Interior of San Francisco cable car
A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are propelled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. Individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required. Cable cars are sometimes confused with funiculars, where the cars are permanently attached to the cable. The cable is itself powered by a stationary motor or engine situated in a cable house or power house. The speed at which it moves is relatively constant, although affected by the current load. The cable car begins moving when a clamping device, called a grip, is connected to the moving cable. Conversely the car is stopped by detaching it from the cable and applying the brakes. This gripping and ungripping action may be manual, as was the case in all early cable car systems, or automatic, as is the case in some recent cable operated people mover type systems. The best known existing cable car system is the San Francisco cable car system in the Californian city of San Francisco. This is the oldest and biggest cable car system in permanent operation, and it is the only system to still operate in the traditional manner with manually operated cars running in street traffic.
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Photo credit: © Super Nova Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: america, american, black, bw, ca, cable, cablecar, california, car, francisco, industrial, infrastructure, landmark, san, system, transportation, travel, usa, white
