July 2026 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- July 9, 2026

I launched The Cable Car Home Page on AOL thirty years ago in November 1996.

I just put the July 2026 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: A cable car appears with the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay Stadium (Levi's Stadium) in this wonderful coloring page commemorating the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Thanks to colorko.com for letting me use this image. (Source: www.colorko.com All Rights Reserved but free to use for any non-commercial purpose)
2. On the Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: A ten year update about the Denver City Cable Railway .
3. Also on the Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: Updated the articles about the Denver Tramway Company, the Cherrelyn Horse Car, the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, and the Royal Gorge Incline Railway
4. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: I added a screen shot to the article about the movie The Rock
5. Added News, Chronology items about the band Train giving a surprise concert on a chartered cable car, cable cars and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the discovery of a buried conduit in Dunedin, NZ.

Ten years ago later this month (July 2016):

1. On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page, added results for the 53rd Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest.

Ten years ago this month (July 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: The Denver City Cable Railway Company name still appears above the doorway of the building. Google Maps Streetview Image updated May 2014. Copyright 2016 Google.
3. On the new Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: A new article about the Denver City Cable Railway .
5. Also on the new Cable Car Lines in Colorado page: 4Moved the article about the Denver Tramway Company from the Other Cities page.
6. On the new Cable Car Lines in Ohio page: Added an advertisement for bonds issued by the Cleveland City Cable Railway
7. On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about HM Kebby, who worked on cable car lines in San Francisco, Saint Louis and Saint Paul
8. On the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest page: Added results of the 1959 Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest and a photo of Albert E Ward, who won from 1957 through 1959
9. Added News and Chronology items about Powell Street Car 12 returning to service in a new color scheme

Twenty years ago later this month (July 2006):

1. Added the results of the 2006 Bell Ringing contest.

Twenty years ago this month (July 2006):

1. Picture of the Month: Walter Rice's photo of Powell Street car "715", to celebrate Barry Bonds passing Babe Ruth on the all-time list.
2. On the Muni page: A 1974 Powell/Mason schedule - warning LARGE images
3. On the new Inexplicable Cable Car Items section on the Kitsch page: Walter Rice found a souvenir magnet showing Sóller, Mallorca's famous Hyde Street cable car.
4. On the New York/New Jersey page: Three newspaper articles about the second cable car line in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Heights Railroad. THE FIRST CAR/Travels Over the Montague Street Road, which talks about an early demonstration run. THROWN THROUGH A WINDOW/Singular accident on the Montague Street Railroad, which talks about injuries caused by a sudden stop. BATH OF RED PAINT/Basis of a Damage Suit for $1,700 Instituted by Miss May Against W. J. Cockle, which is hard to explain. Also one more 1886 newspaper article about the first cable car line in Brooklyn, New York. CABLE ROADS/Universal Interest Excited by the Brooklyn Experiment, which talks about how many companies were interested in the Johnson ladder cable technology. It includes a detailed description of the traction method.
5. Added News and Bibliography items about a loose strand which shut down the Powell Street cable for most of a day

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 August 2026: On the Other Cities page: A ten year update about the Sioux City Cable Railway

250 years ago - 1776
Jul 04 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.

25 years ago - 2001
Jul 20 - Byron Cobb won the 38th annual Bell Ringing Contest

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-July-2026)
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 30-June-2026)
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 Independence Day 250-- July 4, 2026

Mad Magazine, June, 1963

Happy Fourth of July to all. 250 years ago, we declared our independence. Our Dear Leader is doing his best to ruin it for everyone.

Alfred E Newman celebrates with a firecracker.

Red Devils Return to Pacifica #19 -- July 3, 2026

Pacifica is one of the two cities on the San Francisco peninsula that allow the sale of fireworks. The booths arrived last weekend and opened yesterday afternoon or today.  This is the stand at Pedro Point.  I took the photo on 26-June-2016. 

Many Pacificans agree that selling fireworks is a bad idea: We have steep, brush-covered hillsides that pose a fire danger. People use the "safe and sane" fireworks to mask the unsafe and insane variety. Not to mention my cat hates the Fourth of July.  Not to mention we cursed with the effects of a terrible drought. 

Unfortunately, our charities claim that fireworks are the only thing they can sell that will generate enough money. That can't be true. What about drugs? Weapons? They're not thinking outside of the box.

Due to health issues, this post is a rerun of a post from 2016.

We Lost -- June 26, 2026

Some people are saying that T***p is the first US President to lose a war. I don't know if that is entirely true. The War of 1812 was a draw. People debate what to call our outcomes in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, IRAQ and Afghanistan I guess he is the first US President to start a war (unprovoked) and lose it. He keeps saying it is over, but it keeps sprouting up. 

New Cat #128 -- June 25, 2026

I took the photo on 25-April-2026.

I Voted -- June 2, 2026

Yesterday I went to the gym at Saint Peter's church and voted on a touch screen terminal. Checking in, I filled out a form and they looked me up and gave me a white smart card. I put the card into a reader under the terminal. There were so many gubernatorial candidates that I had to scroll through the list twice to find Xavier Becerra. The candidates for other offices were easier to find.

June 2026 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- June 1, 2026

 I launched The Cable Car Home Page on AOL thirty years ago in November 1996.

I just put the June 2026 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:
2. The only car of the Elgin Road Extension "on the day of the trial run." Tramway employees post with the car. (Source: Otago Witness, 10-October-1906). June, 2026 Picture of the Month.
3. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's short-lived Elgin Road Extension, which operated from 1906 to 1910
4. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Added Crosscurrent/The Cable Car Murder, a 1971 television movie set in San Francisco and added one screen grab to In Love and War
5. On the Kansas City page: A promotion for the opening of the KC Streetcar's Berkley Riverfront extension
6. On the What is a Cable Car? page: Some minor updates.3
7. On the Miscellany page: An update about the reopening of the The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway. Added News items about the return of the Hyde Ride and the return of gripman Val Lupiz from disability

Ten years ago this month (June 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: Tracks along Elgin Road await the completion of the rest of the extension (Source: Otago Witness, 28-June-1905).
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's short-lived Elgin Road Extension, which operated from 1906 to 1910
3. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Antonio Marquardt, added screen grabs to I Love a Soldier
4. On the Kansas City page: A new article about the Return of Electric Streetcars to Kansas City
5. Added News and Chronology items items about Powell Street Car 24 being dedicated to Giants great Willie Mays
6. Added News item about an auto driving onto the Powell and Market turntable

Twenty years ago this month (June 2006):

1. Picture of the Month: Geary Street cable cars run among the ruins in 1906.
2. Results of the 2006 Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes
3. On the San Francisco in 1906 page, 1906 newspaper articles describing the return of the Geary Street cable cars, work on the California Street lines, and the replacement of United Railroads lines with electric traction:
   • GEARY-STREET CHIMNEY NOW READY FOR USE (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 15, 1906)
   • GEARY-STREET CARS AGAIN IN OPERATION CABLE UNDAMAGED AND SLOT NOT BADLY HURT (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 22, 1906)
   • CALIFORNIA STREET CARS/Cable Road Expects to Resume Operations by First of August (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 15, 1906)
   • TOO MANY CARS JUMPED TRACK/Service on Hayes Street Line Abandoned Until New Rail Can Be Laid. (San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, June 16, 1906)
   • WANT CABLE CARS TO RESUME OPERATION/McAllister Street Residents Would Have Old Line Run Again. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 1906)
4. On the New York/New Jersey page: Five 1872-1899 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
5. Added a Bibliography item about a California Street shutdown

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 July 2026: On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's Elgin Road Extension, the last new cable tramway built.

250 years ago - 1776
Jun 29 - San Francisco and Mission Dolores were founded

175 years ago - 1851
Jun 01 - Horse-drawn omnibuses began running between downtown San Francisco and Mission Dolores
Jun 09 - The First San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was organized in response to a wave of crimes, especially arson
Jun 10 - The Committee of Vigilance hanged John Jenkins of the Sydney Ducks gang for stealing a safe
Jun 22 - The Sixth Great Fire destroyed 14 blocks
Jun 25 - The New Mission Toll Road opened from Clay and Kearny, out Third to Mission, along Mission to Corbett Road

150 years ago - 1876
Jun 14 - The California Street Cable Railroad received its franchise

125 years ago - 1901
Jun 19 - Metropolitan Street Railway (New York, New York) converted its Lexington Avenue line to electricity

75 years ago - 1951
Jun 21 - A Powell Street cable car rolled along Atlantic City, New Jersey’s famous boardwalk, as part of San Francisco’s unsuccessful effort to obtain Lions Club’s 1952 convention (the 1952 convention was held in Mexico City). "Equipped with rubber tires and drawn by a jeep, the cable car was in constant use, furnishing free rides to all who could get on board." The cable car had traveled across the country on a railroad flat car. The display was complete with a gripman, and conductor who issued special transfers proclaiming "San Francisco -- Convention City." Through 28-June-1951.

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-June-2026)
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-May-2026)
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/