There is a San Francisco cable car on eBay: Go to: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... otohosting

The car is located in San Jose. Interesting comment in this listing: "Car has trucks but no cable." What? The car doesn't come with a 10,000 foot 1-inch steel cable. Hah! Not much of a deal, eh?

Thanks!

Someone needs to get a grip.

(sorry)

I think that part is when you make the deal and tie up loose ends.

hmmm, this seller seems a bit tightly wound... ;-)

We have talked with several preservation organizations with no success. The car is intact; however because it was stored outdoors for several years before it was donated to our organization, the frame has a noticible sag.

Without the forementioned cable system, its interpretation value can be "an uphill battle." Fortunately, gravity will help in the other direction.
:-)


Ken Middlebrook
California Trolley and Railroad Corporation

There's a guy here in NJ with a Market Street cable car in a barn. I saw it a few years ago and it seemed to be in very good shape. Do these things have much value historically? He bought it in the 1950s I guess.

J.R.
jrmay@monmouth.com

There were lots of cable cars donated to museums or sold after WWII. Durring this period, the Municipal Railroad first took over the privately owned Market Street Railroad, owners of the most of San Francisco’s cable lines or former cable lines including the Castro Street, Powell Street and Sacramento Street cable lines. They then took over the California Street Cable railway.

During the rationalization, which produced today’s three surviving cable routes, many cars were declared surplus.

They were obviously old, of designs abandoned by electric railroad lines some years before, so more were preserved than could be maintained.

In Bay Area alone there were cars preserved by Muni, by the Railway Locomotive Historical Society (now in the Cable car barn at Washington and Mason) at a local department store, at both the San Francisco and Oakland Zoos, at the Bay Area Electric Railroad museum at Rio Vista. Southern California’s Knotts Berry farm had 4 or 5, and there were at least 4 in private hands. One local bus company pioneered the concept of mounting the car bodies on bus chassis.

Recently, the Municipal Railroad and the Market Street Railroad have worked together to develop a historic cable car collection.

In most of the museums where the cars were preserved, the reality of needed maintenance, in competition with other, run-able cars in the collection, the cable cars as static displays like the one offered suffered. At least two have been scrapped. Others have moved around as interesting artifacts with little hope of restoration.

Today, Orange Empire has a California Car and a Sutter street dummy, Bay Area has a Sutter Street grip. The combined Market Street Railroad and Muni have a Sutter Street Grip and Dummy, a Clay Street Grip, a California Street car without a end door (like the car offered on E-bay) and a Sacramento Street car in addition to the regular operating cars. A local historic house in Fremont, CA is restoring an additional Sutter Street dummy. The SPCRR at Ardenwood has the mortal remains of a 1894 Carter cable car. There are also several recently retired cars which may enter the collection rebuilt as open cars (as they once were) or as other early styles.

Cars like this one are more likely to be valued as antiques for private collections than as museum pieces. The San Jose group offered this car widely before resorting to Ebay.

There are the remains of an old converted grip car at Roaring Camp. The body had been removed and placed atop an early SFO airport tug for street running at some point in the early '40s (If I recall correctly for the World's Fair at Treasure Island?) This contraption, along with others converted in such a manner, are said to have spent time at an event in Japan before being shipped back to the Bay Area. The one in Felton has not budged since it arrived some 20+ years ago and after years of sitting in the elements the wood had rotted to the point that the roof collapsed on itself.

One of the former Knotts cars was in the process of being rebuilt in the shop of the Poway-Midland Railroad near San Diego when I visited 8-9 years ago (neat 42" gauge operation in a historical park) Anyone aware if this is still an active project?

There is a nicely preserved cable car on display indoors at Warp Pioneer Village in Minden NB. Just saw it in November.

So in other words, not much value in preserving it. That is a shame.

Here in Brielle, NJ there is a boat yard with one or two trolley cars under roof, used as storage. Not in horrible shape, in fact I was a bit shocked when I walked into one of them several years ago. I suppose not much value there either.

J.R.

In mid-December 2005, Branford Electric Rwy. Assn. learned of a Public Service Rwy. trolleycar trailer in a Brielle boat yard with window guards and interior lettering and numbers about 3 days before the place was torn down. They got some parts for their own Public Service trailer.

Shoot, I rode passed the pace yesterday. One building is still standing but the yard is empty otherwise. The two cars were on either side of the marine railway. Is that what you found down here?
J.R.