Photo of the Week: 12/16/2011

Today's photo brings us back to San Francisco.  I shot hundreds of photos there, of the cable cars, the trolleys, the waterfront, and the city itself.  This photo is one of the cable cars, on the Powell-Mason line.  I was sitting in the front of the cable car and I was able to take pictures as the car trundled down the streets.  This photo was shot on Mason Street, towards the end of the line.  I got on at the Powell Street end of the line and rode the whole line to get to Fisherman's Wharf.  The cable cars were a lot of fun, and if I ever get the chance to go back to San Francisco, I'll definitely be riding the cable cars again.  Here is today's photo:



As you can see, this isn't just a regular cable car, it's being used for training new gripmen.  I thought that was pretty cool to see.  I suppose there is only one way to learn that skill though.  Unlike learning how to drive a car, you can't just take a cable car to an empty parking lot to do some practicing...you have to just go out in traffic right away!  I think it would be cool to learn how to run a cable car.

I believe the cable cars in San Francisco are the last cable cars in the United States, but I am not 100% sure on that.  At one time there were cable car lines all over San Francisco, operated by private companies, but the electric streetcar and later the electric bus shut most of them down.  MUNI took over what was left, forming today's cable car system with three lines.  The Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines run together on Powell Street and use the same cars that need to be turned around, the California Line is a separate system that has its own double-ended cars that don't need to be turned.  Both systems are connected to each other, and I believe all the cable cars are stored in the same place, although I was not able to find where that was while I was there.  The track gauge on the cable car system is 3 feet, 6 inches.

If you ever visit San Francisco, I highly recommend riding the cable cars. The fare is pretty steep because at this point the cable cars are primarily there as a tourist attraction, but a MUNI all day pass is valid on anything run by MUNI, including the cable cars.