18 replies to this topic

[KZ]

Anyone who has been to San Francisco surley has at least seen a cable car running either up or down one of the streets. The cable car was invented in the late 1870s in SF for the purpose of a safer transport up and down the steep city streets (Nob Hill being the most famous). These cars are operated by two workers, one who works the grip and another who works the brakes on the rear end of the car. In 1982 San Francisco totally rebuilt the system with new motors, gearboxes, new powerhouse, new rails, new everything but cars. The system reopened 20 years ago in 1984 and have been doing very well since.

Now just a bit down Nob Hill on the corner of Mason and Washington sits the Cable Car Powerhouse and Museum. First is a shot of the exterior of the building. Now don't let the outside fool you, it is just a facade to a new building built when the rest of the system was.

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[KZ]

Another shot of the exterior. The writing says "Ferries and Cliff House Railway Co. 1887" for a company that ran a line all the way to the Cliff House on the far end of town down the the interior of the bay seen here.

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[KZ]

This shot shows the area where the cars leave early in the morning and get onto their proper line. All the cars are stored at night in the building above the motors and museum. The entrance for the cars is on the opposite of the building.

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[KZ]

Now this diagram shows the Sheave Viewing room and where each sheave sends its cable; to one of 4 lines.

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[KZ]

This is the sheave viewing room, and this shot shows 3 of the 8 sheaves in the room. You are looking at the 2 blue sheaves and the lower red one shown in the picture before.

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[KZ]

This diagram shows all 4 routes from the central powerhouse. It shows the different curves, some "pull" and other "let go" (pull you stay attached to the rope, let go you release from the rope)

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[KZ]

This is a shot of the eight bullwheel drive system for the 4 different loops. The motors are built by GE and the gearboxes by Philedelphia Gear Co.

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[KZ]

A shot looking back at the motors. Each is for a different line, starting from the left the Powell Line, Mason Line, California Line and last to the right is the Hyde Line.

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[KZ]

This here is the tensioning system. Same system as the drive.

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[KZ]

One more shot of the motors.

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[KZ]

Here is a shot of the grip. The operator mans the lever up to and the jaws clamp onto the cable below. To get it to speed and not jerk the car, they ease into the cable which travels at about 9 MPH.

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[KZ]

Here is a "carrier pully" or also known as a guide sheave. These are located about every 50 feet or so on the line. You can see the maintenece covers over each one. They also make a very annoying sound when cars run over them.

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[KZ]

Now this shot actually shows one in action under the sidewalk. Im not really sure where this cable goes, but it runs up Mason Street to the top of Nob Hill.

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[KZ]

This is the maintenece area located to the right of the drives (when you are looking towards the tensioning sheaves). They have pretty much all they would need right there for cable work. The car work is done upstairs, and you can't go up there <_<

Maintenece work done on the routes must be done in the late hours of the night, starting after 12 when the lines close.

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[KZ]

Now here is a picture of a picture taken when they were rebuilding it all. It even has a caption so i dont have to say anymore!

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[KZ]

These are the sheaves that were pictured above before they were put underground. These sheaves are also located on all "Let Go" turns, and you can see the panels that they are under.

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[KZ]

And last is the classic picture of a cable car traveling downhill to the bay.

One more thing I didnt note is that at the end of each line is a giant wooden turntable so that the cars can be turned around. The car rolls on, the two operators then turn it 90 degrees, the car is loaded and off it goes up again.

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[iceberg210]

I was there four years ago and man was it cool. This is a must for anyone in San Francisco.

[TomK]

I rode one of those things weekly for most of a year. Thanks for the view of the guts.