Pictures of the Month 2007-2016

All the Pictures of the Month from 2007-2016 in one handy place.

• Pictures of the Month 2017-
• Pictures of the Month/Quarter 1997-2006

2016

Santa, surrounded by Muni vehicles, wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. (Source: Trolley Topics, December, 1947). December, 2016 Picture of the Month.

Car 20 waiting for passengers to board at Powell and Market. July, 2016. November, 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.) October, 2016 Picture of the Month.

A Valley City Street and Cable Railway cable train on Lyon Street. (© Grand Rapids Public Library. All Rights Reserved. ) September, 2016 Picture of the Month.

FIG 1. -- POWER STATION -- SIOUX CITY CABLE RAILWAY CO. August, 2016 Picture of the Month.

The Denver City Cable Railway Company name still appears above the door of the building. Google Maps Streetview Image updated May 2014. Copyright 2016 Google. July, 2016 Picture of the Month.

Tracks along Elgin Road await the completion of the rest of the extension (Source: Otago Witness, 28-June-1905). June, 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.) May, 2016 Picture of the Month.

An impressionistic Delta Airlines poster. April, 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 ). March, 2016 Picture of the Month.

The only car that survived the fire of 10-February-1903. (Source: Otago Witness, 18-February-1903) February, 2016 Picture of the Month.

An advertisement announces that Dunedin New Zealand's Roslyn Tramway has started service (Source: Dunedin Evening Star, 24-February-1881). January, 2016 Picture of the Month.

2015

Cable car 504 decorated as Santa's sleigh. (source: Trolley Topics, December, 1950). December, 2015 Picture of the Month.

A Churchman's Cigarettes card shows a cable-hauled train leaving a tunnel on Brazil's São Paulo Railway. November, 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. October, 2015. October, 2015 Picture of the Month.

"Do Not Pass Cable Car" sign on car 26 at Powell and Ellis. August, 2015. September, 2015 Picture of the Month.

Car 4 of the Camões-Estrela line was built by the German Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. I wonder if it on a transfer table. Photo courtesy of Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. All rights reserved. August, 2015 Picture of the Month.

Emcee Deb Durst interviews grand champion Carl Payne. Photo by Joe Thompson. July, 2014 Picture of the Month.

A train of the Saint Louis Railroad's Broadway line, after the company was taken over by the National Railway Company. (Source: "The Street Railway System of Saint Louis", The Street Railway Journal, June, 1895.) June, 2015 Picture of the Month.

A train of the Peoples' Railway (Source: "The Street Railway System of Saint Louis", The Street Railway Journal, June, 1895.) May, 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.) April, 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.) March, 2015 Picture of the Month.

Jacob Volk's bottom grip. (Source: "The Volk Cable Grip and Carriage and Other Appliances", The Street Railway Journal, December, 1889.) February, 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. January, 2015 Picture of the Month.

2014

Cal Cable 42 lays over on California between Davis and Drumm. November, 2014. December, 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. November, 2014 Picture of the Month.

A cable train in Omaha, Nebraska. (Source: "Cable Railways in Omaha," Omaha Daily Bee / Sunday, February 21, 1909.) October, 2014 Picture of the Month.

Canal Street streetcar 2018 outbound at Royal Street. September, 2014 Picture of the Month. July, 2014.

Columbia Railway grip car (source: "Completion of the Cable System of the Columbia Railway, Washington, D. C.", Street Railway Journal, April, 1895.) August, 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.) July, 2014 Picture of the Month.

I was testing the camera on my new cell phone on 07-May-2014 and I came across Cal Cable car 60 laying over on California between Davis and Drumm. I was lucky because it was in the sun and there were no taxicabs parked in the curb lane. June 2014. Photo by Joe Thompson. June, 2014 Picture of the Month.

Baltimore Traction Company Car 8 "Vestibuled Cable Car." Andrew Whitton used this style of double-truck closed cars on his lines in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. (source: Street Railways: Their Construction, Operation and Maintenance by CB Fairchild). May, 2014 Picture of the Month.

Jonathan Milne writes that this is his "Melbourne Cable Tram set...It’s a 7mm 1.43 scale O gauge model made from mostly card stock with wood, wire and wood putty as required..it is motorised but non operational...the photo is taken as it sits on my small shelf electric streetcar layout named Moorabool street which is modeled on the old 1950 Geelong Australia system. I do not have a cable layout (as yet?)." All rights reserved. April, 2014 Picture of the Month.

The double reverse curve on Soho Hill. (Source: "Pittsburgh and Allegheny," The Street Railway Journal, October, 1891.) March, 2014 Picture of the Month.

A postcard view of the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway. "Mount Jefferson plane." February, 2014 Picture of the Month.

Another postcard view of the Johnstown Inclined Plane. January, 2014 Picture of the Month.

2013

The Monongahela inclines. The freight incline is on the left and the passenger incline is on the right. December, 2013 Picture of the Month.

In 1892, two Wylie Avenue cable cars ran into a political parade. Read Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper articles about the accident. Novemmber, 2013 Picture of the Month.

Read about the Citizens Traction Company's well designed new carhouse in an interesting article from The Street Railway Journal. (Source: "A Modern Car House," The Street Railway Journal, April, 1894.) October, 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. September, 2013 Picture of the Month.

(August, 2013 Picture of the Month)

Joe's Cable Car, with a neon cable car in the corner window. June, 2013. July, 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. June, 2013 Picture of the Month.

Cable car crewmen hold trays with the rings as the motorized cable car rolls down the third base line. May, 2013 Picture of the Month.

This pin commemorates the Giants' defeat of the Detroit Tigers in the 2012 World Series (No thumbnail). April, 2013 Picture of the Month.

Read more about the Tacoma Railway and Motor Company in an interesting article from The Street Railway Journal. This illustration shows a cable car climbing the Eleventh Street hill. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.) March, 2013 Picture of the Month.

Read more about the Portland Cable Railway in an interesting article from The Street Railway Journal. This illustration, looking up the great trestle from the powerhouse, comes from the article. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.) February, 2013 Picture of the Month.

Read more about the Madison Street Cable Railway in an interesting article from The Street Railway Journal. This illustration, looking up the Madison Street Hill, shows a Front Street Cable Railway crossing at First Street. (Source: "Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Astoria," The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.) January, 2013 Picture of the Month.

2012

The opening day of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Source: San Francisco Call, 29-December-1912). December, 2012 Picture of the Month.

The John Stephenson Company built this cable car for Manhattan's Metropolitan Street Railroad (Source: "Notes on the Broadway, New York, Cable Railway", The Street Railway Journal, July, 1893). November, 2012 Picture of the Month.

The first cable car on the Third Avenue line on 05-December-1893. (Source: "Starting the Cable Cars on Third Avenue, New York.", The Street Railway Journal, January, 1894). October, 2012 Picture of the Month.

A view of the Brooklyn Terminal from a detailed article in the February, 1897 The Street Railway Journal: "The Bridge Transportation System Between New York and Brooklyn". September, 2012 Picture of the Month.

Read Walter Rice's article "The Great Orme Tramway: The Cable Car of Wales". August, 2012 Picture of the Month..

Proposal for a cable-driven elevated railway. (Source: Exposé of the Facts Concerning the Proposed Elevated Patent Railway. 1866. July, 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. June, 2012 Picture of the Month.

Milton Wheaton's patent 192314. The "griper." May, 2012 Picture of the Month.

Fairchild's patent 300236. April, 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). March, 2012 Picture of the Month.

Birmingham cable tram 104. Thank you to John Perkin. "The cars on all the tramways are long, narrow, double-decked, ugly, and dirty affairs, having no kind of conveniences or provisions for the comfort of the traveling public. No American city would tolerate such hideous things..." -- Report from United States Consul Jarrett, published in 1892. February, 2012 Picture of the Month. All rights reserved.

A stereo view of the Hoboken elevated. (Source: Robert Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views, Photography Collection, Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints & Photographs, The New York Public Library. Image id: NYPG90-F458 005F. Available from American Memory). Smaller version. January, 2012 Picture of the Month.

2011

A fly-wheel for the Ocean Street cable tramway, at the Hudson Brothers' Works in Clyde. I like the dude in the bowler. from "Sydney's New Tramway. The Ocean-Street Cable Line.", Australian Town and Country Journal, 11-August-1894. December, 2011 Picture of the Month.

A 3/4 view of new car 15. November, 2011 Picture of the Month.

A train pauses at a typical station platform, from "Glasgow District Subway", an October, 1898 Cassier's Magazine article. October, 2011 Picture of the Month.

A view of the Mount Adams Incline between 1900 and 1910. (Source: Library of Congress. LC-D4-70061). September, 2011 Picture of the Month.

Angels Flight from across Hill Street. The third of a series. August, 2011 Picture of the Month.

Upper Douglas Cable Tramway car descending Prospect Hill, from "Cable Traction in the Isle of Man", an October, 1896 Railway World article. July, 2011 Picture of the Month.

Grip car of the Mt. Auburn Cable Railway, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Source: The Street Railway Journal, February, 1888. Volume IV, Number 2). June, 2011 Picture of the Month.

Vine Street Cable Railway car 258 is shown at Vine and Molitor Streets, with a grip on display. (Source: Don Prout's Greetings from Cincinnati. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) May, 2011 Picture of the Month.

A menu cover from the San Francisco Cable Car Room on the California Zephyr. April, 2011 Picture of the Month.

A Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway cable train lays over on the Blair Avenue loop at the outer end of the line. (Source: Don Prout's Greetings from Cincinnati. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) March, 2011 Picture of the Month.

A clipping from the 03-June-1973 Palo Alto Times, show Miss Cable Car, Barbara Jean Davies, posing on a cable car and holding a model of a Powell Street cable car. The caption explains that she will officiate at the bell ringing contest. Barbara Davies Walsh collection. February, 2011 Picture of the Month

A Lefton model of a Cleveland City Cable Railway Payne Avenue grip car. January, 2011 Picture of Month.

2010

Madison Bumgarner rides a motorized cable in the parade. December, 2010 Picture of the Month.

Fear the Beard -- Another window of Car 28 praises the Giants' excellent corps of hirusite relief pitchers. November, 2010 Picture of the Month.

Marsh Station on the London and Blackwall Railway. A train is visible on the viaduct. I can't find Marsh Station on a map of the line. I wonder if it is Poplar. October, 2010 Picture of the Month. Source: The Literary World, July 11, 1840.

Kennington Changing-Place, where Brixton Road horse trams received cable grips for the trip up Brixton Hill. From "A Chat on a Cable Car" by The Reverend John P Hobson, M.A. September, 2010 Picture of the Month.

The intersection of Twelfth and Market Streets, where the Market Street cable line crossed a horse car line. August, 2010 Picture of the Month.

Gripper. Source: Tramways: Their Construction and Working, Embracing a Comprehensive History by Daniel Kinnear Clark. July, 2010 Picture of the Month.

Edinburgh cable tram 209, built in 1903 by the Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works. Note the pilot wheel, which controlled the grip, on the visible platform. Source: mikeyashworth's photostream. June, 2010 Picture of the Month.

Car 3 carries a good load up the hill. Note the gripman at his post on the front platform. Also note the lack of advertising. I would want to ride upstairs. Source: Tramway and Light Railway Society Photographic Archive. May, 2010 Picture of the Month.

A souvenir piece of Cal Cable cable. April, 2010 Picture of the Month.

West Chicago cable train on Randolph Street. March, 2010 Picture of the Month.

The LaSalle Street powerhouse was "Michael Jordan's The Restaurant(tm)" for many years. This is an advertising magnet (No thumbnail). February, 2010 Picture of the Month.

A stereoscopic view of "State Street north from Madison". January, 2010 Picture of the Month.

2009

The proposed incline and improvements in Griffith Park. From the Los Angeles Herald, 27-August-1905. December, 2009 Picture of the Month.

An advertisement for the Playa Del Rey development which mentions the "unique incline railway which will extend to the summit of Del Rey Heights will be completed in a comparatively short time. Surveyors and graders are now at work preparing the roadbed. The system will have a double track, with pavillions at the summit and foot. An attractive 'midway station' will also be built. This diminutive road will be a marvel of modern engineering, and will open to the public the most picturesque seaside residence property on the Pacific Cost." From the Los Angeles Herald, 23-July-1905. November, 2009 Picture of the Month.

A circa-1930 view of Court Flight, showing the sandwich shop which provided additional revenue to the line. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Archive (c) 2004, Title Insurance and Trust / C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960, CHS-M8486. All rights reserved. October, 2009 Picture of the Month.

The front of an early advertising flier for Angels Flight. September, 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. August, 2009 Picture of the Month.

Henry Casebolt's patent drawing for Patent 384,124, "ELEVATED CABLE AND CAR-PROPELLER." July, 2009 Picture of the Month.

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. June, 2009 Picture of the Month.

A cable car pauses on the gravity loop at the entrance to Blair Park. From "Picturesque Piedmont," an 1891 San Francisco Call article. See this and other newspaper articles about the gravity loop. May, 2009 Picture of the Month.

A postcard showing former O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde cable car 59 at Knott's Berry Farm. April, 2009 Picture of the Month.

A Boyle Heights train of the Los Angeles Cable Railway in Los Angeles near First Street and Cemetery around 1890. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Archive (c) 2004, California Historical Society: TICOT/Pierce, CHS-8471. All rights reserved. March, 2009 Picture of the Month.

The North Carlton Winding House, photographed in November, 2008 by Bob Murphy. Bob reports that it "is pretty intact though there is an apartment house in the centre of the old tramshed. The facade is intact. The engine house is untouched except for a bitumen floor which is used for parking by the apartment dwellers. The North Carlton engine house and tramsheds went into operation on 9 FEB 1889. Unusually there was only one cable out of that engine house at 13,617' long." Thanks to Bob for the picture. February, 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. This CC Pierce photograph shows the lightly populated area which the line's promoters hoped would grow and provide riders. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Archive (c) 2004, California Historical Society: TICOT/Pierce, CHS-2867. All rights reserved. January, 2009 Picture of the Month.

2008

Val Lupiz took this night view of car 60 at California and Drumm on 04-December-2007. Val Lupiz photo. All rights reserved. December, 2008 Picture of the Month.

A postcard showing Market Street Railway counterbalance cars on the Fillmore Street Hill. The white fronts on the cars were a patented safety feature. The camera looks downhill from Broadway. November, 2008 Picture of the Month.

"Are those the automobiles?" October, 2008 Picture of the Month.

"Clay Street Hill Rope Rail Road. Ascending an incline of one foot in six. -- The first cable road constructed." 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". September, 2008 Picture of the Month.

Ninth Street, near Walnut. Engraving by Charles Graham, from the 07-Jun-1890 Harpers Weekly. It shows cable trains of the Kansas City Cable Railway on Ninth crossing the Metropolitan Street Railway's 18th-19th Streets cable line on Walnut. August, 2008 Picture of the Month.

"SCREW SPINDLE GRIP -- PROVIDENCE R. I., CABLE LINE." From Street Railways: Their Construction, Operation and Maintenance by CB Fairchild, 1892. July, 2008 Picture of the Month.

In early May, Val found that shop crews had "moved Powell 25 to the shop pit track for installation of brake rigging gear (which also, incidentally, allowed me to get a much better shot of the car from an overhead stairwell)". May, 2008. Photo by Val Lupiz. All rights reserved. June, 2008 Picture of the Month.

Val took this unique view of new car 15 through the headlight hole. April, 2008. Photo by Val Lupiz. All rights reserved. May, 2008 Picture of the Month.

Sacramento/Jackson cable car 455, was destroyed by the falling chimney of the Washington/Mason powerhouse on the morning of 18-April-1906. Val Lupiz made this model of the car for Walter Rice. In October, 2007, Walter reported that "It was on display in my room during my recent hospital stay at John Muir hospital, Walnut Creek. Medical staff often were more interested the model in me than. Unfortunately, too many (one is too many) called 455 a 'train.' They were promptly corrected." Both images Walter Rice collection. All rights reserved. ==> April, 2008 Picture of the Month ==>.

ESPIED BY A CITIZEN. March, 2008 Picture of the Month

Val Lupiz took this view of car 9, sponsored by the Buena Vista Cafe, in the barn on 09-December-2007. Val Lupiz photo. All rights reserved. February, 2008 Picture of the Month.

An image from the 31-May-1903 San Francisco Call reconstructs the collision between a Fillmore Street electric car (left) and a Haight Street cable car (right). I think that this is a photo of the two cars with the flying people drawn in. January, 2008 Picture of the Month

2007

This 1946 Charles L Reed cartoon is from the December 1946 issue of Trolley Topics, MUNI's employees' newlsetter. It depicts a well-loaded Powell/Mason cable car on the turntable at Powell and Market. Some of the passers-by are also well-loaded. Note the pickpocket at work. From the Tom Matoff collection. December, 2007 Picture of the Month.

An 1886 John Stephenson ad shows the John Mason and a modern horse car. November, 2007 Picture of the Month.

"In The Club Room". Even in the original scan, I can't read the text of the two signs that say "NOTICE" and the one that says "REMEMBER". October, 2007 Picture of the Month.

Car 2's front dash and windows have also been removed. August 15, 2007. Photo by Joe Thompson. September, 2007 Picture of the Month.

Looking up the 9th Street trestle as a train approaches the terminal above Mulberry Street. (source: Kansas City Public Library Special Collections. Negative Number: N841-412. Identifier Number: 10007406. All rights reserved). August, 2007 Picture of the Month.

An undated clipping from a San Francisco newspaper shows Jennifer de Grassi posing on a cable car after winning the Miss Cable Car title. Jennifer Williams Collection. July, 2007 Picture of the Month.

John Hammond's 1891 patent D21,042, for the design of the California-type car. Read patent D21,042. June, 2007 Picture of the Month.

Looking across the West Bottoms at the 9th Street trestle and the 8th Street trestle and tunnel portal. (source: Kansas City Public Library Special Collections. Negative Number: V-1500. Identifier Number: 10007403. All rights reserved). May, 2007 Picture of the Month.

Val Lupiz created this image to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Powell/Hyde line. 507 was the first car to run on the new line on 07-Apr-1957. All rights reserved. April, 2007 Picture of the Month.

A Grand Avenue Railway combination car, built by Brownell and Wight of Saint Louis. (source: Street Railways: Their Construction, Operation and Maintenance by CB Fairchild). March, 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. (source: Kansas City Public Library Special Collections. Negative Number: V-1496. Identifier Number: 10001046. All rights reserved). February, 2007 Picture of the Month.

Looking down the 9th Street trestle across Santa Fe's Argentine yards, towards Union Depot and the West Bottoms. (source: Kansas City Public Library Special Collections. Negative Number: N841-412. Identifier Number: 10007406. All rights reserved). January, 2007 Picture of the Month.