Pictures of the Month 2007-

by Joe Thompson

Where Should I Go from Here? Visit the Map

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


2012

Birmingham 104 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.

Hoboken stereoview 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

Maryhill cable tram 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.

15 Powell & Market/2 A 3/4 view of new car 15. November, 2011 Picture of the Month.

platform 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.

Mount Adams Incline/3 A view of the Mount Adams Incline between 1900 and 1910. (Source: Library of Congress. LC-D4-70061). September, 2011 Picture of the Month.

Number 3 Angels Flight from across Hill Street. The third of a series. August, 2011 Picture of the Month.

Douglas cable tram 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.

Mount Auburn grip car 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 car 258 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.

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

Blair Loop 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.

Palo Alto Times contest clipping
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

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


2010

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

Fear the Beard 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 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 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.

Twelfth and Market Streets 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 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 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. Matlock crowded car

Cal Cable Cable

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

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

Michael Jordans magnet 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.

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


2009

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

Playa Del Rey advertisement July 23 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.

Court Flight 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.

Angels Flight ad/1 The front of an early advertising flier for Angels Flight. September, 2009 Picture of the Month.

Mt Lowe car "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.

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

San Diego Cable Car 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.

Blair Park detail 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.

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

Boyle Heights train 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.

North Carlton 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.

Second Street Cut 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

60 Cal/Drumm night 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.

Fillmore Hill 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.

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

Clay Street Hill "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.

9th Street 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.

Providence grip "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.

25 urr/May 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.

15 interior 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.

455 destroyed 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 ==>.
455 model

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

9 in barn 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.

accident aftermath
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

Powell/O'Farrell 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.

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

Club room "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 no front Car 2's front dash and windows have also been removed. August 15, 2007. Photo by Joe Thompson. September, 2007 Picture of the Month.

up 9th Street trestle 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.

Belle Rings 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.

Patent drawing 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.

9th and 12th street trestles 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.

PH anniversary 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.

Grand Avenue combination car 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.

Bluff Street bridge 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.

9th Street trestle 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.

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Last updated 01-February-2012