San Francisco Cable Cars

A day spent in San Francisco, mostly photographing Cable Cars and the Cable Car Museum.

	My steed into town - the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
	A cable car coming down Powell Street.
	Another cable car coming down Powell - in front of a rather cool building.
	Very YELLOW cable car.
	Sound advice.
	Pointy skyscraper.
	I stayed in the Fairmont the first time I visited San Francisco, 11 or so years ago.
	There aren't too many brick buildings as they are harder to earthquake-proof.
	Towards the Bay Bridge.
	Colourful houses, tangled wires.
	Cable Car tracks. The center channel has a moving steel rope underneath which the Cable Cars clamp onto to be towed around the city.
	An old plaque from a Powell and Market line car.
	Winding Machine
	The four pairs of wheels drive the four cables, which are from 5-10km in length. There is one cable each for California, Powell, Mason and Hyde street lines.
	A closeup of the cable, frozen by my flash. Look how continued friction keeps it shiny and flattens the outer layers of wire.
	Under the street the cables run over hundreds of pulleys like these.
	A brand new cable on the left, a used cable on the right. See how flattened the surface is from the contunied friction with the cars?
	The way I plan to get back downtown.
	Car 54, from a now defunct route and a long dead company..
	Ting! The distinctive sound of a cable car bell.
	The museum is also the winding house, and the top floor is the storage barn where the cars are maintained and sleep at night.
	My descent back down towards Market Street.
	Arriving at the Market Street terminus, and joining the queue of cars waiting for the turntable so they can head back the other way.
	Trees in Golden Gate Park.
	And now for something completely different: a man-made ornamental waterfall.