Cable Car Cable

2011-11-29 Today I traveled to San Francisco for a conference for the rest of the week. I had a few hours to see some sights, so I decided to cross the Cable Car Museum off my list. It was awesome! So basically there are four cable car lines, and each one has it's own cable that runs underneath the street. The cables run constantly, and the cars just grab onto them when they need to move. The building where the museum is houses the giant motors that keep the cables running. It's pretty incredible to see and I highly recommend it for anyone visiting, especially if you're going to ride the cable cars. This is the best photo I got from the museum - a closeup of a giant coil of cable. I had no idea, but apparently the cables wear out very quickly and have to be replaced multiple times a year. [last year]

cablecarmuseumsan franciscospiralspoolsteelstrand