture of the Month: The Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn at Dorchester Street and Highland Avenue survived until the 21st Century. This image was taken in November, 2020, two months before the roof collapsed under a burden of snow. The building was demolished in February, 2021 (Source: Copyright 2019 Google).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A ten year update about Cincinnati's Mount Auburn Cable Railway, including images of the powerhouse before the roof collapsed in early 2021.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: Links to current videos about Dunedin, New Zealand's Mornington Tramway and the Wellington Cable Car. Thank you to Bus Driver Nick for sharing his work.
    • Added News items about Cal Cable car 60 appearing in a movie and the pandemic and the return of the F-line
    • Archived March 2021 What's New
  • 01-May-2021
    • Picture of the Month: Market Street Railway manufactured its own wire ropes at the Market and Valencia powerhouse using this scary-looking piece of machinery. (Source: "San Francisco, the Birthplace of the Cable Railway" by Charles B Fairchild, Street Railway Journal, June, 1893)
    • On the Cable Car Lines in San Francisco page: San Francisco, the Birthplace of the Cable Railway, by Charles B Fairchild, The Street Railway Journal, June, 1893. A detailed article about transit in San Francisco.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A ten year update about Cincinnati's Vine Street Cable Railway, including an image of and excerpt about the corner of Fifth and Walnut Streets, where many lines, cable, electric and horse, came together.
    • Added News item about the pandemic and the potential return of the cable cars
    • Archived February 2021 What's New
  • 01-April-2021
    • Picture of the Month: A 1974 United Airlines ticket jacket. (Source: SFO Museum Collection, Gift of Thomas G. Dragges, 2011.051.329)
    • On the Kitsch page: Two more TWA posters; A puzzle; two patches; two stamp cachets; a Giants World Series pin
    • On the Cable Car Models page: The Metal Earth Model
    • Added News item about the potential return of the cable cars
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to shelves of toy cable cars.
    • Archived January 2021 What's New.
  • 01-March-2021
    • Picture of the Month: An outbound car of the Sutro Railroad heads towards the terminal above Sutro Baths. The second Cliff House is visible in the background. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp4.1055).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in San Francisco page: A new article about the Sutro Railroad, including "The New Road to the Cliff", three 1896 San Francisco Call articles about the opening of the Sutro Railroad and the dedication of the second Cliff House.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A ten year update about Cincinnati's Mount Auburn Cable Railway, including the 2021 demolishing of its powerhouse.
    • Added News items about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the destruction of a cable railway powerhouse in Cincinnati and Carl Payne's illness.
    • Archived December 2020 What's New
  • 01-February-2021
    • Picture of the Month: The Baldwin Hotel stood at Powell and Market, about 1888. We see the Powell and Market turntable in the foreground. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp37.00580-L.jpg).
    • On the Ferries and Cliff House Railway page: Two photos of the Baldwin Hotel at Powell and Market.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A ten year update about Cleveland's Brooklyn Street Railroad/South Side Railway, both owned by Tom L Johnson, one of which had an experimental cable installation using the Johnson Ladder Cable System. Including a new ad for bonds.
    • Added News items about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Archived November 2020 What's New
  • 01-January-2021
    • Picture of the Month: The main power station of the Chicago City Railway (source: The Street Railway Journal, August, 1889).
    • On the Chicago page: Read about the Main Power Station of the Chicago City Railway. (source: The Street Railway Journal, August, 1889).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A ten year update about the Cleveland City Cable Railway, including a new ad for bonds.
    • Added News items about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a proposal to remodel the outer terminal of the Cal Cable line
    • Archived October 2020 What's New, 2020 Anniversaries, and July-December 2019 News items.

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  • 01-December-2020
    • Picture of the Month: Ornaments at the Christmas in San Francisco store at Pier 39 Santa delivering presents on a single-ended cable car. August, 2017.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A ten year update on the 2010 Giants Victory Parade.
    • Also on the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cars decorated for Christmas 2020 despite the pandemic shutdown.
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit the late Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables (21st anniversary this year), and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • Added News item about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Archived September 2010 What's New
  • 01-November-2020
    • Picture of the Month: Fear the Beard -- A decorated window on Powell/Mason Car 28
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable car 28 decorated for the Baseball Postseason. Ten year anniversary.
    • Added News items about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a newly discovered section of Cal Cable conduit
    • Archived August 2010 What's New
  • 01-October-2020
    • Picture of the Month: A view from Commercial Street in London's Limehouse District showing a bridge built in 1840 for the London and Blackwall Railway, an early cable-operated railway line. The bridge has been used since 1987 by trains of the Docklands Light Railway, an automated electric line. Google Maps Streetview Image updated Jun 2019. Copyright 2020 Google. October, 2020 Picture of the Month.
    • On the UK page: A ten year update about the London and Blackwall Railway, a pre-Hallidie cable-operated line
    • Added News update about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Archived July 2020 What's New and January-June 2019 news items
  • 01-September-2020
    • Picture of the Month: 24 Brixton Road served as a depot (car barn) for Brixton Hill trams. Later it was a substation for electric trams. Now it houses the Church of the Holy Redeemer, a mission for the area's Italian community. Photo by kk69521 at flickr, All Rights Reserved.
    • On the UK page: A ten year update about London's Brixton Cable Tramway
    • Added News update about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the short-lived return of Muni Metro service and Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car.
    • Added News item about a calendar created by the Dunedin Heritage Light Rail Trust, which is striving to recreate the Mornington cable tramway.
    • Archived June 2020 What's New and January-June 2019 news items
  • 01-August-2020
    • Picture of the Month: Not a cable car this month. Charles Smallwood hand-colored this image of Market Street Railway car 979 sitting at the outer terminal of the 31-Balboa line, at 30th Avenue and Balboa Street. I grew up down the street, but the streetcars were long gone.
    • On the San Francisco Miscellany page: Thanks to Emiliano Echeverria for letting me present a series of photos that were hand-colored by Charles Smallwood
    • Added News update about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the planned return of Muni Metro service. Updated Cliff Lift article with information about reopenings
    • Archived May 2020 What's New and January-June 2019 news items
  • 01-July-2020
    • Picture of the Month: Birmingham Central Tramways steam engine and driving gear -- elevation. Source: Tramways: Their Construction and Working, Embracing a Comprehensive History by Daniel Kinnear Clark
    • On the UK page: A ten year update about the Birmingham Central Tramways Company. Includes contemporary magazine items
    • Added News update about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the planned return of Muni Metro service. Updated some pages with information about closures: San Francisco Municipal Railway, Kansas City Streetcar, Angels Flight, the Great Orme Tramway and two Cliff Lifts
    • Archived April 2020 What's New and January-June 2019 news items
  • 01-June-2020
    • Picture of the Month: In Edinburgh's Waterloo Place, a short segment of cable tram track and slot is visible but nearly obscured. Google Maps Streetview Image updated Jul 2019. Copyright 2020 Google.
    • On the UK page: A ten year update about the Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramways/Edinburgh and District Tramways Company, Ltd, Includes present-day images of a surviving stretch of track and remnants of depots (car barns and powerhouses)
    • Added News update about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rescheduled Muni History Weekend
    • Archived March 2010 What's New
  • 01-May-2020
    • Picture of the Month: This elaborate shelter served Tramway customers in Crown Square. It now stands in Hall Leys Park. Google Maps Streetview Image updated May 2017. Copyright 2020 Google.
    • On the UK page: A ten year update about the Birmingham Central Tramways Company, which operated cable trams until 1911
    • Archived March 2010 What's New
  • 01-April-2020
    • Picture of the Month: My daughter and son-in-law were packing up to move and found this patch, which they kindly gave to me.
    • The Twentieth Anniversary of the Kitsch page: New items include Two more TWA posters; A puzzle; two patches.
    • Added News and Chronology items about the virus pandemic that shut down the cable cars and 90 per cent of Muni's other lines
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to plastic cable car 514.
    • Archived January 2020 What's New.
  • 01-March-2020
    • Picture of the Month: This West Chicago Street Railroad powerhouse at Washington and Jefferson Streets still stands in altered condition. I don't know why that big blank wall is there in front. Google Maps Streetview Image updated August 2019. Copyright 2020 Google.
    • On the Chicago page: A ten and twenty year update about the the West Chicago Street Railroad
    • Added News item about how production of a movie caused bus substitution on the Cal Cable line.
    • Archived December 2019 What's New.
  • 01-February-2020
    • Picture of the Month: A North Chicago Street Railroad train at Clark Street and North Avenue. Note the two trailers. (Source: Chicago Public Library Digital Collection, Repository number RLVCC 1.1056. All rights reserved).
    • On the Chicago page, A ten and twenty year update about the the widely hated North Chicago Street Railroad
    • Added News items about the cable cars decorated to honor the 49ers visit to the Super Bowl and the retirement of Sir Francis Drake Hotel Tom Sweeney.
    • Archived November 2019 What's New.
  • 01-January-2020
    • Picture of the Month: A stereo view of "State Street north from Madison" in Chicago (source: Chicago Tribune Historical Photographs; CTA).
    • On the Chicago page, A ten and twenty year update about the Chicago City Railway, one of the most successful cable traction companies in the industry.
    • Archived October 2019 What's New, 2019 Anniversaries, and July-December 2018 News items.

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  • 01-December-2019
    • Picture of the Month: Big 19 lays over at California and Drumm. November 2019.
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit the late Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables (21st anniversary this year), and the Decorated Cable Cars page. Added list of cars decorated for Christmas, 2019.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Big 19 -- Return to Duty -- 2019
    • On the Cable Trams in the UK page: A ten and twenty year update about London's Highgate Hill Cable Tramway, including a new photo
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: An update about the Loop Trolley, which may be suspended by the end of the year.
    • Archived October 2019 What's New.
  • 01-November-2019
    • Picture of the Month: The former ticket office and waiting room of the Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway. Google Maps Streetview Image updated March 2019. Copyright 2019 Google.
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Ten and twenty year updates about Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway, including a current image of the former ticket office and waiting room
    • Added News item about a cable car being dedicated to Rey Morante, a conductor who was killed on the job
    • Archived August 2019 What's New
  • 10-October-2019
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added results for the 55th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest.
  • 01-October-2019
    • Picture of the Month: A 1918 view of the Court Flight in Los Angeles (Source: Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection).
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Ten and twenty year updates about Court Flight, including some newspaper items and a postcard of the Santa Catalina Island Incline Railway
    • Added News item about the return of the cable cars after the Cable Car Gearbox Rehabilitation project.
    • Archived July 2019 What's New
  • 01-September-2019
    • Picture of the Month: A view of the planned Angels Flight in Los Angeles (Source: Los Angeles Herald, March 29, 1901).
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: A ten and twenty year update about Angels Flight, including some newspaper items
    • On the UK page: Thanks to John Perkin, added the Babbacombe Cliff Railway in Torquay and a banner for Cliff Railway Day, 2019 in the Cliff Lifts article.
    • Added News and Chronology items about a power outage that shut down the cable car lines
    • Added News item about another phase of the gearbox replacement project
    • Archived June 2019 What's New
  • 01-August-2019
    • Picture of the Month: Former Sacramento/Clay Car 19, in storage at the Washington/Mason car barn. December 2003. Photo by Joe Thompson.
    • On the Ferries and Cliff House Railway page: Former Sacramento/Clay Car 19, in storage at the Washington/Mason car barn. December 2003. Photo by Joe Thompson.
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: A ten and twenty year update about the Mount Lowe incline, including Pacific Electric ads
    • Archived May 2019 What's New
  • 01-July-2019
    • Picture of the Month: Car 16 on Powell at Sutter. It was built by Carter Brothers to support Sacramento/Clay service to the Midwinter Fair. September 2001. Photo by Joe Thompson.
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on Henry Casebolt's experimental overhead cable car line
    • Rolled out the new San Francisco 1894, the Midwinter Fair page
    • Archived April 2019 What's New and January-June 2018 news items
  • 01-June-2019
    • Picture of the Month: San Diego Cable Railway car "Las Peñasquitas" poses in front of the powerhouse. Photograph used with the kind permission of the San Diego Historical Society.
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the ill-fated San Diego Cable Railway
    • Archived March 2019 What's New.
  • 01-May-2019
    • Picture of the Month: The former Consolidated Piedmont powerhouse at 27th and Harrison Streets in Oakland is now a Whole Paycheck Market. Google Maps Streetview Image updated February 2019. Copyright 2019 Google.
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on Oakland's Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company, including an overhead shot of the surviving powerhouse
    • On the UK page: Added the proposed Launceston Cliff Railway in the Cliff Lifts article.
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway issues a visitor and journey Guide for 2019.
    • Added News item about a podcast which used sounds from my videos of the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Archived February 2019 What's New.
  • 01-April-2019
    • Picture of the Month: A conductor and a gripman pose with a Sutter Street Railway train. I like the angle. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp27.4669.jpg).
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the short-lived Oakland Cable Railway
    • On the Kitsch page: a refrigerator magnet; a 1978 schedule from the Cable Car Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island; a United Airlines ticket jacket; two toy plastic cable cars
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to blue and red toy plastic cable cars.
    • Archived January 2019 What's New.
  • 01-March-2019
    • Picture of the Month: A train of the Los Angeles Cable Railway climbs the steep approach to the Cape Horn viaduct (Source: "The Los Angeles Cable Railway," Scientific American Supplement, 10-October-1891).
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the ill-fated Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway
    • On the San Francisco Municipal Railway page: Thank you to Andy Donohoe Jr for a 1973 magazine article which includes a photo of his father, conductor Andy Donohoe. "I don't know where I'm going, but let me off when I get there" by Susan Halas, San Francisco Magazine, August, 1973.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: Added item about Washington DC's DC Streetcar, which revived streetcar service in the District of Columbia
    • Added News item with a cable car Valentine
    • Archived December 2018 What's New
  • 01-February-2019
    • Picture of the Month: A train of the Temple Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles near Temple and Hoover Streets in 1889. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Archive (c) 2004, California Historical Society: TICOT/Pierce, CHS-7070. All rights reserved.
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the Temple Street Cable Railway, the most successful cable traction line in Los Angeles
    • On the Roster page: Thank you to retired gripman MJ McClure, some interesting items about the history of Powell Street car 20.
    • Added News items from SFMTA's Twitter updates about cable cars
    • Archived November 2018 What's New, 2018 Anniversaries, and July-December 2017 News items.
  • 01-January-2019
    • Picture of the Month: The powerhouse of the Second Street Cable Railway, the first cable traction line in Los Angeles. Crewmen pose with a dummy and a side grip. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Archive (c) 2004, California Historical Society: TICOT/Pierce, CHS-M12634. All rights reserved.
    • On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on the Second Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable cars decorated for Christmas, 2018.
    • On the San Francisco page: More photos of the Transbay Transit Center Aerial Tram, which can't start service until they finish repairs on the cracked support beams
    • Added News item about New Year's Eve cable car service
    • Archived October 2018 What's New, 2018 Anniversaries, and July-December 2017 News items.

    ---

  • 01-December-2018
    • Picture of the Month: The Emporium, a now gone-but-not-forgotten department store across the street from the turntable at Powell and Market used to sponsor a yearly Christmas parade. Muni would decorate cable car 504 Santa's sleigh. Santa would ride down Powell Street in his sled atop the roof. That must have been a thrilling ride. Here we see "conductress" Mary Ball and "Jimin-E," an Emporium employee on the back platform. (source: Trolley Topics, December, 1950).
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit the late Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables (20th anniversary this year), and the Decorated Cable Cars page. Added list of cars decorated for Christmas, 2018.
    • On Walter Rice's A Photo Album of 1970s Cable Car Supporters: Added a Hughes Airwest advertisement car card from the cable car centennial.
    • Added News item about a podcast interview with Val Lupiz, Frank Zepeda and Jeremy Whiteman
    • Added News and Chronology items about cable car crews being issued masks because of smoke from a fire in Butte County and then the cars being taken off the street and the Cable Car Museum being closed because of unhealthy air quality
    • Added News and Chronology items about the Cal Band riding a Blue and Gold cable car to promote the Big Game.
    • On the UK page: Updated the status of the East Cliff Railway in Bournemouth in the Cliff Lifts article. Added News story about the current situation.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: An update about the current status of the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, a cog railroad
    • Archived September 2018 What's New.
  • 01-November-2018
    • Picture of the Month: At the corner of Fillmore and Broadway, Fillmore Hill counterbalance car 623 waits for passengers to transfer from a 22-Fillmore streetcar before it plunges down the hill. Photo circa 1940. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp37.04185.jpg). (source: The Scientific America, January 27, 1894).
    • On the San Francisco page: A ten and twenty year update on San Francisco's Fillmore Hill Counterbalance
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: A note about the movie La La Land, which includes a scene shot on Angels Flight while it was out of service.
    • Archived August 2018 What's New.
  • 01-October-2018
    • Picture of the Month: The Chicago City Railway's Wabash/Cottage Grove Avenue cable trains carry crush loads of passengers to Chicago Day at the World's Columbian Exposition on 09-October-1893. (source: The Scientific America, January 27, 1894).
    • On the Chicago page, a new article about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, which provided lots of business for the city's cable cars
    • On the San Francisco page: A ten and twenty year update on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill Railroad, including contemporary newspaper articles
    • On the Who page: Added an article about Gustav Sutro, who was president of the Omnibus Railroad and the Telegraph Hill Railroad.
    • On the Geary Street Park and Ocean Railway page: An 1882 ad for Baldwin Steam Motors.
    • On the Presidio and Ferries Railway page: An 1882 ad for Seaside Gardens, "Presidio -- Terminus of Union-street Cable Road."
    • Added News, Roster and Chronology items about Muni's 2018 Heritage Weekend
    • Added News and Chronology items about Powell/Mason bus substitution
    • Added News item about cable car fare collection audit.
    • Archived July 2018 What's New.
  • 01-September-2018
    • Picture of the Month: Crowds wait at the Haight and Stanyan Street entrance to Golden Gate Park. Omnibus Railroad and Cable Company car 6 from the Oak Street line stands at the terminal on Stanyan Street. The photo was taken between 1889 when the line opened and early 1894 when the car was renumbered. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp37.03316.jpg).
    • On the Omnibus Railroad and Cable Company page: A ten and twenty year update on San Francisco's Omnibus Railroad and Cable Company, which built the last new cable car system in San Francisco. Includes contemporary newspaper articles.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: An update about a project to restore a portion of Dunedin, New Zealand's Mornington Tramway to service. Also a News item
    • On the Who page: A new article about the late Joe Lacey, who contributed much to this website.
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: A newspaper article about an 1890 fire which harmed the Spokane Cable Railway
    • On the Other California Cities page: An 1891 newspaper article interviewing James Clifton Robinson about the Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: An update about the current status of the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, a cog railroad
    • Archived June 2018 What's New.
  • 01-August-2018
    • Picture of the Month: At the corner of Montgomery and Washington, Presidio and Ferries customers transferred from Washington/Jackson horse cars to cable trains that ran out Columbus to Union and then out Union to Steiner, where they connected with trains drawn by steam dummies The cable line was later extended to the Presidio. Photo circa 1890. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp26.335.jpg).
    • On the Presidio and Ferries Railway page: A ten and twenty year update on San Francisco's Presidio and Ferries Railway, which built the first cable car line with a curve. Includes contemporary newspaper articles, an image of the Harbor View Baths and an 1881 real estate ad.
    • On the Other Cities page: Thanks to Bob Vennerbeck, a report on the rediscovery of a conduit from the Providence Cable Tramway. Also a News item.
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: I added That Brennan Girl, a film noir partly shot in San Francisco
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Noted that the 2018 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest has been cancelled, but Muni "will be hosting some elements of the bell ringing event as part of Muni Heritage Weekend September 8-9.". Also added a News item.
    • On the Who page: Added an obituary for engineer Howard C Holmes
    • Archived May 2018 What's New.
  • 01-July-2018
    • Picture of the Month: In November, 2011, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which controls the San Francisco Municipal Railway, put up some ads to celebrate Muni's distinctive features, like the cable cars, as part of Muni's upcoming centennial year. November, 2011.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: An update about a project to restore a portion of Dunedin, New Zealand's Mornington Tramway to service. Also a News item
    • Also on the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten and twenty year update on the Melbourne Tramways & Omnibus Company, whose cable trams lasted until 1940. Added three illustrated items from the Melbourne Argus in the 1920s and 1930s.
    • On the Other Cities page: A ten year update on the Cable Tramway Company of Omaha, including a photo of Fred Drexel, one of the company's founders
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Noted that the 2018 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest may be cancelled. Also added a News item. Found photos of three bell rining contests and the name of the Miss Cable Car winners each year:
      • 1977 - Carl Payne, Miss Cable Car - Christine Patton
      • 1978 - Carl Payne, Miss Cable Car - Darlene Woodrich
      • 1979 - Michael McClure, Miss Cable Car - Jerri Seago
    • On the San Francisco page: The Transbay Transit Center Aerial Tram, San Francisco's latest overhead cable car line
    • Archived April 2018 What's New and January-June 2017 news items.
  • 01-June-2018
    • Picture of the Month: In November, 2011, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which controls the San Francisco Municipal Railway, put up some ads to celebrate Muni's distinctive features, like the cable cars, as part of Muni's upcoming centennial year. November, 2011.
    • On the San Francisco Municipal Railway page: A ten and twenty year update on the San Francisco Municipal Railway, the only remaining operator of Hallidie-type cable cars.
    • Added News item about Total Muni 2018, an effort to ride every Muni line in one day.
    • Archived March 2018 What's New.
  • 01-May-2018
    • Picture of the Month: In December, 2003 old Car 28, built for the Ferries and Cliff House Railway in 1887, turns on the motorized turntable in the barn at Washington and Mason before being put away. A California Street car pulls in behind it. Car 28 would retire the next month. In April, 2018, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency agreed to donate old car 28 to the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut as part of a deal that brought two electric streetcars to San Francisco.
    • On the Ferries and Cliff House Railway page: A ten and twenty year update on the Ferries and Cliff House Railway, whose lines survived the conversion to electric traction after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire because of their steep hills. Including some newspaper articles on the company's early years.
    • Added link to new cable car site
    • On the Roster page: Retired car Powell Street car 28 donated to the Shore Line Trolley Museum. Also a News item. Also refurbished car 11 makes its service debut and car 26 becomes 526 for a charter.
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Muni historian Bob Callwell has shared an update to his article about the history of the contest: "The Annual Cable Car Bell-Ringing Contest - A San Francisco Tradition." Also made a couple of corrections on the Bell Ringing Contest thanks to Bob.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Car 24 decorated for the SF Giants' 60th anniversary opening day. Also a News item.
    • On the UK page: Added the water operated Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway to the Cliff Lifts article. Also an item about the landslip (landslide in the US) that closed the line for a while.
    • On the Other Cities page: Added a note about the closing of the Cable Car Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island. Also a News item.
    • Archived February 2018 What's New.
  • 01-April-2018
    • Picture of the Month: A conductor and a gripman pose with a Sutter Street Railway train. I like the angle. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp27.4669.jpg).
    • On the Geary Street Park and Ocean Railway page: A ten and twenty year update on the Geary Street Park and Ocean Railway, one of the most financially successful companies in the cable railway industry, and one of the small number of cable railways which survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. Including some newspaper articles on the company's early years.
    • On the Who page: New article about Reuben Morton, founder and superintendant of the Geary Street Park and Ocean Railway
    • On the Kitsch page: a special Muni Pee Chee folder; a 1964 Venture Magazine cover; a 1950s Chevy Bel Air ad; a postal cover for the 125th anniversary of the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway; a 2017 Giants Cable Car Replica; Christmas ornaments from Pier 39;
    • Added News items about cost of cable car rides and Val Lupiz' new online shop where he is selling his photographs.
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to detail view of the right-hand side of toy cable car 514.
    • Archived January 2018 What's New.
  • 01-March-2018
    • Picture of the Month: A conductor and a gripman pose with a Sutter Street Railway train. I like the angle. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp27.4669.jpg).
    • On the Sutter Street Railway page: A ten and twenty year update on Henry Casebolt's Sutter Street Railway, the cable car line which proved the technology could be profitable on a route with no big hills.
    • On the Who page: New articles about Robert F Morrow (Ambrose Bierce wrote a nasty poem about him.) and two of his associates, Maurice Schmitt and Joseph Naphtaly, who purchased the Sutter Street Railway from Henry Casebolt. Also an obituary for Henry Casebolt.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cars 25 and 57 decorated for Chinese New Year, 2018
    • Archived December 2017 What's New.
  • 01-February-2018
    • Picture of the Month: Back in 2009, San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey contacted me. He was setting up a page on the Sheriff's Department website with an image of each sheriff who had served since the department was founded in 1850. One man he couldn't find was Henry L Davis, who served as sheriff from 1864-1867. I found not one but two woodcuts in digitized issues of the San Francisco Call. Henry L Davis was one of Andrew Smith Hallidie's partners in the Clay Street Hill Railroad. (Source: San Francisco Call, 26-April-1895).
    • On the Clay Street Hill Railroad page: A ten and twenty year update on Andrew S Hallidie's Clay Street Hill Railroad, the first successful cable car line. Includes images of two of Hallidie's principal investors and the man who built the powerhouse.
    • On the Who page: New articles about Andrew S Hallidie's partners Joseph Britton, Henry L Davis and James Moffitt. I'm still looking for an image of James Moffitt. Also a new article about William Sinon, who was one of the incorporators of the Clay Street Hill line and built the powerhouse.
    • On the California Street Cable Railroad page: We have learned the fate of one of the Cal Cable cars which used to run at Knott's Berry Farm
    • On the Chronology page: Several accidents from the 1950s to the early 1990s
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man issues a schedule for its 142nd season. Also News item.
    • Also on the Horse Car Home Page: Thanks to Robert Mann, author of The Streetcars of Florida's First Coast, a new list of Horse Car Lines in Florida.
    • Added News item about the Western Neighborhood Project's Open House at its new home on Balboa Street.
    • Archived November 2017 What's New.
  • 01-January-2018
    • Picture of the Month: An image from the 16-March-1902 San Francisco Call shows the scene of the accident at Jones and Ellis Streets. On the left is the platform of the single-truck Jones Street shuttle cable car. On the right is a larger electic car, presumably 563. The kid staring at the camera is creepy.
    • On the California Street Cable Railroad page: "FOUR PERSONS ARE SEVERELY INJURED IN DOUBLE COLLISION AND CARS OF ELLIS AND JONES STREET ARE DAMAGED", a 1902 San Francisco Call article about a collision between a Jones Street shuttle cable car and an Ellis Street electric car Also a ten and twenty year update on the California Street Cable Railroad, San Francisco's last private operator of public transit.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cars 57 decorated for Christmas, 2017
    • Added News item about a threat to reduce the hours of service for the California Street line.
    • Added News and Chronology items about cable cars pausing to mark the death of Mayor Ed Lee
    • Archived October 2017 What's New, 2017 Anniversaries, and July-December 2016 News items.

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  • 01-December-2017
    • Picture of the Month: The cover of San Francisco's Transportation Octopus, the Market Street Railway of 1893, a new book by Emiliano Echeverria, Michael Dolgushkin and Walter Rice
    • On the Market Street Cable Railway page: A review of San Francisco's Transportation Octopus, the Market Street Railway of 1893, a new book by Emiliano Echeverria, Michael Dolgushkin and Walter Rice. Also a ten and twenty year update on San Francisco's Market Street Cable Railway.
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page. On the Christmas on the Cables page, I added some cable car Christmas ornaments
    • On the Who page: Updated the article on Walter Rice, remembering him on the tenth anniversary of his passing. He made more contributions to this website and my education than I can list.
    • Added News and Chronology items about Powell Street car 22 returning to service after eight years
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: A new article about the Loop Trolley, which is being tested.
    • Archived September 2016 What's New
  • 01-November-2017
    • Picture of the Month: "PICKETERS dressed as a Gay Nineties dancer, fashion model, 'beatnik' and flapper board cable car to tell San Franciscans of McLendon's new good music station, KABL." (source: Sponsor, 20-June-1959).
    • On the Old-Time Radio Shows Which Feature Cable Cars page: New items about San Francisco Bay Area Radio Stations and The Owl Drug Company's jingle. Also an advertisement for station KNBC (was KPO, now KNBR) on San Francisco Radio City.
    • Added News and Chronology items about a decline in ridership blamed on the $7 fare
    • Archived August 2017 What's New
  • 01-October-2017
    • Picture of the Month: A promo for the California Historical Radio Society's production of "The Cable Car Murder"
    • On the Old-Time Radio Shows Which Feature Cable Cars page: The California Historical Radio Society performed "The Cable Car Murder," an episode of Candy Matson, live onstage. Celeste Perry played Candy Matson.
    • On the California Street page: Added an 1895 newspaper article about a lawsuit concerning John Hammond's patent D21,042, for the design of the California-type car.
    • Added News and Chronology items about new uniforms for Muni operators and a Cal Cable shutdown
    • Archived July 2017 What's New
  • 01-September-2017
    • Picture of the Month: Susan Beltrand and Patrick Gregory get married on a cable car at Hyde and Beach
    • On the San Francisco page: "Cable Car Wedding," a 1961 magazine item
    • On the Who page: Added gripman Albert E Ward, winner of the 1957, 1958 and 1959 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contests and the guy in the 1962 Rice-A-Roni commercial
    • Added news item about San Francisco's Transportation Octopus, the Market Street Railway of 1893, a new book by Emiliano Echeverria, Michael Dolgushkin and Walter Rice
    • On the Other California Cities page: Thank you to Bob Davis for the story of what happened to the Second Street Cable Railway powerhouse after the cable line ceased operations in late 1889.
    • Added news item about a planned cable car shutdown.
    • Archived June 2017 What's New
  • 01-August-2017
    • Picture of the Month: Edward J Lawless and his mustache.
    • On the Kansas City page: Personal Reminiscences of Early Cable Street Railway Work in Kansas City, MO by EJ Lawless, Street Railway Journal, October 15, 1900
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, fixed obsolete video embedding code for the 2013 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest.
    • Added news item about revisions to the California Street inner terminal
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Muni's 2017 Heritage Weekend
    • Archived May 2017 What's New
  • 13-July-2017
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added results for the 54th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest.
  • 01-July-2017
    • Picture of the Month: A detail view of the shallow conduit Terry Grip, from a Continental Cable Company ad. (source: Street Railway Journal Supplement, January, 1890).
    • On the Kansas City page: A ten year update on the Union Cable Railway, which used an unsuccessful shallow conduit system and operated for one day
    • On the Miscellany page: Added images of the Terry grip to the article about Non-Grip and Shallow Conduit Systems
    • On the the Why page: Added "Picture of the Month -- Twenty Years" -- some interesting statistics and stories about the Picture of the Month, which started in July, 1997
    • Changed Ten Years Ago to Ten and Twenty Years Ago section
    • Added news items about work on Angels Flight
    • Archived April 2017 What's New and January-June 2016 news items.
  • 01-June-2017
    • Picture of the Month: Kim Wahler found the dash from a California Street Cable Railroad O'Farrell, Jones and Hyde cable car in a field north of San Francisco. Thank you to Kim for letting me use the photo.
    • On the Kansas City page: A ten year update on the Peoples' Cable Railway, which ran through a territory which did not generate enough traffic. An ad for bond sales and contemporary newspaper articles.
    • On the Cal Cable page: The cable car dash discovered by Kim Wahler
    • On the UK page: Added the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway to the Cliff Lifts article.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about CT Nash, a cable expert, William B Knight, an engineer, and John Walker, who came up with the idea of differential rings for the cable drivers. Also, the article which was the source for these biographies that I have been adding: "Origin and Development of Cable Railways"
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: Added an 1889 advertisement for bonds issued by the Cleveland City Cable Railway
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: An 1889 ad for bonds issued by the Peoples' Railway
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: A service suspension on the Isle of Man Horse Tramway.
    • Added news items about operations on the Isle of Man Horse Tramway being suspended and then resumed, an idiotic political commercial featuring a cable car, and a skateboard designed to run on tracks.
    • Archived March 2017 What's New
  • 01-May-2017
    • Picture of the Month: "Elevated Railway, Kansas City." A steam dummy locomotive pulls a two-car train into a station. (source: "Electricty in the Far West III -- Kansas City," Electricity, Vol III, No 16. November 2, 1892).
    • On the Kansas City page: A ten year update on the unique Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit, which operated a combined system with a steam dummy line and two cable traction lines. More images and "Electricty in the Far West III -- Kansas City," (Electricity, Vol III, No 16. November 2, 1892).
    • On the San Francisco page: Thanks to Robert Bailey, we now know the answer to Is It "Mahoney" or "Mahony?". Walter Rice let me publish the essay in 2004.
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Dexter Wong, I added Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Salvator (Salvador?) Potis, Jr, who was born in Venezuela and served as mechanical engineer on the West Chicago Street Railway.
    • Added news items about a massive power outage and two conductors pocketing fares
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: I just learned about an operating horse tram and a museum dedicated to horse tramways in Döbeln, Germany.
    • Archived February 2017 What's New
  • 01-April-2017
    • Picture of the Month: A San Francisco 49ers 2016 program celebrates the teams' 70th anniversary with a throwback image. This was for an exhibition game against the Denver Broncos.
    • On the Kitsch page: a 1963 Giants yearbook; 49ers program covers; a Pandora charm; a Starbucks gift card;
    • Added news item, banner and a review plugging Strephon Taylor's excellent documentary video San Francisco Cable Cars
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: The Isle of Man Horse Tramway will play an important part in the opening of the 2017 CAMRA Isle of Man Beer and Cider Festival. Also News item.
    • Added news items about an elderly man who died after being hit by a cable car and a cable car - electric auto collision
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to rear three-quarter view of toy cable car 504, with free-standing figures.
    • Archived January 2017 What's New.
  • 01-March-2017
    • Picture of the Month: The north end loop of the Grand Avenue Railway, showing the congested conditions in that area. (source: Street Railways: Their Construction, Operation and Maintenance by CB Fairchild).
    • On the Kansas City page: A ten year update on the Grand Avenue Railway. More images and contemporary newspaper articles.
    • On the Who page: Added the promoters of the Grand Avenue Railway, Walton H Holmes and Conway F Holmes.
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man issues a schedule for its 141st season. Also News item.
    • Added news item about new cable car documentary
    • Added news item about new airline service advertised with image of cable car
    • Archived December 2016 What's New
  • 01-February-2017
    • Picture of the Month: "Cable train on Twelfth Street line" of the Metropolitan Street Railway of Kansas City. (source: The Street Railway Situation in the Two Kansas Cities, Street Railway Journal, October, 1900).
    • On the Kansas City page: A ten year update on the Metropolitan Street Railway. More images and contemporary newspaper articles.
    • Also on the Kansas City page: The Street Railway Situation in the Two Kansas Cities, an article from the Street Railway Journal, October, 1900 which surveys Kansas City transit during the tranisition from cable to electric traction
    • On the UK page: Added Folkestone's Leas Cliff Lift to the Cliff Lifts article. The lift shut down in January, after operating since 1885. It was older than San Francisco's Powell Street cable car lines. Added News story about the shutdown.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about George W McNulty, who was chief engineer on the Broadway cable system.
    • Archived November 2016 What's New
  • 01-January-2017
    • Picture of the Month: "Looking east on 9th from the Junction." I like the cop in the lower right-hand column. (source: Kansas City Public Library Special Collections. Barcode: 10007292. All rights reserved).
    • On the Kansas City page: A ten year update on the Kansas City Cable Railway. More images and contemporary newspaper articles. Articles include accidents on the incline and the runaway cable train which nearly hit President Grover Cleveland and the First Lady.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cars 1 and 52 decorated for Christmas, 2016
    • On the Who page: Added an obituary from the Kansas City Journal. about cable traction engineer Robert Gillham
    • Archived October 2016 What's New, 2016 Anniversaries, and July-December 2015 News items.

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  • 01-December-2016
    • Picture of the Month: Santa, surrounded by Muni vehicles, wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. (source: Trolley Topics, December, 1947)
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page. On the Christmas on the Cable page, I added a new image to Christmas on the Cables, a cartoon from a Muni employee publication.
    • Added News item about the plans of the Dunedin Heritage Light Rail Trust to recreate the Mornington cable tramway.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal to the article about Henry Root, who designed the California Street Cable Railroad and the Market Street Cable Railway. His side grip was used by many companies in the industry.
    • On the Why page: An update to "It Was 20 Years Ago Today," about the number of cable car lines that this site has outlived.
    • Added News item about the 50th Annual Cable Car Classic basketball tournament.
    • Archived September 2016 What's New
  • 01-November-2016
    • Picture of the Month: Car 20 at Powell and Market Streets. July, 2016.
    • The Twentieth Anniversary of The Cable Car Home Page - November, 1996 - November, 2016
    • On the Why page: "It Was 20 Years Ago Today," a new article about where I have been and where I am going with the site.
    • On the Old-Time Radio Shows Which Feature Cable Cars: I added the 10-May-1953 episode of The Jack Benny Show, recorded in San Francisco.
    • On the Pennsylvania page: An ad for Halloween on the Hill at the Johnstown Inclined Plane
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about William B Upton, who designed and built cable car lines across the United States
    • Archived August 2016 What's New.
  • 01-October-2016
    • Picture of the Month: "A Horse on Minneapolis." Saint Paul had cable cars and its twin city, Minneapolis, did not. The expression comes from dice games. (Source: Saint Paul Globe / 07-July-1889.)
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article about the St Paul City Railway. This will be my last new article about a Hallidie-type cable car line until I discover one I missed or the people in Dunedin open a new one.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: Thank to Peter Ehrlich, photos of the surviving power houses of Cincinnati's Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway and the Mount Auburn Cable Railway. Also a small item about the Cincinnati Bell Connector, a new streetcar line.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Muni's 2016 Heritage Weekend
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Asa E Hovey, who designed and built the Sutter Street Railway in San Francisco and the State Street cable line, the first in the US outside of San Francisco, in Chicago
    • Added News item about a new book
    • Archived July 2016 What's New.
  • 01-September-2016
    • Picture of the Month: A Valley City Street and Cable Railway cable train on Lyon Street. (© Grand Rapids Public Library. All Rights Reserved. )
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article about Valley City Street and Cable Railway in Grand Rapids, Michigan
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about William Eppelsheimer, who designed the grip currently used by San Francisco cable cars
    • Added News items about Cal Cable 42 visiting Hyde and Beach and POMA 2000 being abandoned
    • Archived June 2016 What's New.
  • 01-August-2016
    • Picture of the Month: A Sioux City Cable Railway grip car and two trailer train poses in front of the powerhouse. (Source: "Editorial Correspondence," The Street Railway Journal April, 1888.)
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article about Sioux City Cable Railway
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about William Phenix, who designed and built the Sioux City Cable Railway
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Added two newspaper clippings about Albert E Ward, who won from 1957 through 1959
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: A reprieve through 2018 for the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man. Also News item.
    • Added News item about a new campaign to revive Angels Flight
    • Archived May 2016 What's New.
  • 07-July-2016
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added results for the 53rd Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest.
  • 01-July-2016
    • Picture of the Month: The Denver City Cable Railway Company name still appears above the doorway of the building. Google Maps Streetview Image updated May 2014. Copyright 2016 Google.
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: A new article about the Denver City Cable Railway .
    • Also on the new Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: Moved the article about the Denver Tramway Company from the Other Cities page.
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: Added and advertisement for bonds issued by the Cleveland City Cable Railway
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about HM Kebby, who worked on cable car lines in San Francisco, Saint Louis and Saint Paul
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Added results of the 1959 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest and a photo of Albert E Ward, who won from 1957 through 1959
    • Added News and Chronology items about Powell Street Car 12 returning to service in a new color scheme
    • Archived April 2016 What's New and January-June 2015 news items.
  • 01-June-2016
    • Picture of the Month: Tracks along Elgin Road await the completion of the rest of the extension (Source: Otago Witness, 28-June-1905).
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's short-lived Elgin Road Extension, which operated from 1906 to 1910
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Antonio Marquardt, added screen grabs to I Love a Soldier
    • On the Kansas City page: A new article about the Return of Electric Streetcars to Kansas City
    • Added News and Chronology items items about Powell Street Car 24 being dedicated to Giants great Willie Mays
    • Added News item about an auto driving onto the Powell and Market turntable
    • Archived March 2016 What's New.
  • 01-May-2016
    • Picture of the Month: A Kaikorai cable tram crests a hill. Note the pram hooked to the front dash. (Source: The Kaikorai Cable Tram. Amateur film by William Hood Davidson, 1947. Hocken Collections.)
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Kaikorai Tramway.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a news story that I got interviewed for.
    • On the Cable Trams in the UK: Thanks to Stefan Isaksson for some new information about London's Highgate Hill Cable Tramway, the first Hallidie-type cable tramway in Europe
    • Also on the UK page: Added the three cliff lifts in Bournemouth to the Cliff Lifts article. Added News story about a landslide that affected the East Cliff Lift.
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man issues a schedule for its 140th season. Also News item.
    • Archived February 2016 What's New.
  • 01-April-2016
    • Picture of the Month: An impressionistic Delta Airlines poster.
    • On the Kitsch page: An American Airlines poster; Two Delta Airlines posters; A TWA poster; Three United Airlines posters; a 7x7 Magazine cover; a Hard Rock Cafe pin with a cable car and a golden dragon; a Giants 1995 pin; a Giants 2007 All Star Game pin
    • On the San Francisco page: A new page about 1941 - A Bad Year for Cable Cars, describing the cable car and counterbalance lines that got abandoned or replaced by buses in San Francisco and Seattle.
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: A reprieve for at least one season for the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man. Also News item.
    • Added News item about Amber Jones, who has become the third woman to operate a cable car.
    • Added News item about the sixth annual San Francisco History Expo
    • Archived January 2016 What's New.
  • 01-March-2016
    • Picture of the Month: An 1895 view of Maryhill Tramway car 9 with unusual roof and windows. Photograph by William Henry Jackson. Thanks to Len Foley for pointing out that this was the Maryhill and not the Roslyn line. (Source: World's Transportation Commission Photograph Collection - Library of Congress. CALL NUMBER - LOT 11948, no. 688)
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Maryhill Extension, known as "The Big Dipper."
    • On the Cable Car Models page: A model of a San Diego cable car by Eleanor Catalina Stevens.
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: More about the threat to kill off the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man. Also News item.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a news story that I got interviewed for.
    • Archived December 2015 What's New.
  • 01-February-2016
    • Picture of the Month: The only piece of rolling stock that survived the 1903 fire (Source: Otago Witness, 18-February-1903)
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Mornington Tramway, the last Hallidie-type cable tram line to operate outside of San Francisco. Many newspaper items about the opening of the line and a fire that destroyed all the rolling stock except one trailer.
    • Added News items the passing of conductor Rey Morante and the possible end of horse tram service on the Isle of Man
    • Archived November 2015 What's New.
  • 01-January-2016
    • Picture of the Month: An advertisement announces that Dunedin New Zealand's Roslyn Tramway had started service (Source: Dunedin Evening Star, 24-February-1881)
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: More about Dunedin, New Zealand's Roslyn Tramway, the first Hallidie-type cable tram line outside of San Francisco. Many newspaper items about the building and opening of the line.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Car 49 decorated for Christmas, 2015
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Tony Turrittin, added Kiss Them For Me.
    • Added News items about an auto driving onto the Powell Street turntable, the cable cars being shut down because of heavy rain and the death of Rey Morante
    • Archived October 2015 What's New, 2015 Anniversaries, and July-December 2014 News items.

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  • 01-December-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Cable car 504 decorated as Santa's sleigh. (source: Trolley Topics, December, 1950)
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page. On the Christmas on the Cable page, Iddded a new image to Christmas on the Cables, showing car 504 decorated as Santa's sleigh. On the Decorated Cable Cars page, added Val Lupiz photos of Powell Street Car One decorated for Christmas, 2015. We should all thank Val Lupiz and his family and Friends who decorate cars every year.
    • On the More MSR Photos page: The Fate of the Old Sacramento and Clay St. Cable Car #16 by Stephen Brown
    • Added News item about Muni closing almost two blocks of lower Powell Street to automobile traffic
    • Archived September 2014 What's New
  • 01-November-2015
    • Picture of the Month: A Churchman's Cigarettes card shows a cable-hauled train leaving a tunnel on Brazil's São Paulo Railway.
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article about Brazil's São Paulo Railway, a British-built line that used cable traction to haul freight and passengers up and down the Serra do Mar
    • Archived August 2015 What's New
  • 01-October-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Car 578, built in 1896 for the original Market Street Railway, zips along the Embarcadero during the 2015 Muni Heritage Weekend. People often call it a cable car, so I decided to use it as my Picture of the Month.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Muni's 2015 Heritage Weekend
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page, a new article about the Katoomba Scenic Railway, which purports to be the steepest funicular in the world.
    • Archived July 2015 What's New
  • 01-September-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Car 4 of Lisbon's Camões-Estrela line was built by the German Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. I wonder if it on a transfer table. Photo courtesy of Maschinenfabrik Esslingen.
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article about street-running funiculars in Lisbon, Portugal , with several photos of the Elevador do Lavra
    • On the Municipal Railway page: The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency announces measures to improve the safety of cable car crews
    • Archived June 2015 What's New
  • 01-August-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Car 4 of Lisbon's Camões-Estrela line was built by the German Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. I wonder if it on a transfer table. Photo courtesy of Maschinenfabrik Esslingen.
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article on the Nova Companhia dos Ascensores Mecânicos de Lisboa, which operated two Hallidie-type cable car lines in Lisbon
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added photos and videos of the 52nd Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Added News and information about Muni fare changes
    • Archived May 2015 What's New
  • 09-July-2015
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added results for the 52nd Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
  • 01-July-2015
    • Picture of the Month: At the 2013 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest, Emcee Deb Durst interviews grand champion Carl Payne. The 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1989 champion gave an exhibition performance. The 2015 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest will take place on Thursday, July 9 at Noon in Union Square
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The freight-hauling Western Cable Railway, which was not a Hallidie-type cable car line
    • Archived April 2015 What's New and January-June 2014 news items.
  • 01-June-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Fig. 18. -- Grip and Open Trail Car -- National Railway Co. (Source: "The Street Railway System of Saint Louis", The Street Railway Journal, June, 1895.)
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The St Louis Railroad, which operated the Broadway line. Also a magazine article: "The Street Railway System of Saint Louis", The Street Railway Journal, June, 1895.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Captain Robert McCulloch, a street railway executive in Saint Louis
    • Archived March 2015 What's New
  • 01-May-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Fig. 27. -- Cable Train -- People's Railroad Co. (Source: "The Street Railway System of Saint Louis", The Street Railway Journal, June, 1895.)
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The Peoples' Railway
    • Added News item about a terrible accident which seriously injured a cable car conductor
    • Archived February 2015 What's New
  • 01-April-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Fillmore Hill Counterbalance cars coupled together to run in Multiple Unit for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. (Source: "Two-Car Trains on 25 Per Cent Grade," Electric Railway Journal, 22-May-1915.)
    • On the San Francisco page: The Fillmore Hill Counterbalance and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition
    • On the Kitsch page: A Melbourne stamp; a new toy cable car 504; a bottle of fingernail polish; a refrigerator magnet; a Starbucks mug; a Cal Tjader album cover; a Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete album cover with a photo of California Street Cable Railroad car 10 at the San Francisco Zoo;
    • On the Market Street Cable Railway page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, a circa-1885 Market Street Cable Railway advertisement
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to rear three-quarter view of toy cable car 504, with free-standing figures.
    • Archived January 2015 What's New.
  • 01-March-2015
    • Picture of the Month: A typical three-car train of the Missouri Railroad. The open grip car is on the left. It is towing two enclosed trailers. (Source: "The Street Railway System of Saint Louis", The Street Railway Journal, June, 1895.)
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The Missouri Railroad
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the UK page: A postcard showing the Isle of Man's Upper Douglas Cable Tramway
    • On the San Francisco page: Thanks to Ken Malucelli, photos and his memories of living in a Carville house.
    • Added News item about a visit by President Barack Obama and its effect on the cable cars
    • Added News item about the fifth annual San Francisco History Expo
    • Archived December 2014 What's New
  • 01-February-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Jacob Volk's bottom grip, used on the Citizens Railway in Saint Louis. (Source: "The Volk Cable Grip and Carriage and Other Appliances", The Street Railway Journal, December, 1889.)
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The Citizens Railway
    • Archived November 2014 What's New
  • 01-January-2015
    • Picture of the Month: Decorated car 10 inbound at Powell and Geary. A shopman leans out to check the tracks and slot. The decorations are sponsored by the skating rink in Union Square. lays over on California between Davis and Drumm during the 2014 Muni Heritage Weekend.
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The Saint Louis Cable and Western Railway, the first Hallidie-type cable car line in Saint Louis, was part of a unique mixed-mode system which combined a cable car line with a narrow gauge steam railroad
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Photos of cable cars decorated for Christmas 2014. Thanks to Val Lupiz, we have photos of car 52, which he and his family and Friends decorated. We should all thank Val and his family and Friends who decorate cars every year.
    • On the Who page: A new item about RT Murphy, who contributed much valuable information to this site.
    • Added News item about the effects of a big rainstorm in December
    • Archived October 2014 What's New, 2014 Anniversaries, and July-December 2013 News items.

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  • 01-December-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Unique original-condition California Street Cable Railroad O'Farrell-Jones-Hyde car 42 lays over on California between Davis and Drumm during the 2014 Muni Heritage Weekend.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Muni's 2014 Heritage Weekend and Muni's 2013 Heritage Weekend, which I forgot to post last year
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page. We should all thank Val and his family and Friends who decorate cars every year.
    • On the San Francisco page: A new article about Sky Tram, San Francisco's only overhead cable car
    • Archived September 2014 What's New
  • 01-November-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Catcher Buster Posey and closer Santiago Casilla pass the old Main Library, now the Asian Art Museum, on their double deck motorized cable car during the Giants' 2014 World Series victory parade
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: the the 2014 Giants Victory Parade.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: A new article about the New York Cable Railway, which was a name shared by a company that tried to create a comprehensive system in Manhattan and a another that built cable traction systems in other cities
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about EJ Lawless , who worked on cable car lines in San Francisco and Kansas City and who was the propritor of a marvelous mustache
    • On the More California Street Pictures page: Some new Cal Cable photos around California and Drumm
    • Archived August 2014 What's New
  • 01-October-2014
    • Picture of the Month: A cable train in Omaha, Nebraska. (Source: "Cable Railways in Omaha," Omaha Daily Bee / Sunday, February 21, 1909.)
    • On the Other Cities page: A new article on the Cable Tramway Company of Omaha, including a series of 1909 newspaper ads giving the history of public transit in Omaha
    • On the Chicago page: Clay Street Hill Car 8 was part of the Saint Louis Car Company exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis.
    • On the Miscellany page: A new article: Excerpts from Directory of Street Railways in the United States and Canada, 1888.
    • Added News items about a Cal Cable shutdown on 26-September-2014 and a Hyde Street shutdown
    • Archived July 2014 What's New
  • 01-September-2014
    • Picture of the Month: New Orleans Canal Street streetcar 2018 outbound at Royal Street in July, 2014.
    • On the Miscellany page: General Beauregard's Cable Car, a new article about an experimental line in New Orleans. Includes lots of photos of streetcars and other items of interest from my recent visit to the Crescent City
    • On the Who page and the News: The passing of economist and cable car historian George W Hilton
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: We visited History Park at Kelley Park in San Jose and saw Central Railroad 7, an 1863 San Francisco horse car built in New York by John Stephenson and shipped around the Horn.
    • Archived June 2014 What's New
  • 01-August-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Columbia Railway grip car (source: "Completion of the Cable System of the Columbia Railway, Washington, D. C.", Street Railway Journal, April, 1895.)
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: Washington DC's Columbia Railway, the last new cable car system built in the United States
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Fred W Wood, who was president of the Temple Street Cable Railway of Los Angeles
    • Archived May 2014 What's New
  • 01-July-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Cable Train on Pennsylvania Avenue, passing the White House (source: "The Washington & Georgetown Railroad Co.'s System Completed", Street Railway Journal, September, 1892.)
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: The Washington and Georgetown Railroad
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Clift Wise, who helped build many of the lines of the Kansas City Cable Railway. Be sure to check his moustache.
    • Also on the Who page: Added an ad for Edmund Saxton, a contractor built the tracks and conduits for many lines in Kansas City, Washington DC, Baltimore and Tacoma also a profile of cable railway engineer Daniel Bontecou
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: Thanks to Yosef Sa'ar, more Horse Car Transit Tokens
    • On the UK page: A contemporary photo of a former depot (car barn) for London's Brixton Cable Tramway
    • Added News item about a Muni sickout that shut down the cable cars
    • Archived April 2014 What's New and January-June 2013 news items.
  • 01-June-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Cal Cable Car 60 laying over between Davis and Drumm in May, 2014
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: The Baltimore City Passenger Railway
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about AN Connett, who helped build the Druid Hill Avenue line of the Baltimore Traction Company and who served as chief engineer of the Baltimore City Passenger Railway. Be sure to check his moustache.
    • Also on the Who page: Added Augustine W Wright, who designed the Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: Thanks to Yosef Sa'ar, a new section on Horse Car Transit Tokens
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, cable cars in the 2014 San Francisco Carnaval Parade.
    • On the More California Street Pictures page: A photo of Cal Cable car 60 at California and Drumm
    • On the Other California Cities page: A funny story from the Street Railway Journal about a Texas man's first ride on a Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway cable car
    • Updated News item about California Street Cable Railroad car 11 up for auction
    • Added News item about the reopening of the Wells Fargo History Museum and a model of a Clay Street Hill Railroad cable car
    • Archived March 2014 What's New.
  • 01-May-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Baltimore Traction Company Car 8. (source: Street Railways: Their Construction, Operation and Maintenance by CB Fairchild).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: The Baltimore Traction Company. Cable traction did not arrive in Baltimore until 1891, after all other US cities except Tacoma.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about JCH Stut, who worked on most of the San Francisco lines
    • Added News item about California Street Cable Railroad car 11 up for auction
    • Archived February 2014 What's New.
  • 01-April-2014
    • Picture of the Month: Jonathan Milne made this beautiful model of a Melbourne cable tram
    • On the Cable Car Models page: Models of Melbourne cable trams by Jonathan Milne.
    • On the Kitsch page: A die cut postcard; another Disney Vinylmation figure; an elongated penny; a Peninsula Coin Club medal; a Buddy Guy album cover ; a Giants pin ; another menu from the California Zephyr's Cable Car Room ;
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about DJ Miller, who invented the duplicate cable system used by Manhattan's Third Avenue Railroad and the Kansas City Cable Railway
    • Added News item about the fourth annual San Francisco History Expo
    • On the Cable Car Businesses page, the closing of Joe's Cable Car Restaurant. Also a News item.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page, the 2014 Saint Patrick's Day Parade.
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to detail view of the cabin of 514.
    • Archived January 2014 What's New.
  • 01-March-2014
    • Picture of the Month: The Pittsburgh Traction Company's double reverse curve on Soho Hill. (Source: "Pittsburgh and Allegheny," The Street Railway Journal, October, 1891.)
    • On the Pennsylvania page: Excerpts from "Pittsburgh and Allegheny," an article from the October, 1891 Street Railway Journal about street railways in the two cities
    • Also on the Pennsylvania page: A new article about the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the first railroad to cross the Alleghenys, using inclined planes.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about MK Bowen, who worked on the Kansas City Cable Railway and the Chicago City Railway
    • Added News items about the Chinese New Year Parade and proposed fare gouging on the F line
    • Archived December 2013 What's New.
  • 01-February-2014
    • Picture of the Month: A postcard view of the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway. "Mount Jefferson plane."
    • On the Pennsylvania page: A new article about the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, one of America's oldest railroads and one of the inspirations for the roller coaster. Includes information about other gravity rail operations.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Howard C Holmes, who worked on the Powell Street lines in San Francisco, and lines in Oakland, Spokane, and Seattle
    • On the Cable Car Businesses page, an announcement of the closing of Joe's Cable Car Restaurant. Also a News item.
    • Added News item about cable cars being pulled from the streets because of a 49ers championship game
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: Celebrating the Year of the Horse Speedy
    • Added Other Transit and Railway Sites link to American Railroad History by Margarita Hakobyan.
    • Archived November 2013 What's New.
  • 01-January-2014
    • Picture of the Month: A postcard view of the steep Johnstown Inclined Plane.
    • On the Pennsylvania page: A new article about the Johnstown Inclined Plane
    • On the Who page: Added an obituary for incline engineer Samuel Diescher. Also added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Winthrop Bartlett, who worked on several of the cable car lines in Saint Louis
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page, a photo of Cal Cable 52 decorated for Christmas 2013.
    • Archived October 2013 What's New, 2013 Anniversaries, and July-December 2012 News items.

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  • 01-December-2013
    • Picture of the Month: Pittsburgh's Monongahela inclines.
    • On the Pennsylvania page: The Pittsburgh Inclines, Pittsburgh's still-functioning funiculars, including The Inclined Planes, an 1891 article from the Street Railway Journal
    • Thanks to Keith Anderson, on the Cable Car Lines in the UK page, new photos of the Glasgow District Subway's Scotland Street powerhouse and a new exhibit at the Glasgow Riverside Museum. Keith is writing a book and is looking for photos of stations taken before 1950. Thanks to John Dabrowski for some memories of the subway.
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about James W Harris, who worked for the California Street Cable Railroad for more than 60 years
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page. Thanks to Val Lupiz, we have photos of car 25 decorated for Christmas 2013.
    • Added News item about a visit by President Obama to the Chinatown Rec Center and its affect on the cable cars
    • Archived September 2013 What's New
  • 01-November-2013
    • Picture of the Month: Two cars of Pittsburgh's Central Traction Company ran into a political parade. (Source: "Marching Men Cut to Pieces by Cable Cars," The Pittsburg Dispatch, 16-October-1892.)
    • On the Pennsylvania page: The Central Traction Company, Pittsburgh's third Hallidie-type cable car line, including newspaper articles about a terrible accident in 1892
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about cable traction pioneer Andrew S Hallidie.
    • Also on the Who page: Added a photo of a marker on the Ferry building to the article on Howard C Holmes.
    • On the More California Street Pictures page: Several photos I took in May and June, 2007
    • Added News items about the Cable Car Chorus and a mysterious package in Union Square that caused a Powell Street cable car shutdown
    • Archived August 2013 What's New
  • 01-October-2013
    • Picture of the Month: The interior of the Citizens Traction Company's new carhouse at Penn and Franklin Avenues. (Source: The Street Railway Journal, April, 1894. Volume XI, Number 4.)
    • On the Pennsylvania page: The Citizens Traction Company, Pittsburgh's second Hallidie-type cable car line, including a nice Street Railway Journal article about "A Modern Car House"
    • Added News item about the a derailment on Angels Flight in Los Angeles
    • Archived July 2013 What's New
  • 01-September-2013
    • Picture of the Month: A cartoon from the 01-January-1889 Pittsburg Dispatch shows the new and the old of Pittsburg. "Cable cars to all parts of the city" is part of the new. Pittsburgh tried to drop the "h" for a time in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
    • On the Pennsylvania page: The Pittsburgh Traction Company, Pittsburgh's first Hallidie-type cable car line
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about prolific cable traction engineer Andrew D Whitton. Also Henry Casebolt's profile
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: A 1927 Photoplay photo from Harold Lloyd's movie Speedy
    • Added News item about Cal Cable tracks and conduit dug up near Scott Street
    • Archived June 2013 What's New
  • 01-August-2013
    • Picture of the Month: A diagram giving details of J. P. F. Kuhlmann's counterbalance system, used to move electric streetcars up and down hills in Seattle and Portland. (Source: "Kuhlmann's Counterbalance System of Operating Electric Cars on Steep Grades", Electrical Engineer, July 19, 1893.).
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More about Seattle and Portland Counterbalances, including selected articles from The Street Railway Journal.
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added more about the 50th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Added screen captures from Buster Keaton's "Daydreams", with Powell/Mason cable cars and one electric streetcar.
    • Archived May 2013 What's New
  • 11-July-2013
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added results for the 50th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
  • 01-July-2013
    • Picture of the Month: A neon cable car shines in the window of Joe's Cable Car Restaurant, near Mission and Silver
    • On the Cable Car Businesses page, a visit to Joe's Cable Car Restaurant (no relation)
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: Screen captures from "The Bell Boy", a 1917 short comedy with Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St John and a horse car
    • Also on the Horse Car Home Page: A new book about horse cars at Walt Disney World
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added potential date for the 50th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest and the name of the winner of the 1971 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Archived April 2013 What's New and January-June 2012 news items
  • 01-June-2013
    • Picture of the Month: In an editorial cartoon from the 04-June-1913 San Francisco Call, Mr Public apparently operates a Sutter Street electric car to the Ferry and bids G-o-o-d Night to the horse car as it makes its way to the junk pile
    • On the Horse Car Home Page: 03-June-2013 is the 100th anniversary of the last schedule horse car to run in San Francisco. Includes a contemporary newspaper article, with illustrations, on the event
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More about the Butte City Street Railroad, including selected articles from The Street Railway Journal.
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Tony Turrittin, added I Remember Mama. Also added a poster and a photo of Paulette Goddard and Sonny Tufts on a cable car to I Love a Soldier
    • Added News items about Secret San Francisco, a film show that included many cable car views, an article about cable cars being dangerous, and the revised SFMTA website, which includes a page on How to Ride Cable Cars
    • Archived March 2013 What's New
  • 01-May-2013
    • Picture of the Month: Cable car crewmen hold trays with the rings as a motorized cable car rolls down the third base line
    • On the Motorized Cable Cars page: The San Francisco Giants' 2012 World Series Ring Ceremony.
    • On the Cal Cable page: Transit historian Ray Long shares his memories of more than 60 years of Cal Cable
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More about the Spokane Cable Railway, including selected articles from The Street Railway Journal.
    • Added News and Bibliography items abo ut cable cars taking funding away from other transporation
    • Archived February 2013 What's New
  • 01-April-2013
    • Picture of the Month: A pin which commemorates the San Francisco Giants' defeat of the Detroit Tigers in the 2012 World Series.
    • On the Kitsch page: A Powell Street centennial commemorative coin; a 2012 World Series commemorative pin; a pin for the Giants 1987 National League West championship; a tin cable car with its original box; a 1957 cachet with a State Street Chicago cable car; a 2011 stamp from Malaysia showing the Penang Hills Funicular Railway a program from the 1967 Cable Car Classic basketball tournament; a Christmas ornament with Woodstock sitting on a cable car; a 2009 Hard Rock Cafe pin; a new section for San Francisco Giants Cable Car Items
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to Number 514.
    • Added News item about water main break that affected cable service
    • Added News item about the third annual San Francisco History Expo
    • Archived January 2013 What's New
  • 01-March-2013
    • Picture of the Month: Looking up the Eleventh Street hill in Tacoma as a cable car climbs the hill. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More pictures and information about the Tacoma Railway and Motor Company, including selected articles from The Street Railway Journal.
    • Added The Sprague Electric Railway System to Selected Articles from Manufacturer and Builder
    • Added News item about an accident on Powell Street and updated news item about the work at California and Drumm
    • Archived December 2012 What's New
  • 01-February-2013
    • Picture of the Month: Looking up Portland's great trestle from the powerhouse. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More pictures and information about the Portland Cable Railway, including selected articles from The Street Railway Journal.
    • More about the 100th birthday of the San Francisco Municipal Railway
    • On the Cable Car Models page, a paper model of a California Street cable car by Wurlington Bros. Also a News item
    • On the San Francisco page: Added a photo I took of Greenwich Street, the route of the Telegraph Hill Railroad
    • Added News item about the cable-driven automated people mover being built to connect BART and the Oakland Airport and work going on around the inner terminal of the California Street cable line
    • Added San Francisco and California History Sites link to ThinkWalks
    • Archived November 2012 What's New
  • 01-January-2013
    • Picture of the Month: Looking up Seattle's Madison Street Hill. A Front Street Cable Railway car crosses on First Street. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.
    • More about the 100th birthday of the San Francisco Municipal Railway
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page: More pictures and information about Seattle cable cars, including selected articles from The Street Railway Journal.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: More cable cars decorated for Christmas 2012.
    • Added News item about a new book from the Friends of the Cable Car Museum
    • Archived October 2012 What's New, 2012 Anniversaries, and July-December 2011 News items.

    ---

  • 01-December-2012
    • Picture of the Month: The opening day of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Source: San Francisco Call, 29-December-1912).
    • Rolled out a new article on the 100th birthday of the San Francisco Municipal Railway
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: A new article about the Orange Mountain Cable Railway, a funicular with a unique style of car
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable cars decorated for Christmas 2012, and a photo of a sign from the The 2012 Giants Victory Parade.
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • Added News item about the dedication of refurbished Powell Street car 26
    • Archived September 2012 What's New
  • 01-November-2012
    • Picture of the Month: A John Stephenson Company cable car built for Manhattan's Metropolitan Street Railroad (Source: "Notes on the Broadway, New York, Cable Railway", The Street Railway Journal, July, 1893).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the Metropolitan Street Railway, including selected articles from the Street Railway Journal
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: The 2012 Giants Victory Parade.
    • On the Other California Cities page: A new article about animated cable car murals at Disney California Adventure. See California Street cars on North Point and Haight Street. Psychedelic.
    • Added News item about the upcoming dedication of refurbished Powell Street car 26
    • Archived August 2012 What's New
  • 01-October-2012
    • Picture of the Month: The first cable car to run on Manhattan's Third Avenue Railway. (Source: "Starting the Cable Cars on Third Avenue, New York", The Street Railway Journal, January, 1894).
    • Added results and videos of the 49th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the Third Avenue Railway, including selected articles from the Street Railway Journal
    • On the How Do Cable Cars Work page: An ask.com billboard that asks "How Do Cable Cars Work?" Try that query on ask.com and you'll find this site on the first page of results
    • Archived July 2012 What's New
  • 01-September-2012
    • Picture of the Month: A view of the Brooklyn Terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge Railway from the February, 1897 Street Railway Journal: "The Bridge Transportation System Between New York and Brooklyn".
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable-driven rapid transit line, including a detailed article in the February, 1897 Street Railway Journal: "The Bridge Transportation System Between New York and Brooklyn".
    • On the Cable Car Businesses page and the News, an item and photo about Cable Car Clothiers moving back to Sutter Street
    • On the More Muni Photos page: screencaps from a webcam back in 2002. Powell/Mason cable cars, motorized cable cars, Milan cars, Melbourne 496 and a glimpse of PCC 1054 (Philly Cream Cheese) before it was wrecked in 2003
    • Archived June 2012 What's New
  • 01-August-2012
    • Picture of the Month: Great Orme Tramway cars 4 and 5 in the passing loop on the lower section of the line. (Source: "The Great Orme Tramway: The Cable Car of Wales" by Walter Rice Ph.D. Photo by Walter Rice. All rights reserved.)
    • On the UK page: More about the Great Orme Tramway, a unique street-running funicular in Llandudno Wales
    • Archived May 2012 What's New
  • 01-July-2012
    • Picture of the Month: Proposal for a cable-driven elevated railway. (Source: Exposé of the Facts Concerning the Proposed Elevated Patent Railway. 1866.).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, including an image from an 1867 proposal and an 1869 newspaper article with technical details and lists of investors and company officers:
      - The Elevated Railway; Successful Trial Trips of the West Side Railroad in Greenwich-Street (New York Times, Tuesday, September 7, 1869)
    • Added date for the 2012 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Archived April 2012 What's New and January-June 2011 news items
  • 01-June-2012
    • Picture of the Month: Brooklyn Heights Railroad Montague Street cable cars at the Wall Street Ferry terminal, from the 18-July-1897 New York Tribune
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the Brooklyn Heights Railroad, including items from the Street Railway Journal
    • On the Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: Added two Street Railway Journal items about Cleveland's Brooklyn Street Railroad/South Side Railway, both owned by Tom L Johnson, one of which had an experimental cable installation using the Johnson Ladder Cable System
    • On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal and an obituary from Railway Age and Northwestern Railroader about cable traction engineer Robert Gillham
    • Archived March 2012 What's New
  • 01-May-2012
    • Picture of the Month: Milton Wheaton's patent for his ladder cable system
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the experimental cable car installation of the Brooklyn Cable Company, including items from the Street Railway Journal
    • On the Miscellany page: More updates to my article about Non-Grip and Shallow Conduit Systems, with more about the Tom L Johnson ladder cable system, including Milton Wheaton's patent 192314 and images from Tom L Johson's patent 317,139
    • Archived February 2012 What's New
  • 01-April-2012
    • Picture of the Month: Charles B Fairchild's patent for his twin-cable system.
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the experimental cable car installation on Binghamton's Washington Street & State Asylum Railroad, including items from the Street Railway Journal and Popular Mechanics.
    • On the Miscellany page: More updates to my article about Non-Grip and Shallow Conduit Systems, with more about the Fairchild non-grip system, including Fairchild's Patent 300,236
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: Added a photo of a former Newark PCC now running in San Francisco
    • On the Kitsch page: A pin commemorating the Giants' 2010 World Series victory; a Disney Vinylmation figure; a program from the 1972 Cable Car Classic basketball tournament; a 1984 trade ad for San Francisco's KRON-TV, Channel 4; a cable car centennial coin; a medal issued by the Western Pacific Railroad to mark Powell Street car 524's visit to the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair; a set of non-postal stamps issued for the Pacific 97 World Stamp Exposition
    • On the Horse Car Home Page, added an active horse car line in a park in Japan and a set of stamps with horse cars
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to detail view of Number 512.
    • Added News item and photo about an exhibit featuring a replica of a California Street cable car
    • Archived January 2012 What's New
  • 01-March-2012
    • Picture of the Month: A Rasmussen-equipped car with the endless belt or "chain pump" (Source: "New System of Cable Propulsion for Street Railways" From The American Engineer / Volume 7, Number 4, January 25, 1884).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about the experimental cable car installation on Newark's Essex Passenger Railway and Newark and Irvington Street Railway, including articles from the Street Railway Journal.
    • More about the Chicago West Divsion's, short-lived experimental implementation, on the Chicago page including items from the Street Railway Journal, Western Electrician and Engineering News
    • On the Miscellany page: Updates to my article about Non-Grip and Shallow Conduit Systems, with more about the Rasmussen non-grip system, including Rasmusen's Patent re10,602 and magazine items from The American Railroad Journal, the Engineering News-Record, "New System of Cable Propulsion for Street Railways" from The American Engineer and the Street Railway Journal.
    • Added News item about car 21 being decorated with New York Giants paraphernalia
    • Archived December 2011 What's New
  • 01-February-2012
    • Picture of the Month: Birmingham cable tram 104. Thank you to John Perkin
    • On the UK page: More about the Birmingham Central Tramways Company, thanks to John Perkin. Also an 1887 Street Railway Journal article and an item from an 1890 Baedeker guide
    • Added News item about newly rebuilt car 26
    • Archived November 2011 What's New
  • 01-January-2012
    • Picture of the Month: A stereo view of a car on the cable-operated Hoboken elevated
    • On the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page: More about Hoboken's North Hudson County Railway, including articles from the Street Railway Journal. Also some contemporary newspaper articles about the elevated and the company's Weehawken Viaduct:
      • Hoboken Elevated Trial Trips (New York Sun, Sunday, December 20, 1885)
      • Hoboken Elevated Testing (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Tuesday, January 26, 1886)
      • Hoboken Elevated Suspended (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Monday, February 8, 1886)
      • Hoboken Elevated Runaway (New-York Tribune, Thursday, February 10, 1887)
      • Weehawken Viaduct Removed (New York Tribune, Monday, March 5, 1900)
    • Also on the Decorated Cable Cars page: A list of cars decorated for Christmas 2011. No photos yet.
    • Archived October 2011 What's New, 2011 Anniversaries, and July-December 2010 News items.

    ---

  • 13-December-2011
    • A special installment of Val Lupiz's column Tales From the Grip: "Maybelle the Cable Car", about car 26's new classic Muni paint job.
  • 01-December-2011
    • Picture of the Month: A fly-wheel for Sydney's Ocean Street cable tramway, at the Hudson Brothers' Works in Clyde. I like the dude in the bowler. Source: "Sydney's New Tramway. The Ocean-Street Cable Line.", Australian Town and Country Journal, 11-August-1894.
    • On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page, more about Sydney's New South Wales Government Tramways. Includes two illustrated newspaper articles about the Ocean Street cable tramway's powerhouse and one about the Ultimo electric powerhouse. Two newspaper articles about the beginning of Sydney's two cable tram lines:
      • North Sydney Line Opens (Melbourne Argus, Monday May 24, 1886)
      • Sydney/King Street Line Opens (Adelaide Advertiser, Thursday, September 20, 1894)
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • Archived September 2011 What's New
  • 01-November-2011
    • Picture of the Month: Powell/Hyde car 15
    • Fifteenth Anniversary - November, 1996 - November, 2011
    • Thanks to Bob Murphy, added photos from the Bylands Tram Museum to the Melbourne Tramways & Omnibus Company article. These include grips and trailers, and a unique wagon used to haul reels of cable from the ship to the cable tramway powerhouse. A 1925 ad for the Hoffman Tramway Estate, Brunswick. Also some contemporary newspaper articles about the end of the Melbourne cable trams:
      • First Cable Tram for Museum (Launceston, Tasmania Examiner, February 15, 1939)
      • Melbourne's Last Cable Tram Makes Last Trip (Adelaide, South Australia Mail, October 26, 1940)
      • Last Cable Tram/Final Appearance (Townsville Daily Bulletin, October 29, 1940, 1940)
      • Cable Tram for Museum (Melbourne, Victoria Argus, November 29, 1940)
    • Also thanks to Bob Murphy, added photos of a Sutter Street Railway trailer and a California Street Cable Railroad from Knott's Berry Farm which are now preserved at the Orange Empire Railway Museum
    • Added Bibliography items about a collision at Powell and Grant, a "communications glitch" that stopped service on all three lines, Clipper working on cable cars
    • Added "Fifteen Years and What Do You Get?" to the Why page
    • Archived August 2011 What's New
  • 01-October-2011
    • Picture of the Month: A station of the cable-operated Glasgow District Subway. (Source: "Glasgow District Subway", Cassier's Magazine, October, 1898).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the UK page, updated article on the Glasgow District Subway, including an 1898 Cassier's Magazine article, The Glasgow District Subway
    • On the Cable Car Models page, a Garden Scale California Street cable car at the 2011 Ardenwood Rail Fair
    • Added News item about talking to schoolkids
    • Archived July 2011 What's New
  • 01-September-2011
    • Picture of the Month: Electric streetcars ride up and down Cincinnati's Mount Adams Incline.
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A new article about Cincinnati's Cincinnati Inclines.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the Powell Street Promenade.
    • Archived June 2011 What's New
  • 01-August-2011
    • Picture of the Month: A photo that I took during a visit to Angels Flight
    • On the Los Angeles Area funiculars page: A new article about a July, 2011 visit to Angels Flight.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the return of Angels Flight and a wonderful graphic from citypass.com.
    • Archived May 2011 What's New
  • 01-July-2011
    • Picture of the Month: Upper Douglas Cable Tramway car descending Prospect Hill on the Isle of Man. (Source: Railway World, October 1896).
    • On the Cable Car Lines in the UK page, updated article on the Isle of Man's Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, including an 1896 Railway World article, Cable Traction in the Isle of Man
    • On Walter Rice's page about Glen Hurlburt's "Cable Car Concerto," a 1947 composition that represents a ride on the Mason Street line, added an image of the label
    • Added information about Muni fare changes.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about more shutdowns, the return of the California Street line, a fare increase and labor issues
    • Archived April 2011 What's New and January-June 2010 news items
  • 01-June-2011
    • Picture of the Month: Grip car 21 of Cincinnati's Mount Auburn Cable Railway
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A new article about Cincinnati's Mount Auburn Cable Railway. Including magazine articles and contemporary newspaper articles:
      • "Articles of incorporation of the Mt. Auburn Cable Railway Company, of Cincinnati have been left with the Secretary of State." (Springfield Daily Republic. (Springfield, Ohio), Saturday, January 31, 1885)
      • "One hundred thousand dollars of stock for the Mt. Auburn cable road has been subscribed and paid up." (Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, Kentucky), Monday, March 16, 1885)
      • "The board of public works of Cincinnati refused to grant privileges to the Mount Auburn Cable Railroad company to construct a cable road on Sycamore street to the Zoological garden." (Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, Kentucky), Wednesday, June 10, 1885)
      • "The Mt. Auburn cable is expected to be ready for operation from Fourth street, Cincinnati, to Mt. Auburn within a month." (Springfield Daily Republic. (Springfield, Ohio), Saturday, August 27, 1887)
      • "TEN PERSONS HURT IN A CABLE CAR" (The New-York Tribune, Sunday, March 10, 1889)
    • Also on the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: contemporary newspaper articles about Cincinnati's cable cars and the Vine Street Cable Railway:
      • "...there are now in successful operation in Cincinnati three well-equipped cable railways..." (Perrysburg Journal. (Perrysburg, Ohio)), Friday, April 13, 1888). The three Hallidie-type cable car lines in Cincinnati.
      • "Some Funny Bets" (The Hocking Sentinel, (Logan, Ohio)), Thursday, November 15, 1888). Two Vine Street conductors make an unusual bet on the presidential election.
      • "KILLED ON A CABLE CAR/A Peculiar Accident Results From Carelessness." (St. Paul Daily Globe), Monday, July 15, 1889)
      • "Her Pretty Teeth" (Wichita Eagle, Tuesday, October 29, 1889). Reprinted in many newspapers, this joke was set on a Vine Street cable car.
      • Powerhouse Destroyed (Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, Kentucky), Monday, March 21, 1892)
      • "Yakey in Cincinnati." (The National Tribune), Thursday, August 10, 1893). A Vine Street employee keeps in touch with a conversation club in Washington, DC.
    • On the Australia/New Zealand page: Thanks to Ric Fisher, updated the Penang Hills Railway article to reflect the reopening of the rebuilt line and include his latest photographs
    • Archived March 2011 What's New
  • 01-May-2011
    • Picture of the Month: Vine Street Cable Railway car 258 is shown at Vine and Molitor Streets in Cincinnati, with a grip on display
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A new article about Cincinnati's Vine Street Cable Railway.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a Powell/Hyde shutdown and the passing of gripman Floyd Moore
    • Archived February 2011 What's New
  • 01-April-2011
    • Picture of the Month: A menu cover from the San Francisco Cable Car Room on Western Pacific's California Zephyr.
    • On the Kitsch page: A photo of shelves of toy cable cars; a Hard Rock Cafe pin; an Avon after shave bottle; a Starbucks gift card, a 1947 membership card from the Citizens' Cable Car Committee; a menu cover from the Western Pacific's California Zephyr Cable Car Room; more pictures of toy cable car 28; and a mysterious silver ingot
    • On the Cable Car Models page, a model of a California Street cable car by OcCre; another view of a Lefton model of a Cleveland grip car
    • On the Cal Cable page: Thank you to Mike Coppack of the Poway-Midland Railroad, I made a correction of some dates on that page and added information about their Car 17, which is under restoration
    • Added News and Bibliography items about Powell Street outages
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to front view of Number 28.
    • Archived January 2011 What's New
  • 01-March-2011
    • Picture of the Month: A Cincinnati cable train lays over on the Blair Avenue loop at the outer end of the Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway.
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A new article about Cincinnati's Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway. Also a newspaper article about an 1887 accident: CABLE CAR ACCIDENTS.
    • On the Who page: A new article about Henry M Lane, engineer on the Mount Adams and Eden Park and other cable lines
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added Chinatown Squad
    • Added Bibliography item about filmmaker and former cable car gripman Melvin Van Peebles
    • Archived December 2010 What's New
  • 01-February-2011
    • Picture of the Month: "Cable Car Belle": A clipping from the 03-June-1973 Palo Alto Times, shows Miss Cable Car, Barbara Jean Davies, posing on a cable car and holding a model of a Powell Street cable car.
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Barbara Davies Walsh, Miss Cable Car 1973, shares memories and clippings from her exciting reign. Also added information about Kathy Cooper, Miss Cable Car 1971
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A new article about Cleveland's Brooklyn Street Railroad/South Side Railway, both owned by Tom L Johnson, one of which had an experimental cable installation using the Johnson Ladder Cable System
    • Archived November 2010 What's New
  • 01-January-2011
    • Picture of the Month: A Lefton model of a Cleveland City Cable Railway Payne Avenue grip car.
    • On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: A new article about the Cleveland City Cable Railway
    • On the Who page: A new article about Colonel William H Paine, engineer on the Cleveland City Cable Railway and many other cable traction lines
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: More images of car 60 decorated for Christmas 2010, along with photos of other decorated cars including 9, 13, 14, and 25, mostly taken on a day of playing tourist.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the early shutdown of the California Street line
    • Added News items about plans to make Powell into a pedestrian mall all the way to Geary Street and about the Angels Flight 109th birthday celebration
    • Add links to new site for Peter Ehrlich's photography business and the San Francisco Trains site
    • Archived October 2010 What's New, 2010 Anniversaries, and July-December 2009 News items.

    ---

  • 01-December-2010
    • Picture of the Month: Pitcher Madison Bumgarner rides a motorized cable in the Giants Victory Parade on 03-November-2010.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: The 2010 Giants Victory Parade.
    • Also on the Decorated Cable Cars page: Car 60 decorated for Christmas 2010.
    • On the UK page: A new article about the London's Euston to Camden Incline, an endless cable incline which took trains from Euston Station to Camden Town
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about an attack on a cable car conductor
    • Added Bibliography item: an obituary for William Frost, retired Cable Car Division Electrical Shop Foreman
    • Archived September 2010 What's New
  • 01-November-2010
    • Picture of the Month: Fear the Beard -- A decorated window on Powell/Mason Car 28
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable car 28 decorated for the Baseball Postseason.
    • On the UK page: A new article about the City and South London Railway, the first successful tube railway, which planned to use cable traction. I found some nice illustrations of the system as it was built
    • Added more about J M Thompson (no relation), who was involved in promoting and building cable car lines in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon to the Who page: His full name, a photo, and a brief biographical sketch from the Street Railway Journal
    • On the How page: A photo of a Washburn and Moen wagon used to deliver cables in San Francisco
    • Added News item about a 60 Minutes report about the 1906 movie A Trip Down Market Street. I updated my own page about the film with a 29-March-1906 newspaper article about the Miles Brothers requesting permission to make the movie.
    • Archived August 2010 What's New
  • 01-October-2010
    • Picture of the Month: An 1840 view of Marsh Station on the London and Blackwall Railway.
    • On the UK page: A new article about the London and Blackwall Railway, a pre-Hallidie cable-operated line
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the 48th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. The gripmen and conductors chose to boycott the contest because of union/management issues
    • Add links to two sites: FunCheapSF and Railroad Parts: History for Kids
    • Archived July 2010 What's New
  • 01-September-2010
    • Picture of the Month: Kennington Changing-Place, where Brixton Road horse trams received cable grips for the trip up Brixton Hill.
    • On the UK page: A new article about London's Brixton Cable Tramway, including "A Chat on a Cable Car", a magazine article describing a ride over the line
    • Also on the UK page: Chapter Six from Tramways: Their Construction and Working, Embracing a Comprehensive History, an 1894 book by Daniel Kinnear Clark
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page, more photos from our July, 2010 visit to Seattle, including the Waterfront Streetcar Line (which is now a bus route), the monorail, and light rail at SeaTac airport
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Dexter Wong, I added Petulia
    • Added News and Bibliography items about cable car 62 at the State Fair and the introduction of Clipper
    • Archived June 2010 What's New
  • 01-August-2010
    • Picture of the Month: The intersection of Twelfth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, where the Market Street cable line crossed a horse car line.
    • On the new Pennsylvania page: More about the Philadelphia Traction Company, including a lithograph of Twelfth and Market Streets and an 1892 newspaper article about how Philadelphia gripmen were developing asymmetically
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page, photos from our July, 2010 visit to Seattle
    • On the Los Angeles Area funiculars page: Roll out a new article about the funicular at the Victoria Station Restaurant at Universal City. Thank you to John Heller for telling me about the funicular. Also thanks to John for permission to use the only known photo of the Playa Del Rey Incline Railway
    • Archived May 2010 What's New
  • 01-July-2010
    • Picture of the Month: Birmingham Central Tramways Company's single-jaw side grip.
    • On the UK page: The Birmingham Central Tramways Company, which operated cable trams until 1911
    • Also on the UK page: an 1897 article by William Newby Colam on the Conversion of Edinburgh, Leith and Portobello Horse Tramways Systems Into Cable Traction
    • On the Who page: Thanks to John Colam, a cousin, a photo and biographical information about engineer William Newby Colam, who was involved with several UK cable tramways. Also engineers Edward Pritchard and Joseph Kincaid, who designed and built the Birmingham Central Tramways Company's cable tram line.
    • Added News item about an effort to revive the Mount Beacon Incline Railway
    • Archived April 2010 What's New and January-June 2009 news items
  • 01-June-2010
    • Picture of the Month: Edinburgh Cable Tram 209.
    • On the UK page: The Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramways/Edinburgh and District Tramways Company, Ltd, which operated until 1923 and an 1890 article by William Newby Colam on the Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramways
    • On the Who page: A new article about engineer William Newby Colam, who was involved with several UK cable tramways
    • On the Cable Car Video page: Two videos of cars rounding the corner at Powell and Jackson. One of a car backing into the barn at Washington and Jackson. One of a car running from Jackson and Mason to Washington
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Dexter Wong, I added The Sniper
    • Add link to new cable car page, Coming to Grips
    • Archived March 2010 What's New
  • 01-May-2010
    • Picture of the Month: Matlock cable tram 3 carries a good crowd up Bank Road
    • On the UK page: The Matlock Tramways Company, Ltd, which operated until 1927
    • On the More Muni Photos page: photos of Powell and Market in the early morning
    • Added News item about Willa Johnson, the second gripwoman
    • Added date for the 2010 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Archived February 2010 What's New
  • 01-April-2010
    • Picture of the Month: A souvenir piece of California Street Cable Railroad cable
    • The Tenth Anniversary of the Kitsch page: A display of kitsch at the Cable Car Museum; a sheet music cover for "The Cable Car Song"; three large views of toy Car 514; three views of plastic toy cable car 501; a pin and a magnet from Michael Jordan's Chicago restaurant, which was in a cable car powerhouse
    • On the Sutter Street Railway page and the Miscellany page, in the Cable Railway Trust article, a stock certificate for the Cable Railway Company, which has been in the Schmitt family since 1881. Thank you to Carl P Schmitt for sharing this family treasure
    • On the Who page: A photo of Henry Casebolt's home, which still stands on Pierce Street.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the return of Angels Flight
    • Added News and Bibliography items about plans to refurbish the California Street and Powell Street lines
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added What's Up, Doc?
    • Add link to the website of the South Western Electricity Historical Society, from the UK
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to Number 501 on its box.
    • Archived January 2010 What's New
  • 01-March-2010
    • Picture of the Month: West Chicago Street Railroad trains on Randolph Street
    • On the Chicago page, more about the West Chicago Street Railroad, including a selection from the 1898 Report of Special Committee of the City Council of Chicago on the Street Railway Franchises & Operations, an ad for a default settlement, and a contemporary newspaper article:
      • Chicago -- Halsted Street Runaway (Saint Paul Daily Globe, Monday, February 25, 1895)
    • Also on the Chicago page, two magazine articles about the Chicago Tunnel Railway
    • On the San Francisco page: A link to a blog about Cubbie the Cable Car
    • On the Cable Car Video page:
      • Two F Line views of Muni 162 this year.
    • Thanks to Ric Francis, added News and Bibliography items about the shutdown of the Penang Hills Railway, a funicular
    • Added News and Bibliography items about Eric Neubauer's book about early Pullman car production
    • Add link to the website of an Italian colonel who commands a military railroad engineering unit
    • Archived December 2009 What's New
  • 01-February-2010
    • Picture of the Month: A stereo view of "State Street north from Madison" in Chicago.
    • On the Chicago page, more about the widely hated North Chicago Street Railroad, including a selection from the 1898 Report of Special Committee of the City Council of Chicago on the Street Railway Franchises & Operations, an advertisement for investors, a cartoon and some contemporary newspaper articles:
      • Chicago -- Patent Lawsuit (Sacramento Daily Record-Union, Wednesday, December 21, 1887)
      • Chicago -- Runaway Horse Car (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, October 03, 1890)
      • Chicago -- Cable Cars to Carry Bicycles (Saint Paul Daily Globe, Sunday, May 30, 1897)
      • Chicago -- Making Money From Cable Cars (Omaha Daily Bee, Saturday, July 1, 1899)
    • On the Cable Car Models page, photos and a video of Garden Scale Cable Cars
    • On the Horse Car Home Page, a John Stephenson ad and a Chicago newspaper article
    • Archived November 2009 What's New
  • 01-January-2010
    • Picture of the Month: A stereo view of "State Street north from Madison" in Chicago.
    • On the Chicago page, more about the Chicago City Railway, including a selection from the 1898 Report of Special Committee of the City Council of Chicago on the Street Railway Franchises & Operations and contemporary newspaper article:
      • Chicago -- Gripman Killed (Saint Paul Daily Globe, Friday, February 03, 1882)
      • THE CABLE-CAR LINE/Progress of the Work -- Eleven Trains and the Horse-Cars Still Running (Omaha Daily Bee, Wednesday, February 15, 1882)
      • Chicago -- Third Fatality (Sacramento Daily Record-Union, Saturday, March 25, 1882)
      • Chicago -- Fifteenth Victim (Saint Paul Daily Globe, Monday, September 04, 1882)
      • Killed by a Cable Car. (New-York Tribune, Wednesday, November 6, 1893)
      • STOPS CHICAGO CABLE LINES./The City Begins Active War on Street Car Company. (New-York Tribune, Thursday, January 18, 1906)
      • CABLES MAKE LAST RUN ON STREET IN CHICAGO (San Francisco Call, Sunday, July 23, 1906)
    • Added Bibliography item about Mayor Newsome's proposal to fill in part of Hallidie Plaza and install a reservoir or cistern below it
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the discovery of a relic of Saint Paul Minnesota's Selby Avenue cable car line
    • Archived October 2009 What's New, 2009 Anniversaries, and July-December 2008 News items.

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  • 01-December-2009
    • Picture of the Month: The proposed incline and improvements in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. From the Los Angeles Herald, 27-August-1905.
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Roll out a new article about the proposed Griffith Park Incline Railway, including newspaper articles:
      • Griffth Park Incline Proposed (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, August 27, 1905)
      • Griffth Park Incline Needs More Time (Los Angeles Herald, Thursday, November 28, 1907)
    • Also on the Los Angeles area funiculars page: More about the Industry Hills Incline including its current status
    • On the Cable Trams in the UK, more about London's Highgate Hill Cable Tramway, including an entry from Baedeker's guidebook for 1889. Also an illustrated paper, Cable Tramways, concentrating on Highgate Hill, that engineer William Newby Colam presented to the Society of Engineers in 1885
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • Added a new photo of Janelle Wang of Channel 7 performing with the 49er Cheerleaders at the 47th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Added News and Bibliography items about Woody Labounty's Carville book
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a sudden stop on Powell Street and the last Carville house
    • Archived September 2009 What's New
  • 01-October-2009
    • Picture of the Month: A circa-1930 view of Court Flight, showing the sandwich shop which provided additional revenue to the line.
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: More about the Court Flight including a photo of Court Flight, an entry from a WPA guide, and some contemporary newspaper articles:
      • Court Flight Delayed by Rain (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, January 1, 1905)
      • Court Flight Real Estate Ad (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, January 8, 1905)
      • Court Flight Fights A Competitor (Los Angeles Herald, Saturday, January 14, 1905)
      • Court Flight Approved (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, August 13, 1905)
      • Court Flight In Progress (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, August 27, 1905)
      • Court Flight to Open Monday (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, September 24, 1905)
      • Court Flight a Success (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, October 15, 1905)
      • Court Flight Tax Plea (Los Angeles Herald, Tuesday, June 26, 1906)
      • Court Flight Inspires Hotel (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, October 21, 1906)
      • Court Flight Losing Money (Los Angeles Herald, Friday, February 8, 1907)
    • Also on the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Another postcard of the Santa Catalina Island Incline Railway
    • Added News item about two new cable car videos, one for kids and one about the bell ringing contest. Created a new section on these and other Cable Car Videos on the San Francisco detail page.
    • Also News and Bibliography items about a collision at Washington and Mason
    • Archived July 2009 What's New
  • 01-September-2009
    • Picture of the Month: An early Angels Flight advertising flier, including a photo of Colonel JW Eddy, who built the line and operated it
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: More about the Angels Flight, including photos from Joe Lacey, tickets, and an old flier, and several contemporary newspaper articles:
      • Angels Flight Sued (Los Angeles Herald, Saturday, January 28, 1905)
      • Angels Flight Real Estate Effect (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, January 29, 1905)
      • Angels Flight Burgled (Los Angeles Herald, Wednesday, June 7, 1905)
      • Angels Flight Burglars (Los Angeles Herald, Thursday, June 8, 1905)
      • "carried more people per mile of track than any railway In the United States" (Los Angeles Herald, Saturday, September 9, 1905)
      • Angels Flight: Unfair Competition (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, October 15, 1905)
      • Elks Building (Los Angeles Herald, Thursday, July 19, 1906)
      • "the shortest railway In the world" (Los Angeles Herald, Sunday, July 29, 1906)
      • Violence on the Flight (Los Angeles Herald, Saturday, September 15, 1906)
      • Crime Near the Flight (Los Angeles Herald, Wednesday, November 14, 1906)
      • UP ANGEL'S FLIGHT (Los Angeles Herald, Monday, March 4, 1907)
      • Making Money From the Flight (Los Angeles Herald, Thursday, June 20, 1907)
      • Injured By the Flight (Los Angeles Herald, Thursday, July 18, 1907)
      • Colonel Eddy Gets Burned (Los Angeles Herald, Wednesday, August 7, 1907)
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Two contemporary newspaper articles about the Mount Lowe incline:
      • Mount Lowe Trolley Accident (Los Angeles Herald, Thursday, April 27, 1905)
      • Mount Lowe Recovers From Fire (Los Angeles Herald, Tuesday, January 2, 1906)
    • On the Motorized Cable Cars page: A strange-looking double decker
    • Added News item about a new animated video, "Cubbie the Cable Car"
    • Added link for MunsonWorks, a manufacturer of inclined elevators
    • Archived June 2009 What's New
  • 01-August-2009
    • Picture of the Month: "Coming Down From Echo Mountain In One of the White Chariots." A photograph from "A Mountain Paradise" by Ronald L Pearse, in Cassel's Magazine, June, 1901, showing one of the cars on the Mount Lowe incline
    • On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: More about the Mount Lowe incline, including photos of the control room and the driving mechanism and newspaper articles about two of the many fires that plagued the line
    • On the Cable Car Video page:
      • New Powell Street car 15 outbound at Ellis. Also some videos from December: Cars 9, 13 and 25 decorated for Christmas.
      • F Line views of Muni 130 and 1010 and New Orleans 952 in June this year. Also two videos of 952 decorated for Christmas.
    • Archived May 2009 What's New
  • 01-July-2009
    • Picture of the Month: Henry Casebolt's patent drawing for his overhead cable car line
    • On the Other California Cities page: More about the Henry Casebolt's experimental overhead cable car line, including his patent and some contemporary newspaper articles, and the earlier patent issued to General Beauregard
    • On the Who page: Henry Casebolt's obituary from the Daily Alta California. Also added a woodcut of Casebolt from his obituary.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, photos of new Powell Street car 15 on its first test run. Also photos and a video I took two days after it went into service
    • On the Roster page: New car 15
    • Added video of grand master Carol Payne giving an exhibition at the 47th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. Also added photos
    • On the Cable Car Video page:
      • Powell Street car 15 at Powell and Market, two days after it made its debut
      • F Line views of Melbourne W-2 tram 496 in February and May this year
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the 47th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. Also about an accident and an explosion.
    • Added information about new Muni fare changes.
    • Archived April 2009 What's New and January-June 2008 news items
  • 09-June-2009
    • Added results and videos of the 47th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
  • 01-June-2009
    • Picture of the Month: An engraving showing a San Diego Cable Railway combination car, Las Penasquitas. From Charles B Fairchild's book Street Railways: Their Construction, Operation and Maintenance/A Practical Handbook for Street Railway Men
    • On the Other California Cities page: More about the San Diego Cable Railway, including new images and Light Cable Road Construction, a paper written by Frank Van Vleck, who designed and built the line
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, photos of new Powell Street car 15 with a fresh coat of yellow paint.
    • June, 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the return of the cable cars after the 1982-1984 reconstruction. Added a new banner pointing to San Francisco: Cable Cars Are Here to Stay by Val Lupiz and Walter Rice
    • On the Cable Car Video page:
      • Powell Street car 3 signed as a training car
      • Powell Street car 5 inbound on Powell from Pine to Bush
      • Powell Street car 25, in its bright red paint, passes the Saint Francis Hotel
      • An F Line view of 1007 in the livery of Philadelphia's Red Arrow Lines
      • An F Line view of 1818, the green Milan car
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the upcoming 47th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. Also about the 25th anniversary of the return and an obituary for Levit Chavez, who worked in the Cable Car Division.
    • Archived March 2009 What's New
  • 01-May-2009
    • Picture of the Month: An engraving showing a Consolidated Piedmont cable car as it pauses on the gravity loop at the entrance to Blair Park.
    • On the Other California Cities page: More about the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company, including advertisements and contemporary newspaper articles
      • The Gravity Loop -- a series of articles about a unique feature of the Consolidated Piedmont.
      • First Cable Arrives (San Francisco Morning Call, Friday, May 09, 1890). "The two flat-cars that arrived with the wire cable for the Piedmont cable road are ... low set heavy structures, weighing nineteen tons each, supported by two double trucks, a total of eight pairs of wheels on each, which is twice the number on an ordinary flat..."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Nearly Ready for Testing (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, May 25, 1890). "The experimental car for trial on the Consolidated Oakland and Piedmont Cable Company's line ... will shortly be tried on the section between Piedmont and the cable-house before the contract for the rolling stock is let."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Real Estate News (San Francisco Morning Call, Monday, January 05, 1891). "The cable system has greatly increased the value of suburban property, bringing land on the outskirts nearer to the center of the city, and opening up tracts which formerly seemed inaccessible."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Real Estate News/2 (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, January 29, 1891). "E. A. Heron is offering many inducements in the way of pretty home sites in Linda Vista, on the Piedmont cable road."
      • New Transit Lines in Oakland (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, March 29, 1891). "It will do as much for its section as the Piedmont cable has done for Piedmont."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Receivership (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, November 02, 1893). "Oaklanders were treated to a genuine surprise yesterday when the rumor was spread about the streets that the big concern known as the Piedmont Cable Company was in the hands of a receiver."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Hard Feelings (San Francisco Morning Call, Tuesday, December 11, 1894). "Mr. Bishop scowled at Mr. Garthwaite and Mr. Garthwaite scowled at Mr. Bishop, and the matter was ended."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Hard Feelings/2 (San Francisco Morning Call, Saturday, January 05, 1895). "... Ira Bishop will be compelled to appease the wrath of Mrs. Phoebe Blair, who is after him with a sharp stick."
      • Baseball Field Unprofitable (San Francisco Morning Call, Saturday, January 05, 1895). "Yesterday the Piedmont Railway Company began demolishing this fence and taking down the grand stand ... the grounds do not pay."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Foreclosed (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, January 13, 1895). "... a considerable barrier of prior liens is piling up between the bondholders and their security ..."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Sold at Auction (San Francisco Morning Call, Wednesday, March 20, 1895). "Ever since the road began going down hill..." (lol - JT)
      • Consolidated Piedmont Assessment (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, May 16, 1895). "Mr. Dalton says he will not accept these figures and will place a valuation of his own on the road."
      • Consolidated Piedmont Sale Contested (San Francisco Morning Call, Wednesday, July 10, 1895). "... holders of ten bonds of the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company, have sued the stockholders of that company ... They allege that when the sale of the road was made on the 19th day of March, 1895, all of the proceeds went for the payment of the receiver's indebtedness, leaving no part for the payment of the bonds."
      • Consolidated Piedmont -- Bitter Feelings (San Francisco Morning Call, Wednesday, August 14, 1895). "Mr. Garthwaite accused Mr. Bishop of peculiar tricks with reference to a franchise which had been obtained from the Council for a few blocks down Washington street."
      • Consolidated Piedmont -- Revenge of Mrs Blair (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, May 17, 1903). "It is said C. R. Bishop and J. R. Spring have made good their proportion of the amount, which aggregated $2268 20."
      • Consolidated Piedmont -- Attempted Suicide of Receiver Bishop (New-York Tribune, Sunday, November 06, 1904). "..while suffering from depression, due to ill health."
      • Consolidated Piedmont -- Death of Receiver Bishop (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, February 23, 1905). "He was at one time proprietor of the Piedmont Baths in Oakland, and was manager of the Oakland street railway system at the time of its sale to the Oakland Transit Company."
      • I have some more articles that I will add in future months.
    • Also on the Other California Cities page: Two more contemporary newspaper articles about the Oakland Cable Railway:
      • Cable Car Nearly Struck by Steam Train -- The 1894 collision was not the first time a train came too close to a cable car.
      • New Cable (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, April 12, 1891). "The putting in of the new cable of tbe Oakland Cable Company was not completed until about noon yesterday."
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a threatened boycott of the bell ringing contest
    • Archived February 2009 What's New
  • 01-April-2009
    • Picture of the Month: Former O'Farrel/Jones/Hyde cable car 59 at Knott's Berry Farm. Fitted with electric motors on its trucks, it served as a parking lot tram from about 1955 to about 1979.
    • On the Other California Cities page: More about former San Francisco cable cars at Knott's Berry Farm, including a map of the two routes
    • Also on the Other California Cities page: More about the Oakland Cable Railway, including contemporary newspaper articles
      • The Lorings to Resign (San Francisco Morning Call, Tuesday, May 29, 1894). "They have been connected with the roads (cable and electric - JT) since the cable was built and are perfectly conversant with every detail of the business. It is rumored that their resignations were requested."
      • Martin Succeeds Lorings (San Francisco Morning Call, Friday, June 1, 1894). "Mr. Martin of San Francisco, an experienced railroad man, will succeed the Lorings..."
      • Cable Car Struck by Steam Train -- a series of articles about a fatal accident in December, 1894.
      • Battle Over Assessments (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, July 15, 1897). Southern Pacific's attorney battled to get assessments reduced: "2.35 miles of cable on San Pablo avenue, from $83,225 to $47,000; franchise on the same, from $71,000 to $10,000; .35 of a mile of cable-road near Park avenue, from 11,750 to $3500..."
      • Only Broad Tracks Now/The Unpopular Narrow Gauge Torn Up (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, September 4, 1898). An article about the beginning of the process to convert the former South Pacific Coast line to standard gauge mentions that "The railroad company has also contracted for the material for changing the San Pablo cable road into an electric system, the contract being contingent on the permission of the City Council to make the change."
    • On the Kitsch page: A matchbook from Cable Car Steaks; a centennial coin issued by the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society; a Knott's Berry Farm paper plate; a Cable Car Clothiers button; a Hard Rock Cafe 2008 pin; plastic toy cable car 504; a Christmas ornament
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added Starlift
    • Added News and Bibliography items about problems with the Powell Street cable
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to a front-end view of Number 512.
    • Archived January 2009 What's New
  • 01-March-2009
    • Picture of the Month: A train at the end of the Boyle Heights line of the Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway
    • On the Other California Cities page: "A Year's Progress of Cable Motive Power", a paper about cable traction developments by James Clifton Robinson, the General Manager. Robinson visited almost every cable traction line in the US and Europe. This paper was written at a time when electric traction was not considered a viable alternative, so cable was the latest big thing. of the Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway
    • On the Who page: A new article about James Clifton Robinson, a famous traction engineer who was the General Manager of the Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Cable Railway
    • Archived December 2008 What's New
  • 01-February-2009
    • Picture of the Month: A photo of a Melbourne cable winding house and tram shed, taken by Bob Murphy
    • On the Australia/New Zealand page: Thanks to Bob Murphy, photographs of the North Carlton winding house and tram shed in Melbourne
    • On the Other California Cities page: A contemporary newspaper article about the Temple Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles:
      • AT LAST/The Temple Street Cable Road Completed (Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, July 14, 1886)
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added Mr Billion
    • Added News and Chronology items about a collision between a California Street car and a Powell Street car
    • Archived November 2008 What's New
  • 01-January-2009
    • Picture of the Month: A train of the Second Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles passes through the line's deep cut in Bunker Hill
    • On the Other California Cities page: Newspaper articles about the Second Street Cable Railway in Los Angeles:
      • Second Street Cable Railway Seeks Subscriptions/1 (Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, February 3, 1885)
      • Second Street Cable Railway Seeks Subscriptions/2 (Los Angeles Times, Saturday, February 7, 1885)
      • Second Street Cable Railway Tested (Los Angeles Times, Friday, October 9, 1885)
      • Second Street Cable Railway -- Unpaid Cable Bill (Los Angeles Times, Saturday, October 26, 1889)
      • Second Street Cable Railway -- Conduit Blocked (Los Angeles Times, Thursday, December 5, 1889)
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable cars decorated for Christmas, 2008.
    • Added News item about the annual senior luncheon. Also News and Bibliography items about an SUV running into a Powell Street car
    • Archived October 2008 What's New, 2008 Anniversaries, and July-December 2007 News items.

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  • 01-December-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A Val Lupiz night view of car 60, which he had decorated for the holidays, at California and Drumm on 04-December-2007.
    • On the San Francisco page: Articles about the 1886-1887 strike against the Sutter and Geary Street lines, which include reports about the Sutter Street superintendant's plug uglies shooting at people in the street and at least two grip cars, one from each company, getting blown up with dynamite
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables (10th anniversary this year), and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page, Peter Ehrlich took a photo of a sign telling the history of the Yesler Way line. Thanks to Peter for the photo
    • Archived September 2008 What's New
  • 01-November-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A postcard shows two Fillmore Hill counterbalance cars during the White Front era
    • On the San Francisco page: Updates to the article about the Fillmore Hill Counterbalance, including two newspaper articles about accidents:
      • Car Crashes Down Fillmore Hill/Fastenings Give Way and Passengers Narrowly Escape Serious Harm (San Francisco Call, Wednesday, August 8, 1906)
      • Cars Crash Together On The Fillmore Hill/Rod Gives Away, but Cable Holds and Serious Mishap Is Averted (San Francisco Call, Monday, July 8, 1907)
    • On the Cable Car Models page, photos of a large wooden model of Powell Street car 16 recently unveiled at the Cable Car Museum
    • Also on the Cable Car Models page, more information about Norm Pythian's cable car simulation
    • Added a Chronology item about a plaque placed at the powerhouse of the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company by the The Friends of the Cable Car Museum
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a loose strand stopping Powell Street service
    • Archived August 2008 What's New
  • 01-October-2008
    • Picture of the Month: After spending 30 years in San Quentin, Agglestein (Agustín) Castro sees cable cars for the first time and asks "Are those the automobiles?"
    • A new installment of Val Lupiz's column Tales From the Grip: "Rookie Bites"
    • On the San Francisco page: "Lost To The World For Thirty Years", a 1901 newspaper article about Agglestein (Agustín) Castro, who returned to San Francisco after spending 30 years in San Quentin
    • Also on the San Francisco page: Added a description of the Telegraph Hill Railroad from a travel book
    • Added a News item about a newly developed cable car simulation
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a fatal accident on Powell Street
    • Archived July 2008 What's New
  • 01-September-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A Clay Street Hill Railroad train climbs the hill in this woodcut from "The Cable Railway Company's System of Traction Railways for Cities and Towns"
    • New item: "The Cable Railway Company's System of Traction Railways for Cities and Towns": A promotional booklet published by the cable railway trust
    • On the Omnibus Railroad page: An 1890 advertisement for the company that made the elevator in the Tenth and Howard powerhouse.
    • On the Miscellany page: Cable-Driven Transit in Alaska, photos from a cruise we took in July. A funicular in Ketchikan and an aerial tramway in Juneau
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a California Street collision
    • Archived June 2008 What's New
  • 01-August-2008
    • Picture of the Month: "Ninth Street, Kansas City, Looking West from Walnut Street -- Drawn by Charles Graham." From the 07-Jun-1890 issue of Harpers Weekly.
    • On the Kansas City page: An 1889 magazine article by cable railway engineer Robert Gillham, who designed and built many of Kansas City's cable car lines, along with a brief biographical sketch
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a runaway Powell Street car
    • Archived May 2008 What's New
  • 01-July-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A diagram showing the screw-operated grip used on Rhode Island's Providence Cable Tramway.
    • On the Other Cities page: The Cable Tramway Company of Omaha, including a series of 1909 newspaper ads giving the history of public transit in Omaha
    • Added a new Chronology page: 2008-Today
    • Thanks to Harry Marnell and Ray Long: On the Los Angles Area Funiculars page, information about the ultimate fate of the cars from the Court Flight, which had been rumored to still exist
    • Added a photo of the 46th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Added News and Bibliography items about an explosion at California and Drumm
    • Archived April 2008 What's New and January-June 2007 news items
  • 03-June-2008
    • Added results and videos of the 46th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
  • 01-June-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A Val Lupiz photo of recently rebuilt Powell Street Car 25.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, more photos of the rebuilt car 25 and the brand new Powell Street car 15. Reports about car 25 going into revenue service.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about an car 25's return to service
    • On the Who page: A new article about Henry Root, the engineer who designed and built the California Street Cable Railroad, along with a new page of excerpts from his memoirs, Henry Root, Personal History and Reminiscences with Personal Opinions on Contemporary Events 1845-1921
    • On the Miscellany page: More excerpts from Poor's Directory of Railway Officials, 1887.
    • 08-June is the 100th anniversary of the return to service of the Sacramento/Clay line. I found 1908 article from the San Francisco Call: SACRAMENTO AND CLAY CABLE SERVICE RENEWED
    • Archived March 2008 What's New
  • 01-May-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A Val Lupiz photo of new Powell Street Car 15, taken from a unique angle.
    • On the Miscellany page: A new article: Excerpts from Poor's Directory of Railway Officials, 1887. Also put items about particular transit companies on their pages.
    • On the More California Street Pictures page: Thanks to gripman Gordon Miller, photos of O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde Car 38 being moved in Lakeport, California
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, more photos of the rebuilt car 25 and the brand new Powell Street car 15
    • Added a News item about the date of the bell ringing contest
    • Added an article about Howard C Holmes, who designed and built the Ferries & Cliff House Railway, to the Who Was Important in the History of the Cable Car page
    • Added a banner and a review plugging Nick Tomizawa's excellent video The Feel of the Rope
    • Added a favicon.ico to the site
    • Archived February 2008 What's New
  • 01-April-2008
    • Picture of the Month: Val Lupiz made a model of URR cable car 455 for Walter Rice.
    • On the Miscellany page: A new page about Cable Car Models
    • On the Kitsch page: A menu from the Buena Vista Cafe. Another Italian charm and a zipper pull charm. A Planet Hollywood pin. An ashtray made in occupied Japan. A cable car-shaped telephone.
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, more photos of the rebuilt car 25 and the brand new Powell Street car
    • Added a News item about a car appearing in a currently-shooting movie
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added Walk a Crooked Mile
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to a detail view of Number 504 with standing figures.
    • Added new item on the Why page about this site moving from AOL to GeoCities
    • Added new Ten Years Ago section
    • Archived January 2008 What's New
  • 01-March-2008
    • Picture of the Month: A Chicago gentleman, taken in wine, has gone to sleep on the safety fender of a Madison Street cable car
    • On the Chicago page: Two 1901 newspaper stories about Chicago cable cars. One is about love and the other is about drunkenness and safety fenders
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, a new section on the homecoming of Powell Street Car 25 and the delivery a brand new car
    • On the new Cable Car Video page:
      • California Street car 58 decorated for Christmas. Also on the Decorated Cable Cars page
      • Powell Street car 12 takes the pull curve inbound from Washington to Powell
      • Blue and Gold Powell Street cable car 16 runs inbound past the Saint Francis Hotel
      • California Street car 49, stuck on an upgrade, getting a push from an inspector
      • F Line views of San Francisco B-Type streetcar 130 and Melbourne W-2 class tram 496
      • A shot of the only jitney bus left in San Francisco
    • Archived December 2007 What's New
  • 01-February-2008
    • Picture of the Month: Val Lupiz took a photo of car 9, decorated for the holidays by the Buena Vista Cafe, at the car barn
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Photos of cable cars decorated for the 2007 holidays
    • Archived November 2007 What's New
  • 01-January-2008
    • Picture of the Month: An image from the 31-May-1903 "San Francisco Call" reconstructs the a collision between a Fillmore Street electric car and a Haight Street cable car
    • On the Market Street Railway page: "SCORES OF LIVES ARE ENDANGERED AND DEATH AVERTED BY A MIRACLE IN ACCIDENT ON TRACTION LINES", a 1903 San Francisco Call article about a collision between a Fillmore Street electric car and a Haight Street cable car
    • Added an article about the 2007 Cable Car Division Senior Luncheon to the San Francisco Miscellany page. I got to meet Barbara Davies Walsh, Miss Cable Car 1973
    • Added an article about Walter Rice to the Who Was Important in the History of the Cable Car page
    • Added a News and Bibliography item about an effort to rebuild the Mornington cable tram line, which had been abandoned in 1957, in Dunedin, New Zealand
    • Added Bibliography items about security guards looking for fare collection problems, a stoppage on the California Street line, and new the people who build new cable cars
    • Archived October 2007 What's New, 2007 Anniversaries, and July-December 2006 News items.

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  • 01-Dec-2007
    • Picture of the Month: A 1946 Charles L Reed Christmas cartoon from the December 1946 issue of "Trolley Topics", Muni's employees' newlsetter. Provided by Walter Rice, from the Tom Matoff collection.
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • On the Market Street Railway page: "MARKET STREET VIEWS STIR ORPHEUM PATRONS", a 1907 San Francisco Call article about what may have been the world premiere of the movie "A Trip Down Market Street"
    • Archived September 2007 What's New
  • 01-Nov-2007
    • Picture of the Month: An 1886 advertisement for the John Stephenson Company shows their first horse car, the John Mason of 1832, and their latest model.
    • On the Miscellany page: 26-November-2007 marks the 175th birthday of the Horse Car. Read a new article on its history
      • An 11-March-1906 newspaper article about Michael Houlihan, who drove the URR's franchise-protecting horse car line on California Street
      • A 29-July-1917 New York Times article about New York's last horse car
    • Archived August 2007 What's New
  • 01-Oct-2007
    • Picture of the Month: "In the Club Room" shows California Street Cable Railroad carmen in 1902, in the powerhouse at California and Hyde
    • On the Cal Cable page: "How The 'Grip' Arm is Trained", a 1902 San Francisco Call article about physical training and recreation for carmen
    • On the More Muni Photos page: A new section on Wreckers and Service Trucks, with photos of a California Street car having its grip changed and photos and videos two Powell Street cars being towed
    • Added News items about a cable unstranding on California Street and a new children's book
    • On the new Cable Car Video page:
      • Powell Street cars getting towed by the wrecker. Also on the More Muni Photos page
      • F Line views of New Orleans 952 and the Blackpool Boat
    • Archived July 2007 What's New
  • 01-Sep-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Powell Street car 2, with its front dash removed because of dry rot
    • On the More Muni Photos page: A new section on a visit I paid to the car barn with Val Lupiz. I took lots of photos and videos
    • On the UK page: London's Tower Subway, a cable-driven line which ran for a few months in 1870
    • On the new Cable Car Video page:
      • Cars pulling out from the car barn and other images from a visit I made. Also on the More Muni Photos page
      • Two more Powell/Market turntable shots
      • Melbourne W-2 tram 496 on the F Line
    • Archived June 2007 What's New
  • 01-Aug-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Looking up the 9th Street incline in Kansas City
    • On the new Kansas City page: An 1885 magazine article about the Kansas City Cable Railway, with an interesting description of the duplicate cable system
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: The 2007 results, reported by Val Lupiz. Also added News and Bibliography items
    • On the new Cable Car Video page:
      • Powell Street car 28 crossing California. Also on the How page
      • "A Trip Down Powell Street": taken from the back platform of Powell Street car 21
      • PCC 1052 and 1053 make the turn at Market and Steuart
      • PCC 1077, a recent arrival from Newark, runs along Market Street
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added Foul Play
    • Archived May 2007 What's New
  • 01-Jul-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Jennifer De Grassi, Miss Cable Car, 1968.
    • On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Jennifer Williams, Miss Cable Car 1968, shares memories and clippings from her exciting summer
    • On the new Kansas City page: The Union Cable Railway, which used an experimental grip and operated for one day
    • On the new Cable Car Video page:
      • Cal cable car 56 going through the crossover at California and Drumm. Also on the How page
      • Cal cable car 52 leaving California and Drumm
      • Cal cable car 50 arriving at California and Van Ness (also on the How page)
      • Cal cable car 50 leaving California and Van Ness (also on the How page)
      • Two videos of a Breda car crossing the Fourth Street Bridge on the T-Third Street line
      • F-Line car 1075, a recent arrival from Newark, passes in front of the Ferry Building
      • Breda 1523 pops out of the portal at Folsom and the Embarcadero on the J-Line
    • Added a News and Bibliography item about an elderly lady struck by a Powell/Mason car
    • Split the Site Map into four pages to follow Google recommendations
    • Added "Picture of the Month -- Ten Years" to the Why page -- some interesting statistics and stories about the Picture of the Month, which started in July, 1997
    • Archived April 2007 What's New and January-June 2006 news items
  • 01-Jun-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Patent drawing of the design for the original California car
    • On the California Street page: John Hammond's patent D21,042, for the design of the California car.
    • Added a News and Bibliography item about a surprise encounter with relics of the Melbourne cable tram system. Thanks to Bill Bolton for p ointing it out, and Mal Rowe for the use of two of his photos. Also added photos and information to the Melbourne cable tramways article.
    • On the new Kansas City page: The Peoples' Cable Railway, including an interesting selection from the 1900 book American Street Railway Investments about the Brooklyn Avenue Railway, successor to the Peoples' Cable Railway
    • Rolled out a new Cable Car Video page with two new cable car videos: Car 28 at the switch on Powell between Washington and Jackson (also on the More Muni Pictures page, with a still photo of old car 28 at the same location in 2001. Car 18 inbound on Powell Street from California to Post. A long video with lots of interesting traffic, and a glimpse of Mister Smiley. Also two videos of new F Line cars from Newark.
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added "Daydreams", a Buster Keaton short, and three features, In Love and War, No Escape, and Man's Favorite Sport
    • Archived March 2007 What's New
  • 01-May-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Looking across the West Bottoms at the Kansas City Cable Railway's 9th Street trestle and the Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit Company's 8th Street trestle and tunnel portal
    • On the new Kansas City page: The Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit Company. Also added an interesting selection from the 1900 book American Street Railway Investments about the Metropolitan Street Railway, which includes information about the many companies which it consumed
    • Two videos: On the Ferries and Cliff House page: Car 17 passing the Saint Francis Hotel. On the California Street page: Car 58 climbing towards Kearney from Montgomery Street.
    • On the Motorized Cable Cars page: Photos of imitation cable cars, mostly used for sightseeing.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A nighttime photo of car 28 decorated for Christmas, 2006.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a fare audit in San Francisco and a surprise encounter with relics of the Edinburgh cable tram system
    • Thanks to Walter Rice and Val Lupiz. A new Chronology item about an additional Powell Street run
    • Archived February 2007 What's New
  • 01-Apr-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Val Lupiz created a special image to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Powell/Hyde Line.
    • On the Kitsch page: A video of my Bachman ho cable car under the Christmas tree. Magazine ads for Old Crow, San Francisco tourism, and the Saint Francis Hotel. A 1972 top 30 survey from KFRC. Three images of a Department 57 model of a Powell Street car. A 1984 All Star Game program. A 2007 SF Giants promotional poster with pitcher Matt Cain
    • On the Muni page: The 50th anniversary of the Powell/Hyde Line
    • On the How page: A video clip of car 21 on the turntable at Powell and Market
    • On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added After the Thin Man, with a photo, Moran of the Lady Letty and the number of the Powell Street car that Humphrey Bogart rode in Dark Passage.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Two photos of car 17. More Christmas 2006 photos coming next month.
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to Number 504 with standing figures.
    • Archived January 2007 What's New
  • 01-Mar-2007
    • Picture of the Month: A combination car of Kansas City's Grand Avenue Railway.
    • On the new Kansas City page: The Grand Avenue Railway
    • On the Sutter Street Railway page: "The Sutter Street Railway - San Francisco's Second Cable Car Line" by Walter Rice and Emiliano Echeverria
    • Moved Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars to a separate page. Thanks to Jack Tillmany, I added A Gathering of Eagles. Thanks to Steve Hill, I added screen captures of the titles of many of the movies.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A photo of car 13. More Christmas 2006 photos coming next month.
    • Archived December 2006 What's New
  • 01-Feb-2007
    • Picture of the Month: Two trains pass at the top of the bridge used by Kansas City's Metropolitan Street Railway to reach Union Depot in the West Bottoms.
    • The results of the Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes: "San Francisco With a $5 Cable Car Fare".
    • On the new Kansas City page: The Metropolitan Street Railway
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A photo of car 3. More Christmas 2006 photos coming next month.
    • On the San Francisco page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, information about the 1959 movie Crime of Passion.
    • On the Kitsch and Interview with Mrs. Barbara Kahn Gardner pages: Walter Rice has written about Kitty Margolis, a jazz singer who is Samuel Kahn's granddaughter.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about reconstruction work on Angel's Flight in Los Angeles
    • Archived November 2006 What's New
  • 01-Jan-2007
    • Picture of the Month: The Kansas City Cable Railway's 9th Street trestle.
    • On the new Kansas City page: The Kansas City Cable Railway
    • I'm still waiting for the results of the Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes: "San Francisco With a $5 Cable Car Fare".
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A list of the cable cars decorated for Christmas, 2006. Photos coming next month.
    • Added an article about cable traction engineer Robert Gillham to the Who page
    • Archived October 2006 What's New, 2006 Anniversaries, and July-December 2005 news items.

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  • 01-Dec-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Thanks to Wayne Miller: Market Street cable car 133 sits on Castro Street on 08-May-1941, waiting to be towed to the scrapper.
    • Try the new Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes: "San Francisco With a $5 Cable Car Fare"
    • Added photos from Wayne Miller's collection:
      • Market Street cable car 133, on its way to the scrapper
      • Market Street Railway sand car 0603, converted from an Omnibus cable car
    • On the Old-Time Radio Shows Which Feature Cable Cars, added an 03-May-1953 episode of The Jack Benny Show. Frankie Remley mistakes the Powell/Market turntable for a record player
    • On the UK page: Thanks to Grant Dew, for a report about the West Hill Lift in Hastings being shut down for maintenance.
    • With Christmas coming, it's a good time to visit Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables, and the Decorated Cable Cars page.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a hit piece of "investigative" journalism from KGO Channel 7
  • 15-Nov-2006
    • Added News item about the 25th Annual Senior Citizen's Holiday Luncheon, hosted by the people of the Cable Car Division
  • 01-Nov-2006
    • Picture of the Month: A photo of Car 10 and a special tenth anniversary dash sign by Val Lupiz
    • Tenth Anniversary - November, 1996 - November, 2006
    • Added "Ten Years After" to the Why page -- what has changed since I started this site
    • Added a new page on Old-Time Radio Shows Which Feature Cable Cars, with an 07-Jul-1949 episode of Candy Matson and 09-January-1938 and 30-March-1947 episodes of The Jack Benny Show.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about repeated shutdowns and an obituary for mechanic Rick Fong
  • 01-Oct-2006
    • Picture of the Month: A photo of Joe Lacey posing with Cal Cable Car 50 at California and Drumm, about 1971
    • Joe Lacey has been scanning items from his collection. Thanks to Joe for sharing them with this site:
      • On the More Muni Photos page: A new Muni People section, with a photo of Joe Lacey and one of him and a group of other Cable Car Division men in 1971, modelling new uniforms designed by Bill Blass
    • On the Market Street Cable Railway page, thanks to Emiliano Echevarria, a 1905 United Railroads floor plan of the McAllister Powerhouse
    • On the Chicago page: 21-October-2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of cable traction in Chicago, when the former Chicago City Railway's Wabash Avenue line and the North Chicago Clark and Lincoln lines converted to electric traction. Added a photo of a North Chicago cable train.
    • Rolled out a new Advanced Search page
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: A newspaper article about the second cable car line in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Heights Railroad.
      • "IN THE CONDUIT/Final Preperations for the Montague Street Line", which describes the line's first cable being threaded. I would like to know the name of the poor kid who had to crawl both ways through the blind conduit
    • Thanks to Walter Rice for a review of Woman on the Run, a movie which includes some nice scenes of San Francisco cable cars, electric streetcars, and trolley buses
    • Thanks to Walter Rice and Val Lupiz. A new Chronology item and roster updates on Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a complete shutdown, an accident on California Street, and a drop in ridership because of the five dollar fare
  • 01-Sep-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Thanks to Wayne Miller, a photo of Market Street cable car 133 on its way to the scrapper in 1941
    • On the San Francisco page, a new page about Cable Car Businesses
    • Joe Lacey has been scanning items from his collection. Thanks to Joe for sharing them with this site:
      • On Walter Rice's A Photo Album of 1970s Cable Car Supporters: A certificate issued to those who attended the 100th anniversary celebration at Portsmouth Square in 1973. Another certificate issued to those who walked the Clay Street Hill route with Margot Patterson Doss on the following Sunday. A picnic invitation issued to the people of the Cable Car Division by Mayor Joe Alioto and the San Francisco Cable Car Centennial Committee
      • On Walter Rice and Val Lupiz's The Cable Car Lady & the Mayor: A certificate from the 1947 Citizen's Committee to Save the Cable Cars, signed by Mrs Friedel Klussmann. Also a new section on 1971's Proposition Q, with signs and a letter from the Cable Car Committee, which included Mrs Klussmann
      • On the Muni page: A 1967 want ad for cable car crew members
      • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage, a new section with several of Joe's items
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: A newspaper article about the second cable car line in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Heights Railroad.
      • TO RUN IN MAY/Cable Cars Will Traverse Montague Street, which talks plans to build the road.
    • Added Bibliography item: obituary of gripman Elwood F Nestler
  • 01-Aug-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Car 24 was the only piece of California Street rolling stock to survive the earthquake and fire.
    • On the San Francisco in 1906 page, 1906 newspaper articles describing the return of the California Street cable cars:
      • CABLE LINE TO OPEN NEXT WEEK/Car Service on California Street to Be Resumed Shortly (San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, August 8, 1906)
      • FEW REPAIRS FOR CALIFORNIA LINE/Cable Cars to Operate This Week Over Uninjured Roadbeds (San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, August 14, 1906)
      • FIRST CAR RUN ON CALIFORNIA STREET/Successful Test of the Cable Line Which Will Soon Be in Operation (San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, August 16, 1906)
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable cars in the 2006 San Francisco Carnaval Parade.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: A newspaper article about the second cable car line in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Heights Railroad.
      • DOWN THE HILL/A Cable Car Breaks Away on Montague Street, which talks about a runaway.
    • Added Bibliography items about the 2006 Bell Ringing contest. The stories have links to a podcast of the event.
  • 13-Jul-2006
    • Added the results of the 2006 Bell Ringing contest.
  • 01-Jul-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Walter Rice's photo of Powell Street car "715", to celebrate Barry Bonds passing Babe Ruth on the all-time list.
    • On the Muni page: A 1974 Powell/Mason schedule - warning LARGE images
    • On the new Inexplicable Cable Car Items section on the Kitsch page: Walter Rice found a souvenir magnet showing Sóller, Mallorca's famous Hyde Street cable car.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Three newspaper articles about the second cable car line in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Heights Railroad. THE FIRST CAR/Travels Over the Montague Street Road, which talks about an early demonstration run. THROWN THROUGH A WINDOW/Singular accident on the Montague Street Railroad, which talks about injuries caused by a sudden stop. BATH OF RED PAINT/Basis of a Damage Suit for $1,700 Instituted by Miss May Against W. J. Cockle, which is hard to explain. Also one more 1886 newspaper article about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. CABLE ROADS/Universal Interest Excited by the Brooklyn Experiment, which talks about how many companies were interested in the Johnson ladder cable technology. It includes a detailed description of the traction method.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a loose strand which shut down the Powell Street cable for most of a day
    • Archived April 2006 What's New and January-June 2005 News items.
  • 01-Jun-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Geary Street cable cars run among the ruins in 1906.
    • Results of the 2006 Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes
    • On the San Francisco in 1906 page, 1906 newspaper articles describing the return of the Geary Street cable cars, work on the California Street lines, and the replacement of United Railroads lines with electric traction:
      • GEARY-STREET CHIMNEY NOW READY FOR USE (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 15, 1906)
      • GEARY-STREET CARS AGAIN IN OPERATION CABLE UNDAMAGED AND SLOT NOT BADLY HURT (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 22, 1906)
      • CALIFORNIA STREET CARS/Cable Road Expects to Resume Operations by First of August (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 15, 1906)
      • TOO MANY CARS JUMPED TRACK/Service on Hayes Street Line Abandoned Until New Rail Can Be Laid. (San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, June 16, 1906)
      • WANT CABLE CARS TO RESUME OPERATION/McAllister Street Residents Would Have Old Line Run Again. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 1906)
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Five 1872-1899 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
    • Added a Bibliography item about a California Street shutdown
    • Archived March 2006 What's New.
  • 01-May-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Powell-Mason car 509 on the turntable at Powell and Market, scanned from a magazine ad by Walter Rice.
    • Try the new Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes
    • On the San Francisco page: A new page of Cable Car Advertising Images, scanned by Walter Rice.
    • Also on the San Francisco page: Added a 1951 Collier's Magazine image to The Cable Car Lady & the Mayor by Walter Rice and Val Lupiz, showing Mrs Friedel Klussmann and other cable car supporters.
    • Also on the San Francisco page: Walter Rice scanned Samuel Kahn's signature from a stock certificate as part of his article "An Interview With Mrs. Barbara Kahn Gardner, Daughter of Market Street Railway Executive Samuel Kahn"
    • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Val Lupiz and Walter Rice, a sign warning riders about the California Street line turnback because of the Chinese New Year parade, 2006.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Five 1870 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad and the Beach Pneumatic Subway
    • Added a News item about the 18-April-2006 celebrations
    • Archived February 2006 What's New.
  • 01-Apr-2006
    • Picture of the Month: The headline of the 19-April-1906 Call=Chronicle=Examiner, printed on the presses of the Oakland Tribune by a combination of three of San Francisco's major newspapers.
    • On the San Francisco page: A new page about San Francisco in 1906, describing the effect of the earthquake and fire on the city's cable car lines.
    • Also on the San Francisco page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, a detailed review about the movie I Love a Soldier, which featured Barry Fitzgerald as a gripman.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Three 1869 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
    • On the Kitsch page: Bachman ho cable car under the Christmas tree. 1954 and 1960 Bank of America magazine ads.
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to detail view of Number 514.
    • Archived January 2006 What's New.
  • 01-Mar-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Denver Tramway Company Car 40, preserved at the Forney Transportation Museum.
    • Added information about the Denver Tramway Company to the Other Cities page
    • On the Australia/New Zealand page: Thanks to Stuart James, a photograph of his great-grandfather in a Melbourne engine house
    • On the San Francisco page: An update to the second edition of Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco, by Robert Callwell & Walter E. Rice. New information about the powerhouse
    • Added Bibliography items about two books: The End of the Penny Section and Penang Trams
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Four 1868 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
    • Added a News item about a new book about Penang transit
    • Archived December 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Feb-2006
    • Picture of the Month: A Roslyn cable tram in Dunedin, New Zealand.
    • 24-February-2004 marks the 125th anniversary of Dunedin, New Zealand's Roslyn Tramway, the first Hallidie-type cable tram line outside of San Francisco. I also updated the small article on Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car to mention that the museum has just received grip car 3 restored to its 1905 appearance
    • Thanks to Walter Rice, "San Franciscans Fight to Keep Historic Cable Cars", a 1947 Life article about the beginning of the rebellion against Mayor Roger Lapham's plan to get rid of the Powell Street cable cars. Also "City I Love", a 1946 Time profile about Mayor Roger Lapham
    • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, a sign warning riders about the California Street line turnback on New Year's Eve, 2005.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the mayor accusing crewmen of skimming fares and a fatality on Mason Street
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Ten 1867-1868 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
    • Archived November 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Jan-2006
    • Picture of the Month: Car 507 at Washington/Mason in the 1920's.
    • Thanks to Walter Rice, "The Song of the Powell Street Grip", with a recorded reading by Craig Hulsebos of KEAR radio. Also updated the Ferries and Cliff House page.
    • On the Muni page: Links to live map's of Muni's cable car lines from NextBus
    • Added News items about Cal Cable rope unstranding, a new cable car dvd, and a new cd with historic streetcar photos
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: An 1887 newspaper article about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. WON’T BE RASH/Mr. Richardson Will Examine the Facts, which talks about how William Richardson got rooked by the cable people. It proves that the cable system was abandoned before 20-July-1887.
    • Archived October 2005 What's New, 2005 Anniversaries, and old news items.

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  • 08-Dec-2005
    • Added News item about Cal Cable car 23 being offerred to anyone who will take it
  • 01-Dec-2005
    • Picture of the Month: An invitation which Val Lupiz designed for the Cable Car Division's 2005 luncheon for Senior Citizens.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: The luncheon invitation
    • On the San Francisco page: A new page about Motorized Cable Cars. Notes from Walter Rice and Val Lupiz on Cal Cable 61/62
    • Also on the San Francisco page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, item about the movies Fools, part of which was shot in the cable car barn, and Fog Over Frisco, a 1934 movie with glimpses of cable cars.
    • On the Muni page: Thanks to Ray Long, a photo of 524 running on Broadway in Los Angeles for a 1949 Shriners parade
    • On the More MSR Photos page: Val Lupiz found a postcard of an MSR cable RPO car
    • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Walter Rice, a TWA poster
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Two 1886 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. WANTS TO USE THE CABLE, about a request for permission to use cable traction and CABLE ROAD/The Aldermen Inspect the New York Variety, about a junket to inspect a Manhattan line. Also an 1893 article, The Passing of Richardson, about the death of Brooklyn Cable Company promoter William Richardson
    • Added News items about new Powell Street cable car book signing and a meltdown on the Hyde Street line. Also added Nick Kibre photo to the item about Cal Cable car 59 in New Orleans
    • Added Bibliography items: Obituaries for Grimes Poznikov, Chester Smith, and Guillermo P Mendoza, Sr. Also a report of a 1980 publicity stunt
    • Archived September 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Nov-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Valencia Street cable car, 1904.
    • On the San Francisco page: San Francisco Cable Car Service, 1903 -- based on the San Francisco Official Street Railway Directory, 1903. Thanks to Walter Rice.
    • On the San Francisco page: A Photo Album of 1970s Cable Car Supporters by Walter Rice
    • On the More MSR Photos page: Valencia Street cable car, 1903
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: 1886 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. MR. RICHARDSON'S CABLE ROAD, about an early petition for permission to build the line and TO ADOPT JOHNSON'S SYSTEM, about the choice of the Johnson ladder cable system to operate it
    • Added News item about new Powell Street cable car book
    • Archived August 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Oct-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Powell and Market at 7am.
    • On the San Francisco page: San Francisco traffic code items about cable cars
    • On the More Muni Photos page: Powell Street photos
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: 1886 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. BUILDING THE CABLE ROAD, about early work on the road, The Cable System Authorized on Park Avenue, about the legal groundwork for the road, and THE CABLE ROAD/Names of its Seven Directors and its Stockholders, about the organization of the company
    • Archived July 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Sep-2005
    • Picture of the Month: A Peter Ehrlich photo of Dunedin, NZ cable tram 95.
    • On the Australia/New Zealand page: Peter Ehrlich's photos of a Dunedin cable tram
    • On the San Francisco page: Part Four of Walter Rice and Emiliano Echevarria's "When Steam Ran on the Streets of San Francisco: The Ocean Shore Railroad"
    • Added News and Bibliography items about accidents at Powell and California and California and Drumm. Also news items about the abusive $5 fare and the presentation of a cable car bell to the outgoing Archbishop
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: More 1887 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. The Rope Broke, about a rope break, and DISSATISFACTION ON THE CABLE ROAD, about labor unrest and a possible shutdown
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Cable cars in the 2005 San Francisco Carnaval Parade.
    • Added more Chronology items
    • Archived June 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Aug-2005
    • Picture of the Month: A Walter Rice photo of Powell Street car 25 with the round dash signs it sported until 1982.
    • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Walter Rice and Val Lupiz, a collection of Powell Street dash signs. Also an 1898 Cal Cable dividend check.
    • On the San Francisco page: Walter Rice has two more stories about Samuel Kahn, Market Street Railway's principal owner: "Samuel Kahn Paints a Streetcar White," about private party car San Francisco, and "Samuel Kahn, Inventor," about the creation of the White Front Car, with a copy of the patent
    • Also on the San Francisco page: Thanks to Phil Hoffman, an item about the movie I Love a Soldier, which featured Barry Fitzgerald as a gripman. Also thanks to Phil Hoffman, an update to the item about the movie In Harm's Way.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: More 1887 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. A CABLE CAR ACCIDENT, about a pedestrian getting injured, and . EXTENDING THE CABLE ROAD, about extending the cable and possibly running cars across the Brooklyn Bridge using the Johnson system
    • Thanks to Phil Hoffman, added Chronology item about Adlai Stevenson campaigning from the back platform of Powell car 504 in 1956. Added a Time Magazine photo of the event to the article on Photos of Car 44 (retired Powell Street car 504/4) at Pac Bell Park
    • Added more Chronology items
    • Archived May 2005 What's New.
  • 14-Jul-2005
    • Added the results of the 2005 Bell Ringing contest.
  • 01-Jul-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Jim Walker's 1962 photo of Cal Cable car 42 at a feed lot in Betteravia, California.
    • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Walter Rice, Rudy Brandt's 1945 Muni employee pass and his 1944 union card, and a menu from the Cable Car Cafe on Bay Street
    • On the San Francisco page: Walter Rice has more stories about Samuel Kahn, Market Street Railway's principal owner
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: More 1887 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York.
    • Added another News items about the return of Cal Cable car 42.
    • Added Bibliography items about a US News & World Report article and an obituary for Brian Jennings
    • Archived April 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Jun-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Walter Rice's photo of Cal Cable car 42.
    • On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Walter Rice and Val Lupiz, several new signs and posters
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: More 1887 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York.
    • Added News items about the return of Cal Cable car 42 and motorized cable cars in the 2005 Carnaval Parade.
    • Archived March 2005 What's New.
  • 01-May-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Muni Car 9, in the Market Street Railway's famous White Front paint scheme.
    • On the San Francisco page: Walter Rice's interview with Mrs. Barbara Kahn Gardner, daughter of Market Street Railway's principal owner, Samuel Kahn
    • Added the May installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip: "California, Here I Come"
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: 1887 newspaper articles about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York, and 1854 articles about the first horsecars in Brooklyn.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about a shutdown of the California Street cable car line. Added bibliography items and updated news items about the wildcat strike on 02-Mar-2005.
    • Archived February 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Apr-2005
    • Picture of the Month: The cover of the second edition of Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco.
    • On the Kitsch page: A Downbeat magazine cover and more Hard Rock Cafe pins.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: A contemporary newspaper article about the experimental non-grip line on the grounds of a lunatic asylum in Binghamton, New York
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the wildcat strike by Cable Car Division crews and the proposal to drastically increase cable car fares
    • On the Roster page: Powell Street Paint Schemes, with early examples of Blue and Gold and Green and Cream cars. Photos courtesy of Walter Rice.
    • Walter Rice provided another Sutro Railroad ticket and two current $3 collectors’ series tickets for the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets and Tokens page. Val Lupiz provided a rare Clay Street Hill Railroad ticket.
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to red Number 28.
    • Archived January 2005 What's New.
  • 01-Mar-2005
    • Picture of the Month: The cover of the second edition of Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco.
    • On the San Francisco page: The second edition of Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco, by Robert Callwell & Walter E. Rice. Although the second edition is available on this web site, it is not yet available in a print-and-paper book format.
    • On the New York/New Jersey page: Contemporary newspaper articles about cable cars in Manhattan, including the beginning of the Broadway line in 1893 and the end in 1901.
    • On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Car 504 decorated for a 1954 festival, thanks to Walter Rice.
    • Archived December 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Feb-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Geary Street Park and Ocean steam train.
    • February 16 marks the 125th birthday of the Geary Street Park and Ocean Railway
    • Added "When Steam Ran on The Streets of San Francisco," a series of three articles by Walter Rice and Emiliano Echeverria about steam street railway operations in San Francisco on the San Francisco page.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the destruction by fire of a Baltimore cable car powerhouse and barn
    • Archived November 2004 What's New, 2004 Anniversaries, and old news items.
  • 01-Jan-2005
    • Picture of the Month: Clay Street Hill grip car 8 and trailer 1 at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Added some information from Walter Rice about the display on the Chicago page.
    • Added "When Stationary Steam Engines Powered the Cable," an article by Walter Rice and Emiliano Echeverria about the Washington/Mason powerhouse.
    • Updated the Decorated Cable Cars article with photos of the 2004 batch and photos from the 1973 centennial.
    • Added newspaper articles from 1873 about the first test of the Clay Street Hill cable car line, and a series of political attacks on Andrew S Hallidie , who was running for state senate at the time
    • Archived October 2004 What's New, 2004 Anniversaries, and old news items.

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  • 01-Dec-2004
    • Picture of the Month: A Castro Cable car in the 1930's.
    • Thanks to Walter Rice, former Chair of the Friends of the Cable Car Museum:
      • Added "Market Street Railway's Efforts to Curtail Its Cable Car System," contemporary newspaper articles and photos with an introduction by Walter Rice.
      • Added Glen Hurlburt's "Cable Car Concerto," a 1947 composition that represents a ride on the Mason Street line, with an introductory essay by Walter Rice.
    • Archived September 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Nov-2004
    • Picture of the Month: A Pacific Avenue cable train in the 1920's.
    • Migrated one item from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Added "The Sutter Street Railway - History and Technology," an article by Walter Rice, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the abandonment of the Pacific Avenue cable line on 17 November.
    • Added a newspaper article about the hearing to allow the abandonment of the Pacific Avenue cable car line to the newspaper article page
    • Added a photo of Henry Casebolt's balloon car to the Who page
    • Added a new article by Walter Rice about the 1950 Broadway Tunnel Construction Project and how it caused the O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde line to be temporarily replaced by Ford buses. Photos from Robert Townley and Walter Vielbaum.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about some outages and an accident that occurred in October
    • Archived August 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Oct-2004
    • Picture of the Month: The header of a Rider Alert card issued during the 2002 Powell/Market Turntable Replacement. The other side was in English. The Bay/Taylor turntable is being replaced this month.
    • Added the October installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip
    • Thanks to information from Rich Fill, updated the article about the Park Hill Incline, a funicular in Yonkers.
    • Migrated one item from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Added "The Wire Rope Street Railways of San Francisco, California," an 1881 article by Andrew Hallidie from the Scientific American Supplement, collected by Val Lupiz, with an introduction by Walter Rice.
    • On the page about the 2002 Powell/Market Street Turntable Replacement page: Scans of a rider alert card in English and Chinese. Also a News item about the current Bay/Taylor turntable replacement.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about some outages that occurred in September
    • Added more Chronology items
    • Archived July 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Sep-2004
    • Picture of the Month: Grant Dew's photograph of the East Cliff Lift in Hastings, East Sussex, UK.
    • On the UK page: Thanks to information and photos from Grant Dew, a new article about Cliff Lifts.
    • On the More Muni photos page: Photos of Car 44 (retired Powell Street car 4) at Pac Bell Park, including a photo taken in August by Walter Rice, and a photo I took in February of the car wrapped in tarps for the winter.
    • Migrated one item from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Added "Market Street Railway Company Past, Present and Future", a 1925 article from the San Francisco News Letter, with an introduction by Walter Rice.
    • Added News and Chronology items about Val Lupiz being named Muni's Runner Up as Systemwide Operator of the Month for July, 2004. Congratulations, Val.
    • Added more Chronology items
    • Archived Jun 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Aug-2004
    • Picture of the Month: A stamp showing former cable car 72/73 in Douglas, Isle of Man, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the abandonment of the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway.
    • In honor of the 75th anniversary of the abandonment of the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway, added some new items on the UK page: Articles by Walter Rice about the Isle of Man Railway and the Manx Electric Railway.
    • Added photos from the 2004 Bell Ringing contest, including photos of all the finalists. Also added more information about the contests from 1985 through 1994, and an article by Muni historian Bob Callwell about the history of the contest: "The Annual Cable Car Bell-Ringing Contest - A San Francisco Tradition". I added photos of Cal Cable's Alexander Nielsen, who won the first contest in 1949, and Francesca Cresci, Miss Cable Car 1972
    • Added two 1892 magazine articles about the end of the original Clay Street Hill Railroad, with and introduction by Walter Rice
    • Migrated one item from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Added "Proper Techniques and Body Positions for Cable Car Gripmen", a 1972 ergonomic memo preserved by RT Murphy to the page with the 1976 "Instructions for Cable Car Operations", also preserved by Bob.

      Thanks to RT Murphy for allowing me to be the new host of this material

    • Walter Rice provided another Sutro Railroad ticket for the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets and Tokens page.
    • Added more Chronology items
    • Added Search this Site function.
    • Archived May 2004 What's New and Jan-Jun, 2003 News.
  • 08-Jul-2004
    • Added the results of the 2004 Bell Ringing contest.
  • 01-Jul-2004
    • Picture of the Month: A New York Metropolitan Street Railway cable car
    • Added some new items on the New York/New Jersey page. Cable Car Run Amuck is an 1893 newspaper article about a runaway cable car on Broadway. Also an article about the Park Hill Incline, a funicular in Yonkers.
    • Migrated some more items from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • The Cable Car Lady & the Mayor by Walter Rice and Val Lupiz on the San Francisco page, an article about the epic battle between Mrs Friedel Klussmann and Mayor Roger Lapham.
      • The Great Orme Tramway: The Cable Car of Wales, another article by Walter Rice, about the only street-running funicular in the United Kingdom.

      Thanks to Walter Rice and Val Lupiz for allowing me to be the new host of this material

    • Added News and Bibliography items about the party marking the 20th anniversary of the return of the cable cars after the Great Reconstruction
    • Archived April 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Jun-2004
    • Picture of the Month: Program marking the return of the cable cars in 1984
    • Added 20-Years of Being Back and Building for the Future, a new essay by Val Lupiz and Walter Rice, about the return of the cable cars after the 1982-1984 reconstruction on the San Francisco page.
    • Migrated some more items from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Cable Car Transfers, Tickets and Tokens by Walter Rice. With a new 1970's child's ticket.
      • TOWED BY RAIL, an 1878 Saint Nicholas Magazine article about cable cars, from Tom Ehrenreich's much-missed Railroad Extra site.

      Thanks to Walter Rice and Tom Ehrenreich for allowing me to be the new host of this material

    • Added the June installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip
    • Added News and Bibliography items about the California cable car shutdown and the passing of Arnold Greeley
    • Archived March 2004 What's New.
  • 01-May-2004
    • Picture of the Month: People protest the end of the O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde line
    • Added newspaper articles about the decision to abandon most of the former Cal Cable system, the last days of the O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde line, the cutback of the California Street mainline, and Proposition E. Added a new essay by Walter Rice about Gellett Burgesss' poem "The Ballad of the Hyde Street Grip", with a recorded reading by Craig Hulsebos of KEAR radio. Also updated the Cal Cable page.
    • Is It "Mahoney" or "Mahony?", a new essay by Walter Rice
    • Migrated some more items from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • San Francisco Cable Car Chronology by Walter Rice
      • SAN FRANCISCO: that was THE CITY that was by Val Golding

      Thanks to Val Golding and Walter Rice for allowing me to be the new host of this material

    • Archived February 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Apr-2004
    • Picture of the Month: A detail from a magazine ad showing 519 at Powell and Market
    • Migrated some more items from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Instructions for Cable Car Operations (collected by RT Murphy)

      Thanks to RT Murphy and Walter Rice for allowing me to be the new host of this material

    • Added the April installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip
    • New items on the Kitsch page: including magazine ads and items from the 1982-1984 Great Reconstruction
    • Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to Bachman HO 4.
    • Added Bibliography items
    • Archived January 2004 What's New.
  • 01-Mar-2004
    • Picture of the Month: An elevator full of grips at Washington/Mason
    • Started to migrate some items from the Cable Car Museum site:
      • Historic American Engineering Record, San Francisco Cable Car System (assembled by Alan Kline)
      • Cal Cable's Hyde and California Street Car Barn and Powerhouse by Walter Rice and Emiliano Echevarria
      • San Francisco Cable Car - The Gripping Tale of an Aged Compact, an April, 1962 Road and Track article collected by Val Lupiz

      Thanks to Allan Kline, Val Lupiz, Walter Rice, and Emiliano Echevarria for allowing me to be the new host of this material

    • Rolled out new page: More Muni Photos, including photos taken around Washington/Mason
    • Archived December 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Feb-2004
    • Picture of the Month: Last day of the Jones Street Shuttle
    • Add newspaper articles about the last days of the California Street Cable Railroad's Jones Street Shuttle and updated the Cal Cable page
    • Updated my article about the 2003 Cable Car Bell Ringing Invitational with information from its organizer, Nick Tomizawa
    • Add information about the retirement of old car 28 and the rollout of new car 28 to the roster page
    • Add a photo of the former powerhouse and information about the discovery of a turntable base to the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company article on the Other California Cities page
    • Archived November 2003 What's New, 2003 Anniversaries, and old news items.
  • 01-Jan-2004
    • Picture of the Month: GSPO terminal at Geary and Kearney
    • Add newspaper articles about the last days of the Geary Street, Park and Ocean and updated the GSPO page
    • Add new page about Decorated Cable Cars
    • Add article about Ray McCann to the Who page
    • Add News item about Cable Car Division Senior Luncheon
    • Archived October 2003 What's New, 2003 Anniversaries, and old news items.

    ---

  • 03-Dec-2003
    • Added special Christmas installment of Val Lupiz's column, Tales From the Grip
  • 01-Dec-2003
    • Picture of the Month: Christmas tree with cable cars
    • Added the December installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip
    • On the San Francisco page: Added photos of Christmas decorations to Joe Lacey's article Christmas on the Cables.
    • Archived September 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Nov-2003
    • Picture of the Month: Paris cable tram
    • On the Other Cities page: Paris - Tramway Funiculaire de Belleville", the only Hallidie-type cable line in France
    • "Le Tramway Funiculaire De Belleville", my attempt at translating an 1890 magazine article about the line
    • Added photos to my article about the 40th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Added banner and News item about raffle to support Cable Car Division Senior Luncheon
    • Archived August 2003 What's New and July-December 2002 news items.
  • 16-Oct-2003
    • Added an article about the 40th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
  • 01-Oct-2003
    • Picture of the Month: Belding silk ad with Chicago cable train
    • On the Chicago page: "Memories" a poem by Franklin P Adams. Also more images, including a stereo view of State and Madison.
    • On the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page, updated article about Tacoma's Steve's Cable Car Room. Thanks to Ron Gates for information and photos about the disposition of the cable car booths.
    • On the California Street Cable Railroad page, I added an item about a former Cal Cable car which was being prepared to promote a restaurant in Portland, Oregon
    • Archived July 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Sep-2003
    • Picture of the Month: A rainy day at Hayes and Van Ness in 1890
    • Added more photos to the Market Street Cable Railway and More Market Street Pictures pages. Thumbnailed pictures on page with excerpt from "South of the Slot" by Jack London
    • Rolled out new page about the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest
    • Added information about new cable car fares.
    • Added 1903 phone numbers for several SF companies.
    • Archived June 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Aug-2003
    • Picture of the Month: Seattle, Second and Madison
    • Added the August installment of Val Lupiz's quarterly column, Tales From the Grip
    • Added more about Seattle cable cars and counterbalances to the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page.
    • Added Disney pin and Italian Charm to the Kitsch page.
    • Added photos to the SF Muni page: Washington/Jackson and old Powell/Mason dash signs and on the Ferries & Cliff House Railway page a Sacramento/Clay sign, all thanks to Val Lupiz
    • Archived May 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Jul-2003
    • Picture of the Month: The Skagit Incline
    • Add the Skagit Incline to the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page.
    • Added photos to the SF Muni page: dash signs and a sign in Chinese, and some highlights from Muni's 2003 draft Short Range Transit Plan
    • Added News and Bibliography items about an accident on Powell Street and a Cal Cable shutdown. Added news item about the retirement of Cable Car Division's Saddati Ahmad
    • Archive April 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Jun-2003
    • Move to new domain: www.cable-car-guy.com
    • Picture of the Month: Butte cable car
    • Add the Butte City Street Railroad to the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page.
    • Added more photos to my illustrated article about the California Street Cable Railroad 125th anniversary.
    • Added News items about the Carnaval Parade, with a photo by Val Lupiz, who drove car 62, and a serious accident on the California Street cable line.
    • Archive March 2003 What's New.
  • 01-May-2003
    • Added Val Lupiz's new quarterly column, Tales From the Grip to the San Francisco Miscellany page. Thanks to Val for choosing to host his column here.
    • Picture of the Month: South Spokane cable car
    • Add the Spokane Cable Railway to the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page.
    • Added an illustrated article about the California Street Cable Railroad 125th anniversary. Also added Bibliography items about the party.
    • Added News and Bibliography items about Walter Rice and Emiliano Echeverria's new book San Francisco's California Street Cable Car/Celebrating a Century and a Quarter of Service.
    • Archive February 2003 What's New.
  • 10-Apr-2003
    • Add News item about the California Street Cable Railroad 125th anniversary.
  • 01-Apr-2003
    • Picture of the Month: Cal Cable centennial cachet
    • California Street Cable Railroad 125th anniversary. More pictures on the More Cal Cable Pictures page.
    • Add more items, especially special Muni passes and Lefton models to the Kitsch page.
    • Add excerpt from book Travels With Jottings, which describes an 1880 trip on the California Street Cable Railroad
    • Add information about new car 60 to the roster page
    • Add News items about anti-war protests
    • Change toy cable car picture on the main page to wood and metal Cal Cable 4.
    • Archive January 2003 What's New.
  • 01-Feb-2003
    • Picture of the Month: Portland, Oregon cable car
    • Add the Portland Cable Railway to the Cable Cars in the Pacific Northwest page
    • Thumbnail pictures on the California Street Cable Railroad and More California Street Pictures pages.
    • Add News and Bibliography items about proposed fare increase.
    • Archive November 2002 What's New.

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  • 01-Dec-2002
    • Picture of the Month: New Powell/Market turntable
    • Add the Beach Pneumatic Subway to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add article about the Powell Street Turntable Replacement to the San Francisco page.
    • Added photos and thumbnailed others on the Clay Street Hill Railroad page. Also expanded added photos and expanded article on Andrew S Hallidie on the Who page.
    • Add photos to the News items about the bell ringing contest and Powell Street turntable replacement.
    • Archive September 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Nov-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Third Avenue, New York, parlor car
    • Add the Metropolitan Street Railway to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Also added a photo of Brooklyn Heights Railroad cable cars on Montague Street.
    • Add News items about bell ringing contest and Powell Street shutdown.
    • Archive August 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Oct-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Third Avenue, New York, parlor car
    • Add the Third Avenue Railroad to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add News and Bibliography items about an assault on a gripman and rededication of Seattle's Iron Pergola.
    • Archive July 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Sep-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Brooklyn Bridge cross section
    • Add the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable-driven rapid transit line, to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add an article about the Malayasian Penang Hills Funicular Railway to the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand. I know it is not in Australia or New Zealand, but it's in the same hemisphere and Ric Francis, who kindly provided the information and the illustrations, is Australian.
    • Add photo of Byron Cobb to News item about Union Square reopening.
    • Add cable diameter measurement to How page.
    • Archive June 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Aug-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Great Orme car 5 entering Victoria Station
    • Add Llandudno Wale's Great Orme Tramway, a unique street-running funicular, to the UK page, in honor of the 100th anniversary of its lower section.
    • Add News item about Union Square reopening and date for bell ringing contest.
    • Walter Rice pointed out that it was never the "California Street Cable Railway", so I changed it to "Railroad" in various places.
    • Archive May 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Jul-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Charles T Harvey testing his West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway.
    • Add Manhattan's West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a pre-Hallidie cable line and the first elevated railway, to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add article about Charles T Harvey to the Who page
    • Add two articles about the 1949 Cal Cable strike to the Newspaper article page
    • Add Selected articles from Manufacturer and Builder Magazine (1870-1879) to the Miscellany page. This contains many articles about early els in New York.
    • Add News item about reconstruction of Seattle's Iron Pergola.
    • Archive Apr 2002 What's New and Jan-Jun 2001 newspaper articles.
  • 01-Jun-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Warning sign at Washington/Mason barn.
    • Add Brooklyn's Brooklyn Heights Railroad to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Roll out new page of newspaper articles about cable cars, with articles about the end of the Pacific Avenue line and a 1935 accident at Powell and California.
    • Add photos to the San Francisco Municipal Railway page and make images into thumbnails. Also thumbnailed photos on roster page. Mentioned car 524's 1950 visit to LA.
    • Add grip and yoke photos to the How page and add link to cable car bell wav file. Also add background sound to cover page.
    • Add News and bibliography items about California Street cable break and new cable car book.
    • Split Links and Selected Articles from Manufacturer and Builder (3/ 4) pages into two pages because of new Geocities page size limit.
    • Archive Mar 2002 What's New.
  • 01-May-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Former Omnibus Railroad cable car used as passenger car on the Mill Valley & Mount Tamalpais Railroad.
    • Add Brooklyn's Brooklyn Cable Company to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add photos to the Omnibus Railroad page and make images into thumbnails. Add Sanborn maps of the powerhouses.
    • Add photo of Fannie Barnes to the Who page
    • Thanks to Len Foley for pointing out that my Dunedin photographs were of the Maryhill and not the Roslyn line. Thanks to Walter Rice for pointing out some errors in my Muni page
    • Add obituary for engineer Bud Meyers to Bibliography.
    • Archive Feb 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Apr-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Muni cable car transfer.
    • Add Binghamton's Washington Street & State Asylum Railroad to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add more items, especially transfers and tokens to the Kitsch page.
    • Add Kaprun fire and more articles about Angels Flight to the Bibliography.
    • Add many links, including the North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society and Randall's Lost New York City
    • Change toy cable car picture on the main page to front view of car 514.
    • Archive Jan 2002 What's New.
  • 01-Mar-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Driving drum from a Rasmussen non-grip system.
    • Add Newark's Essex Passenger Railway/Newark and Irvington Street Railway to the Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page.
    • Add Turning the Cars to the How page.
    • Add Sanborn maps of Los Angeles cable powerhouses to the Other California Cities page.
    • Add magazine article about 1883 experimental electric line in Newark
    • Review all links and fix or remove dead ones.
    • Archive Dec 2001 What's New.
  • 01-Feb-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Car 24, formerly 524.
    • Add Chicago West Divsion, a short-lived experimental implementation, to the Chicago page
    • Add 524 at the Fair, about San Francisco cable car 524's visit to the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair to the Chicago page -
    • Add more photos to the Chicago page
    • Add books Mind the Curve and Halfway to the Stars, article about decline in ridership, and obituary for Raymond McCann to Bibliography.
    • Add items about call to fill in Hallidie Plaza to News and Bibliography. Include photo of Cable Car Coffee. Also added news item about Olympic torch.
    • Archive Nov 2001 What's New. Split What's New archive onto separate page.
  • 01-Jan-2002
    • Picture of the Month: Hoboken elevated
    • Roll out new Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey page with an article on the Hoboken's North Hudson County Railway.
    • Sutter Street Railway cable traction 125th anniversary. Add photos to the Sutter Street Railway page and make images into thumbnails. Add Sanborn maps of powerhouses. Also thumbnailed photos on McTeague page.
    • Add Henry Casebolt to the Who page
    • Add photos to the Geary Street, Park and Ocean page and make images into thumbnails. Add Sanborn maps of both powerhouses.
    • Archive news stories, 2001 Anniversaries, and Jan-Oct 2001 What's New.

    ---

  • 01-Dec-2001
    • Picture of the Month: North Sydney cable tram
    • Roll out new Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page with an article on the Sydney's New South Wales Government Tramways. Also photos of Dunedin's Roslyn Tramway and Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car, a funicular.
    • Add George Smith Duncan to the Who page
    • Add another photo to the Presidio and Ferries page and make images into thumbnails. Add Sanborn maps of Union & Leavenworth powerhouse and the Jefferson/Lyon roundhouse.
    • Add Sanborn maps of Sacramento Street carhouse and California/Laurel roundhouse to the Ferries and Cliff House and more Sacramento/Clay photos to the More Ferries and Cliff House page.
    • Add photo of Santa arriving at the Emporium to Joe Lacey's Christmas on the Cables article.
    • Revise Mount Lowe article with corrections and new information. Thanks to Michael Patris.
  • 01-Nov-2001
    • Picture of the Month: Powell/Mason car 5
    • Fifth Anniversary - November, 1996 - November, 2001
    • Add "The Cable Street-Railway" magazine article
    • Add more photos to the Ferries and Cliff House and More Ferries and Cliff House page and make images into thumbnails. Includes Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Washington/Mason
    • Revise Los Angeles Temple Street Cable Railway with some new information. Thanks to Ray Long
    • Add "Reflections After Five Years" to the Why page
  • 01-Oct-2001 (Fall, 2001)
    • Picture of the Month: Retired Glasgow Subway cars
    • Add articles on Glasgow's Glasgow District Subway and the Liverpool United Tramways to the Cable Car Lines in the UK page.
    • Add Selected articles from Manufacturer and Builder Magazine (1890-1899) to the Miscellany page.
    • Update Other California Cities and Los Angles Area Funiculars pages. Change images to thumbnails. Added more images of Second Street Cable Railway and Knott's Berry Farm cable cars.
    • Added more images of the Fillmore Hill Counterbalance, the Telegraph Hill Railroad, and the California/Powell signal tower to the San Francisco page.
    • Bob Murphy provided photographs of the North Melbourne Winding House, which I added to the Melbourne article.
    • Added article on Charles Smallwood to the Who page.
    • Reorganize Newspaper section of the bibliography by subject.
  • 01-Jul-2001 (Summer, 2001)
    • Picture of the Quarter: Upper Douglas car 72/73
    • Roll out new Cable Car Lines in the UK page with an article on the Isle of Man's Upper Douglas Cable Tramway.
    • Move London's Highgate Hill Cable Tramway to the UK page and add thumbnails.
    • Update San Francisco page. Change images to thumbnails. Added two more images of Carville.
    • Add article about Private Funiculars to the Los Angeles Area Funiculars page.
    • Add Liverpool United and Chicago West Division experimental installations to the Where page.
    • Add Selected articles from Manufacturer and Builder Magazine (1885-1889) to the Miscellany page.
    • Add photo of Mrs Klussmann and new article about her nemesis, Roger Lapham, to the Who page.
    • Update Market Street Cable Railway and Omnibus Railroad & Cable Company with colors of their lines.
  • 01-Apr-2001 (Spring, 2001)
    • Picture of the Quarter: Will Clark riding on cable car
    • Add more items to the Kitsch page, including stamps and magazine advertisements.
    • Add Selected articles from Manufacturer and Builder Magazine (1880-1884) to the Miscellany page.
    • Update How Do Cable Cars Work? page. Changed images to thumbnails. Added girder rail image from Randy Hees and other new images.
    • Bob Murphy provided a photograph of the Gertrude Street Cable Winding House, which I added to the Melbourne article. Peter Vawser provided additional information about Melbourne cable tramways.
    • Add links to Kavanaugh Transit site, North American Vintage Trolley Systems and many others.
    • Add News and Bibliography items about a truck knocking down Seattle's Iron Pergola. Also
    • Add News and Bibliography items about Angel's Flight runaway accident. Also updated the Los Angeles Area Funiculars page.
    • Move Kalakala article to my ferry web site.
    • Change toy cable car picture on the main page to car 51.
    • Move "The Los Angeles Cable Railway" article from Scientific American (courtesy of Tom Ehrenreich) to another server.
  • 01-Jan-2001 (Winter, 2001)
    • Picture of the Quarter: Market/Hayes cable car by IW Taber
    • Roll out More Market Street Pictures page.
    • Add "The Los Angeles Cable Railway" article from Scientific American, courtesy of Tom Ehrenreich.
    • Ray Long provided two photographs of the Industry Hills Incline, one of Sacramento/Clay car 16 on the Emporium roof and one of Cal Cable 56 at Washington/Mason.
    • Add section on The Electrical System to How Page.
    • Add Beebe book and article about ergonomic adjustments to turntable to Bibliography.
    • Archive news stories, 2000 Anniversaries, and Jul-Oct 2000 What's New. Add counter history to archive page.

    ---

  • 01-Oct-2000 (Fall, 2000)
    • Picture of the Quarter: Geary and Market
    • Roll out Excerpts From The Octopus page.
    • Join more webrings: Funicular, Trolley & Interurban, Tram, and International Transportation.
  • 01-Sep-2000
    • Picture of the Month: Fairfax funicular
    • Add Fairfax funicular article to the San Francisco Miscellany page.
    • Add news item and other remarks about old car 4 being installed at Pac Bell Park.
    • Add news item and bibliography item about new cable car book.
    • Add news item about car 9 mishap.
  • 01-Aug-2000
    • Picture of the Month: Philadelphia Traction train
    • Roll out Philadelphia Traction Company on the Other Cities page.
    • Add news item about bell ringing contest
    • Bibliography: update information about J Bucknall Smith book.
  • 01-Jul-2000
    • Picture of the Month: State Street, Chicago at night
    • Roll out page with excerpt from "South of the Slot" by Jack London.
    • Add State Street at night postcard to Chicago page
    • Add more information about Portland Cable Trams Inc to Melbourne page. Add thanks to Bruce McMillan for the information.
    • Add link to John Smatlak's Railway Preservation Resources page
    • Add photo of Benjamin Brooks to Who page
    • Archive news stories and Jan-Jun 2000 What's New
  • 01-Jun-2000
    • Picture of the Month: DB Fisk Advertisement
    • Mystery Picture Contest results.
    • Roll out Seattle Miscellany section with article about ferry Kalakala.
    • Add newspaper items about ferry Kalakala and Demoro Key System books to bibliography.
    • Add mention of 1897 movie clip to Chicago page
    • Add thanks to First & Fastest, a magazine about the electric railways in the Chicago area for recommending this site in its Summer, 2000 issue. Add thanks to Val Golding for supplying newspaper clippings about Kalakala. Add thanks to Yahoo for listing this site in its directory. Add link to Clive Mottram's Tramway and Trolleybus Images.
  • 01-May-2000
    • Picture of the Month: Mystery Picture Number One
    • Roll out Mystery Picture Contest page.
    • Roll out article by Emiliano J Echeverria about the California/Powell signal tower on the San Francisco Miscellany page. Add references on How/CSC/FCH/Muni pages.
    • Add DOA to Movies Which Feature Cable Cars list.
    • Add info about new Car 9 to roster. Add story to bibliography.
    • Add link for Harry Marnell's California Trolleys page. Add link to SF Seals web site.
  • 01-Apr-2000
    • Picture of the Month: Cable Car Room menu
    • Roll out Cable Car Kitsch page.
    • Change toy cable car picture on the main page to car 504.
    • Use database table in Where & When page.
    • Add news items for Powell Street suspension and Hallidie anniversary.
    • Add links for the Baltimore Streetcar Museum and the Baltimore Transit Archives and remove dead Bay Area Backroads link. Add link for GGIE.com.
    • Join Blickpunkt Straßenbahn web ring.
  • 01-Feb-2000
    • Picture of the Month: North Chicago cable trains at the La Salle Street tunnel, Chicago
    • Add North Chicago Street Railway to Chicago page.
    • Add article about the Patent Trust to the Miscellany page
    • Add C T Yerkes to the Who page
    • Move Thanks/Links to a separate page
    • Add postcard of former cable car used on Mount Tamalpais railroad to San Francisco/Omnibus page
    • Add information about iron pergola in Seattle
    • Add information about modern Portland, Victoria tourist cable tram project to the Melbourne page
  • 01-Jan-2000
    • Picture of the Month: State Street, Chicago
    • Roll out Chicago page with Chicago City Railway and excerpt from The Pit by Frank Norris.
    • Add Miscellany page
    • Add C B Holmes and Asa Hovey to the Who page
    • Add items about Muni's New Year's Eve plans to news and bibliography
    • Add links to Library of Congress page about cable cars and Don's Railspot
    • Archive news stories, 1999 Anniversaries, and Jul-Dec 1999 What's New

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  • 01-Dec-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Highgate Hill, London
    • Roll out Highgate Hill Cable Tramway on the Other Cities page. Add thanks to Stuart Jenkins
    • Roll out Los Angeles area funiculars/Industry Hills and Getty Center on the Other California Cities page
    • Add IW Hellman to the Who page
    • Add California/Drumm and old Cal Cable barn photos to the More California Pictures page
    • Add National Geographic Carville article to bibliography
  • 01-Nov-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Mount Washington, Los Angeles
    • Roll out Los Angeles area funiculars/Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway on the Other California Cities page
    • Add Fillmore Hill counterbalance postcard to the SF page
    • Add news item and bibliography item about a collision at Washington and Taylor
  • 01-Oct-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Powell and Mason, 1880's
    • Roll out More Ferries and Cliff House Pictures page
    • Roll out Los Angeles area funiculars/Court Flight and Catalina on the Other California Cities page
    • Add news item and bibliography item about a loose strand
    • Add RR Extra to links
    • Updated SF Roster page
  • 01-Sep-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Angel's Flight.
    • Roll out Los Angeles area funiculars/Angel's Flight on the Other California Cities page
    • Add link to new site from the Friends of the Cable Car Museum
    • Add cable car sudden stop to news & bibliography
  • 01-Aug-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Mount Lowe incline.
    • Roll out Los Angeles area funiculars/Mount Lowe on the Other California Cities page
    • Roll out articles on movies featuring cable cars and Joe Lacey's remarks on making movies and commercials with cable cars on the SF detail page
    • Add link to Bruce Kliewe's site about the Great Reconstruction
    • Add news item about the cable car bell ringing contest
    • Add magazine article about Professor Lowe's Civil War service to the bibliography
  • 01-Jul-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Henry Casebolt's overhead cable line.
    • Roll out Casebolt line on the Other California Cities page
    • Added magazine articles about New Orleans trade and St Paul history to bibliography
    • Added thanks for links to Mike Irlam, Tad Lane Creations, the Australian Narrow Gauge Railway Museum Society, and the Blickpunkt Straßenbahn.
    • Change url on NMRA directory link
    • Archive news stories and Jan-Jun 1999 What's New
  • 01-Jun-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Converted San Diego Cable Railway car.
    • Roll out San Diego Cable Railway on the Other California Cities page
    • Add link to new French site about cable cars. The third site on the web.
    • Add Scott Ostler column about turntable problems to the bibliography
  • 01-May-1999
    • Picture of the Month: California Street cable car in Muni colors.
    • Roll out Consolidated Piedmont Cable Railway on the Other California Cities page
    • Add More California Street Pictures page
    • Add item about California Street reopening to the news
  • 01-Apr-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Oakland Cable Railway car.
    • Roll out Oakland Cable Railway on the Other California Cities page
    • Add Knott's Berry Farm cable car article to Los Angeles miscellany on the Other California Cities page
    • Add thanks/links to cable car email list and Railway Preservation News. Add links to The American Heritage Time Machine and The Engines of Our Ingenuity.
    • Add Powell and California Street pictures to the roster page
  • 01-Mar-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Los Angeles Cable Railway Cape Horn viaduct.
    • Roll out Los Angeles Cable Railway/Pacific Railway on the Other California Cities page
    • Add Burgess picture to "Hyde Street Grip" page, add SSR and Norris pictures to McTeague page, and Madison Street Hill to Seattle page
  • 01-Feb-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Los Angeles Temple Street Cable Railway cable train.
    • Roll out Los Angeles Temple Street Cable Railway on the Other California Cities page
    • Add car 512 toy picture to main page, Hallidie picture to Who page, and Collins Street picture to Melbourne page
    • Add SF Beautiful link to Who page
    • Add Fickeworth book to bibliography
    • Add news item about California Street conduit replacement
    • Roll out train spotting page
  • 01-Jan-1999
    • Picture of the Month: Los Angeles Second Street Cable Railway cable train.
    • Roll out Other California Cities page with the Los Angeles Second Street Cable Railway
    • Add link about the Katoomba Scenic Railway to the Australia page.
    • Archive news stories, 1998 Anniversaries, and Jul-Dec 1998 What's New

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  • 14-Dec-1998
    • Added "Christmas on the Cables" by Joe Lacey to the SF page.
  • 01-Dec-1998
    • Picture of the Month: "A Sunday Load".
    • Add excerpts from article "The Parks of San Francisco" and "A Sunday Load" picture to the SF Miscellany section
    • Add California & Powell accident to news & bibliography
    • Fix some typos
  • 01-Nov-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Broadway, NY accident.
    • Add Broadway, NY picture and two Cal Cable wreck photos to How page
    • Add information about bells & brakes to the How page
    • Add thanks to Joe Lacey and quote him on bells on the How page
    • Add article about Fillmore Hill counterbalance to the SF Miscellany section
    • Add information about turntable helpers to news & bibliography
    • Add link to EHRA, replacing SF Online link
    • Add link to Rick Russel's The Trolley Stop and Seashore Trolley Museum pages.
  • 01-Oct-1998
    • Picture of the Month: URR Valencia Street Car.
    • Add MSR photo to MSR page
    • Add article about Telegraph Hill Railroad to the SF Miscellany section
    • Add powered turntable suggestion to news & bibliography
    • Add new links to Melbourne page
    • Finished moving back to subdirectories
  • 01-Sep-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Sacramento & Grant.
    • Move Omnibus to separate page. Add more information about the company. Add inline Union Hall picture.
    • Add 125th anniversary to news & bibliography
    • Add guest book
    • Add Section 16.100 of the San Francisco City Charter and current route map to the SF Miscellany section
    • Created news archive. Moved GSPO powerhouse & Mrs Klussman stories
    • Start moving back to subdirectories
  • 01-Aug-1998
    • The 125th Anniversary
    • Picture of the Month: Clay & Leavenworth.
    • Roll out three new pages: Who, Why, and a Site Map
    • Move Presidio & Ferries to separate page. Add more information about the company. Add inline 1906 & steam dummy pictures.
    • Add Powell/Post accident to news & bibliography
    • Finish changing link colors and adding height/width to all pictures
  • 01-Jul-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Melbourne cable tram.
    • Roll out Other Cities page featuring Melbourne, Australia
    • Add News previews about bell ringing contest & 125th anniversary party
    • Archive Jan-Jun 1998 What's New
  • 01-Jun-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Washington & Mason.
    • Move SF Muni to separate page. Add more information about the company. Add inline W/M picture & move Hyde St Hill picture from roster page.
    • Add excerpt from Chapter One of McTeague to SF detail page.
    • Add link to Peter Warwick's Niagara Transportation Center.
    • Remove obsolete Bay Guardian link.
  • 01-May-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Powell & Post.
    • Move Ferries & Cliff House to separate page. Add more information about the company and its steam dummy operations. Add Powell/Post, Powell/Geary & steam dummy pictures.
  • 01-Apr-1998
    • Move site from AOL to GeoCities.
    • Picture of the Month: Geary St/Central Ave.
    • Move GSPO to separate page. Add more information about the company. Add Lotta's Fountain & Geary 1906 pictures.
    • Add JW Harris and LA Cable Powerhouse pictures to How page. Add Travel Town and California & Grant, 1945 pictures to Cal Cable page. Add O'Farrell St picture to "Ballad of the Hyde St Grip" page.
    • Add link to Michel Marin's Répertoire des sites ferroviaires.
    • Add thanks to Ron Westlund and Richard Schlaich.
    • Add current fare information to SF detail page.
  • 01-Mar-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Sutter St/Temple Emanu El.
    • Move Sutter St Ry to separate page. Add more information about the company. Add Sutter/Temple Emanu El and Sutter St train pictures.
    • Add information about Benjamin Brooks to Clay St Hill page and add thanks to Phil Brooks for supplying it. Add newspaper article to bibliography.
    • Add more anniversaries.
    • Add link to Chicago Transit/Metra Railfan Page.
    • Add item about Carville to SF detail page.
  • 01-Feb-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Carville.
    • Add news items about Fannie Mae Barnes and Carville survivor.
    • Move Clay St Hill to separate page. Add Clay/Taylor and Clay/Leavenworth pictures.
    • Add link to Jon Bell's page.
    • Add more anniversaries.
  • 01-Jan-1998
    • Picture of the Month: Yesler Way grip car.
    • Move Cal Cable to separate page. Add California & Grant pictures.
    • Roll out archive page.

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  • 01-Dec-1997
    • Change picture on initial page from Cal Cable train to Hyde St hill.
    • Move SF Market St Cable Ry to separate page. Add links to old Ferry Building & file frame pictures.
    • Roll out surviving cable car roster page.
  • 01-Nov-1997
    • Change picture on initial page from MSR open car to Cal Cable train.
    • Remove obsolete link to David Letterman in SF top ten lists.
    • Remove link JW Harris picture to conserve disk space.
    • Clean up some typos.
  • 01-Oct-1997
    • Change picture on initial page from Clay St Hill grip car to MSR open car
    • Add MSR open car link to SF detail page.
  • 01-Sep-1997
    • Change picture on initial page from JW Harris to Clay St Hill grip car
    • Updates in SF detail page.
    • Change link to Museum of SF to thank them for linking to this page.
  • 09-Aug-1997
    • Change picture on initial page from Powell & Sutter to JW Harris with Calif St grips
    • Add links to Powell & Sutter & JW Harris photos to the SF cable car lines in detail page.
  • 02-Jul-1997
    • Add What's New section
    • Finish entering detailed information about Seattle cable car lines
    • Add link to Gelett Burgess' "The Ballad of the Hyde St Grip" to the SF cable car lines in detail page.

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