California Street Cable Railroad 48

San Francisco’s steep hills were too much for horse propulsion, so another means of propulsion was necessary. Andrew Halliday developed a system using a steel “rope” under the pavement to pull the cars along and installed it on his route on Sacramento and Clay Streets in the 1870s. San Francisco’s cable cars used a 3’ 6” track gauge. The California Street Cable Railroad began operation in 1878. By 1900, cable routes crisscrossed the city, but the earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of the infrastructure. Several lines were too steep for electric cars and continued to use cable propulsion into the 1940s. By 1950, four through lines, and a shuttle remained, two operated by the Municipal Ry. and three by the California Street Company, which was sold to the city-owned San Francisco Municipal Ry. in 1952. A shortened version of the company’s namesake line continues to operate, while the outer end of its Hyde-Jones-O’Farrell line was connected to the Washington-Jackson line to form the present Powell-Hyde line. The Holman Car Company of San Francisco built No. 48 to replace another cable car of that number that had been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Like other cars on the California Street Cable RR, No. 48 is a “California” type cable car with an enclosed center section, open sections on each end and provision for operation from either end. No. 48 operated on the California Street Cable Railroad’s Hyde-Jones-O’Farrell line until that line was abandoned in 1954. Museum Ownership: Canada. When Gest retired to Arizona in 1960, Herbert O’Connell acquired No. 48. O’Connell replaced No. 48’s wheels with rubber tires. About 1966, Paul Bienvenu of St. Lambert, PQ acquired the car. Seashore acquired No. 48 from Mr. Bienvenu in 1970. Seashore placed the body on PCC trucks in place of its narrow gauge trucks to allow it to be on display. Seashore has correct trucks which can be installed on No. 48. The museum owns one other cable car – No. 105 from Dunedin, New Zealand.