May, 2019 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- May 1, 2019

I just put the May, 2019 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 former Consolidated Piedmont powerhouse at 27th and Harrison Streets in Oakland is now a Whole Paycheck Market. Google Maps Streetview Image updated February 2019. Copyright 2019 Google.
2. On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on Oakland's Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company, including an overhead shot of the surviving powerhouse
3. On the UK page: Added the Babbacombe Cliff Railway in Torquay and a banner for Cliff Railway Day, 2019 in the Cliff Lifts article.
4. On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway issues a visitor and journey Guide for 2019.
5. Added News item about a podcast which used sounds from my videos of the Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest


Ten years ago this month (May, 2009):
1. Picture of the Month: An engraving showing a Consolidated Piedmont cable car as it pauses on the gravity loop at the entrance to Blair Park.
2. On the Other California Cities page: More about the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company, including advertisements and contemporary newspaper articles
-- The Gravity Loop -- a series of articles about a unique feature of the Consolidated Piedmont.
-- First Cable Arrives (San Francisco Morning Call, Friday, May 09, 1890). "The two flat-cars that arrived with the wire cable for the Piedmont cable road are ... low set heavy structures, weighing nineteen tons each, supported by two double trucks, a total of eight pairs of wheels on each, which is twice the number on an ordinary flat..."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Nearly Ready for Testing (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, May 25, 1890). "The experimental car for trial on the Consolidated Oakland and Piedmont Cable Company's line ... will shortly be tried on the section between Piedmont and the cable-house before the contract for the rolling stock is let."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Real Estate News (San Francisco Morning Call, Monday, January 05, 1891). "The cable system has greatly increased the value of suburban property, bringing land on the outskirts nearer to the center of the city, and opening up tracts which formerly seemed inaccessible."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Real Estate News/2 (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, January 29, 1891). "E. A. Heron is offering many inducements in the way of pretty home sites in Linda Vista, on the Piedmont cable road."
-- New Transit Lines in Oakland (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, March 29, 1891). "It will do as much for its section as the Piedmont cable has done for Piedmont."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Receivership (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, November 02, 1893). "Oaklanders were treated to a genuine surprise yesterday when the rumor was spread about the streets that the big concern known as the Piedmont Cable Company was in the hands of a receiver."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Hard Feelings (San Francisco Morning Call, Tuesday, December 11, 1894). "Mr. Bishop scowled at Mr. Garthwaite and Mr. Garthwaite scowled at Mr. Bishop, and the matter was ended."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Hard Feelings/2 (San Francisco Morning Call, Saturday, January 05, 1895). "... Ira Bishop will be compelled to appease the wrath of Mrs. Phoebe Blair, who is after him with a sharp stick."
-- Baseball Field Unprofitable (San Francisco Morning Call, Saturday, January 05, 1895). "Yesterday the Piedmont Railway Company began demolishing this fence and taking down the grand stand ... the grounds do not pay."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Foreclosed (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, January 13, 1895). "... a considerable barrier of prior liens is piling up between the bondholders and their security ..."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Sold at Auction (San Francisco Morning Call, Wednesday, March 20, 1895). "Ever since the road began going down hill..." (lol - JT)
-- Consolidated Piedmont Assessment (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, May 16, 1895). "Mr. Dalton says he will not accept these figures and will place a valuation of his own on the road."
-- Consolidated Piedmont Sale Contested (San Francisco Morning Call, Wednesday, July 10, 1895). "... holders of ten bonds of the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company, have sued the stockholders of that company ... They allege that when the sale of the road was made on the 19th day of March, 1895, all of the proceeds went for the payment of the receiver's indebtedness, leaving no part for the payment of the bonds."
-- Consolidated Piedmont -- Bitter Feelings (San Francisco Morning Call, Wednesday, August 14, 1895). "Mr. Garthwaite accused Mr. Bishop of peculiar tricks with reference to a franchise which had been obtained from the Council for a few blocks down Washington street."
-- Consolidated Piedmont -- Revenge of Mrs Blair (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, May 17, 1903). "It is said C. R. Bishop and J. R. Spring have made good their proportion of the amount, which aggregated $2268 20."
-- Consolidated Piedmont -- Attempted Suicide of Receiver Bishop (New-York Tribune, Sunday, November 06, 1904). "..while suffering from depression, due to ill health."
-- Consolidated Piedmont -- Death of Receiver Bishop (San Francisco Morning Call, Thursday, February 23, 1905). "He was at one time proprietor of the Piedmont Baths in Oakland, and was manager of the Oakland street railway system at the time of its sale to the Oakland Transit Company."
3. Also on the Other California Cities page: Two more contemporary newspaper articles about the Oakland Cable Railway:
-- Cable Car Nearly Struck by Steam Train -- The 1894 collision was not the first time a train came too close to a cable car.
-- New Cable (San Francisco Morning Call, Sunday, April 12, 1891). "The putting in of the new cable of tbe Oakland Cable Company was not completed until about noon yesterday."
4. Added News and Bibliography items about a threatened boycott of the bell ringing contest


Twenty years ago this month (May, 1999):
1. Picture of the Month: California Street cable car in Muni colors.
2. Roll out Consolidated Piedmont Cable Railway on the Other California Cities page
3. Add More California Street Pictures page
4. Add item about California Street reopening to the news

Coming in June, 2019: On the Other California Cities page: A ten and twenty year update on San Diego's ill-starred San Diego Cable Railway

125 years ago, on 16-May-1894, the Cable Tramway Company of Omaha converted to electric traction.

50 years ago, on 18-May-1969, Angels Flight in Los Angeles closed. It returned at a different location in 1996.

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

Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-May-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-January-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 30-September-2018)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (new blog)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/