We head over to the United States of America for the next couple of weeks of overseas tram images and its San Francisco which is our location – with the cable tramway the focus of attention.
The San Francisco Cable Cars are considered to be a major attraction in their own right in the city. Not only is the world’s last manually operated cable car system but it is also on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. The first cable car lines started running in the city in 1873 (although the earliest of the current lines to open was 1878) and whilst there have been times when it appeared that the system may close, since upgrade work in 1979 it has firmly established itself as an important attraction. The majority of passengers are now tourists with bus and trolleybus routes also serving the same areas and wait times at peak period for the cable cars being two hours.
This photo shows no. 22, a Mahoney Cable Car. This was originally built in 1887 and initially had the number 522. It was rebuilt in 1956 and was renumbered 22 in 1973.
Photography by Lynn Burdett, 14th November 2022