Two Terror Attacks -- January 4, 2024

CBS News

Early in the morning of January 1st, a man drove a truck into the crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. He killed at least 14 and got out of the truck with a rifle, wounding two police officers before the police killed him. We later learned that he had set some bombs along the street. At first Republicans blamed President Biden's "open border policies," but we soon learned that the attacker was a born and bred Texan. Organizers delayed the Cotton Bowl until the next day. The police thought he had accomplices, but later said they believe he was working alone. He said he was inspired by ISIS.

CBS News

Later in the day, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in the driveway of the T***p Hotel in Las Vegas. At first, no was sure whether this was terrorism, or just the way that Teslas catch fire and explode. It turned out to be terrorism. The coincidence made people assume that it was coordinated with the attack in New Orleans, but there has been no evidence discovered as I write this. I have seen people suggest that we may see car rammings and car bombs as acts of terror.

Toonerville Trolley -- Cross Word Puzzle Fiends -- January 3, 2024

Washington Times, 23-January-1925

I love Fontaine Fox's The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All the Trains. Crossword puzzles were a hot topic in 1925.

Washington Times, 30-June-1918

Krazy Kat -- Heppy New Ears -- January 2, 2024

Birmingham News, 04-January-1924

I love George Herriman's Krazy Kat. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Washington Times, 30-June-1918

January, 2025 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- January 1, 2025

Happy new year, everyone. In 2025, I will update my articles about cable car lines in Saint Louis.

I just put the January 2024 version of my Cable Car Home Page on the server:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/

It includes some new items:

1. Picture of the Month: The Saint Louis Cable and Western Railway helped sell real estate in new neighborhoods like Chamberlain Park. (source: Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, 01-October-1887.)
2. On the Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: A ten-year update about the Saint Louis Cable and Western Railway, the first Hallidie-type cable car line in Saint Louis, and which was part of a unique mixed-mode system which combined a cable car line with a narrow gauge steam railroad with several contemporary newspaper items
3. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: The Christmas 2024-2025 schedule of the Wellington Cable Car
4. On the UK page: A new entry about the Central Tramway Company, Scarborough.
5. On the Cable Car Businesses page: An ad for Arnold S Gridley's Cable Car Charters.
6. Added News items about Decorating Cable Cars, a wildfire which caused service to be suspended on the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, a service interruption on BART's cable-driven connector to the Oakland Airport and separate delays on the Powell and California Street lines on the same day

Ten years ago this month (January 2015):

1. Picture of the Month: Decorated car 10 inbound at Powell and Geary. A shopman leans out to check the tracks and slot. The decorations are sponsored by the skating rink in Union Square. lays over on California between Davis and Drumm during the 2014 Muni Heritage Weekend.
2. On the new Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The Saint Louis Cable and Western Railway, the first Hallidie-type cable car line in Saint Louis, was part of a unique mixed-mode system which combined a cable car line with a narrow gauge steam railroad
3. On the Decorated Cable Cars page: Photos of cable cars decorated for Christmas 2014. Thanks to Val Lupiz, we have photos of car 52, which he and his family and Friends decorated. We should all thank Val and his family and Friends who decorate cars every year.
4. On the Who page: A new item about RT Murphy, who contributed much valuable information to this site.
5. Added News items about the effects of a big rainstorm in December
   

Twenty years ago this month (January 2005):

Picture of the Month:
Clay Street Hill grip car 8 and trailer 1 at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Added some information from Walter Rice about the display on the Chicago page.
Added "When Stationary Steam Engines Powered the Cable," an article by Walter Rice and Emiliano Echeverria about the Washington/Mason powerhouse
Updated the Decorated Cable Cars article with photos of the 2004 batch and photos from the 1973 centennial.
Added newspaper articles from 1873 about the first test of the Clay Street Hill cable car line, and a series of political attacks on Andrew S Hallidie , who was running for state senate at the time

25 years ago - 2000

The California street line shut down for conduit reconstruction

In January 2024 I started on a long overdue process of cleaning things up on my site. I started with the development pages. Actually, I guess I started the year before with making most thumbnails 200 pixels instead of 100.

Coming in February 2025: On the Cable Car Lines in Saint Louis page: The Citizens Railway in Saint Louis

The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/

The Cable Car Home Page also has an Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/cable_car_guy/

Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-January-2025)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-October-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 31-December-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (updated obsessively)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/

Happy New Year 2025 -- January 1, 2025

San Francisco Examiner, 01-January-1925

I hope everyone has a happy, peaceful, healthy (especially healthy) and prosperous new year.

As the clock on the Ferry Building hits Midnight, Father Time hands off to 1925.