CRAZY ABOUT CABLE CARS

When we were in San Francisco we fell in love with the cable car system of transport. We had to queue for a while to get on at the top of Hyde St where there is a turn table.

Men physically turn the car around on this turn table. 

We were standing on the back veranda and we watched the bay and Alcatraz disappear as we climbed one of the many steep hills in SFO.

We alighted at the top of the famous Lombard St., which has many switchback curves to negotiate before getting to the next block at the bottom. See below. You can also see Coit tower on the hill. A memorial to Lillie Coit, who left her fortune to the city for beautification.

 Looking up Lombard St from the bottom.The street is open for one way traffic. This stretch of road has been used in many movies.

We hopped on the next cable car, which rumbled over the hill and proceeded to the Cable Car Barn & Museum.

 In the Cable Car Barn we could see how the cables were hauled underground of the streets where the cable cars run. It is an amazing system. The cables are continuously moving under the streets. The driver uses a lever to grab onto the cable to haul the tram along. He releases the cable when he wants to stop. The names of the streets are written above the relevant cables. After the war the powers to be wanted to disband the cable cars for more modern buses but public pressure allowed some cable cars to remain. They are still used by locals as well as thousands of tourists.

 After touring the museum we climbed aboard another cable car to go back to our hotel. Bill chose to hang on the outside. I was hoping he would still be there when we got to the bottom of the steep hill.

We passed Grant St the centre of China Town.

Then clattered on down the hill towards the Bay Bridge and our hotel. It was great fun.