In Brief:
Powering San Francisco's cable cars . SAN FRANCISCO--Although they were once common public transportation in cities around the world, cable cars are now found only in the City by the Bay. At one time there were eight lines, all run by private companies, and it was only much later that those lines were bought up by the city of San Francisco. And while every other city abandoned cable cars in favor of streetcars and other conveyances, San Francisco has kept using them because of their charm and because they're great for taking people over the steep hills. The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 destroyed many of the carbarns that operated and maintained the cars, including the building that currently houses the Cable Car Museum. Today, there are three lines in San Francisco, all of which run out of a single barn near Chinatown. This is the "crown jewel" of the Cable Car Museum, an original 1873 Clay Street Hill cable car. This is a standard Muni truck, but in the early days of cable cars, from 1880 to 1906, there were nine companies operating 22 cable car lines in San Francisco. " That system powers the four subterranean cable loops that are used to pull the cable cars around San Francisco. This picture shows the building that houses the cable car carbarn and powerhouse, and the Cable Car Museum, after the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Although the Cable Car Museum maintains some original cable cars, it also has a selection of scale models depicting the many uses for the cars. Each evening, all 40 of the city's cable cars are brought home to the carbarn above the Cable Car Museum. Today, San Francisco maintains three cable car turnarounds, where the car drives onto the table, which spins around, allowing the car to grab the cable and move onto the opposite direction track. That was one of nine companies offering cable car service in San Francisco in 1887, when the building was constructed. A spool of cable, seen inside the Cable Car Museum..
