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

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

I just put the April 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: Disney Vinylmation figures are shaped like Mickey Mouse, but are decorated to resemble a variety of Disney and non-Disney characters and places. This one, part of the San Francisco series, is decorated as a cable car. My family recently gave me this figure with its tin. Even the inside of the tin is lithographed to look like a cable car.
2. On the Kitsch page: a Disney Vinylmation Mickey Mouse figure; a 2019 Giants replica cable car honoring Hall of Famer Willie McCovey; a 2019 Golden State Warriors Draymond Green bobblehead posing with a cable car; an ad for Porte Dorée beer; a Kansas City Cable Railway puzzle;
3. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: I added screen prints to the articles about the movies Crime of Passion and D.O.A.
4. Added Chronology items about recent events from 2025-2026
5. Added News items about operational events including traffic delays during the week leading up to Super Bowl LX.
6. Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to Cal Cable Number 51.

Ten years ago this month (April 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: An impressionistic Delta Airlines poster.
2. On the Kitsch page: An American Airlines poster; Two Delta Airlines posters; A TWA poster; Three United Airlines posters; a 7x7 Magazine cover; a Hard Rock Cafe pin with a cable car and a golden dragon; a Giants 1995 pin; a Giants 2007 All Star Game pin
3. On the San Francisco page: A new page about 1941 - A Bad Year for Cable Cars, describing the cable car and counterbalance lines that got abandoned or replaced by buses in San Francisco and Seattle.
4. On the Horse Car Home Page: A reprieve for at least one season for the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man. Also News item.
5. Added News item about Amber Jones, who has become the third woman to operate a cable car.
6. Added News item about the sixth annual San Francisco History Expo

Twenty years ago this month (April 2006):

1. Picture of the Month: The headline of the 19-April-1906 Call=Chronicle=Examiner, printed on the presses of the Oakland Tribune by a combination of three of San Francisco's major newspapers.
2. On the San Francisco page: A new page about San Francisco in 1906, describing the effect of the earthquake and fire on the city's cable car lines.
3. Also on the San Francisco page: Thanks to Jack Tillmany, a detailed review about the movie I Love a Soldier, which featured Barry Fitzgerald as a gripman.
4. On the New York/New Jersey page: Three 1869 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
5. On the Kitsch page: Bachman ho cable car under the Christmas tree. 1954 and 1960 Bank of America magazine ads.
6. Changed toy cable car picture on the main page to detail view of Number 514.

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 May 2026: On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Kaikorai Tramway.

25 years ago - 2001
Apr 24 - Muni rolled out new Car 9 to honor the 100th anniversary of Hallidie's death
Apr 30 - A collision at the crossover of the upper line injured 17 passengers on the Great Orme Tramway (Landudno, Wales)

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-April-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-October-2025)
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/

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

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

I just put the March 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 1939 newspaper article describes how the Dunedin cable trams were popular with tourists from Australia. "...Australian tourists made merry on the Maryhill extension line." (Source: Dunedin Evening Star, 15-March-1939)
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's Maryhill Extension, known as "The Big Dipper."
3. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: I added screen prints to the article about the 1935 Universal B movie Chinatown Squad
4. Added News about operational events

Ten years ago this month (March 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: An 1895 view of Maryhill Tramway car 9 with unusual roof and windows. Photograph by William Henry Jackson. Thanks to Len Foley for pointing out that this was the Maryhill and not the Roslyn line. (Source: World's Transportation Commission Photograph Collection - Library of Congress. CALL NUMBER - LOT 11948, no. 688)
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Maryhill Extension, known as "The Big Dipper."
3. On the Cable Car Models page: A model of a San Diego cable car by Eleanor Catalina Stevens.
4. On the Horse Car Home Page: More about the threat to kill off the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man. Also News item.

Twenty years ago this month (March 2006):

1. Picture of the Month: Denver Tramway Company Car 40, preserved at the Forney Transportation Museum.
2. Added information about the Denver Tramway Company to the Other Cities page
3. On the Australia/New Zealand page: Thanks to Stuart James, a photograph of his great-grandfather in a Melbourne engine house
4. On the San Francisco page: An update to the second edition of Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco, by Robert Callwell & Walter E. Rice. New information about the powerhouse
5. Added Bibliography items about two books: The End of the Penny Section and Penang Trams
6. On the New York/New Jersey page: Four 1868 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
7. Added a News item about a new book about Penang transit

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 Apriil 2026: On the Cable Car Kitsch page: A panoply of collectible items.

25 years ago - 2001
The Giants won the National League West, but lost the National League Division Series to the NLDS to New York Mets, 3 games to 1.

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-March-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-October-2025)
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/

February 2026 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- February 20, 2026

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

This month I am embarrassed to publish this for the second time in a row on the 20th, but I have had various impediments.

I just put the February 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: In 1958, former Mornington Tramway trailer 167 was restored and sent to the Transit Museum in Matahoke. (Source: The Christchurch Press, 01-October-1958)
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's Mornington Tramway, the last Hallidie-type cable tram line to operate outside of San Francisco. More newspaper items.
3. Added News items about operating issues

Ten years ago this month (February 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: The only piece of rolling stock that survived the 1903 fire (Source: Otago Witness, 18-February-1903)
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Mornington Tramway, the last Hallidie-type cable tram line to operate outside of San Francisco. Many newspaper items about the opening of the line and a fire that destroyed all the rolling stock except one trailer.
3. Added News items the passing of conductor Rey Morante and the possible end of horse tram service on the Isle of Man

Twenty years ago this month (February 2006):

1. Picture of the Month: A Roslyn cable tram in Dunedin, New Zealand.
2. 24-February-2004 marks the 125th anniversary of Dunedin, New Zealand's Roslyn Tramway, the first Hallidie-type cable tram line outside of San Francisco. I also updated the small article on Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car to mention that the museum has just received grip car 3 restored to its 1905 appearance
3. Thanks to Walter Rice, "San Franciscans Fight to Keep Historic Cable Cars", a 1947 Life article about the beginning of the rebellion against Mayor Roger Lapham's plan to get rid of the Powell Street cable cars. Also "City I Love", a 1946 Time profile about Mayor Roger Lapham
4. On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Val Lupiz, a sign warning riders about the California Street line turnback on New Year's Eve, 2005.
5. Added News and Bibliography items about the mayor accusing crewmen of skimming fares and a fatality on Mason Street
6. On the New York/New Jersey page: Ten 1867-1868 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad

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 March 2026: On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: More about Dunedin, New Zealand's Roslyn Tramway, the first Hallidie-type cable tram line outside of San Francisco.

125 years ago - 1901
Feb 14 - Peoples' Railway (St Louis, Missouri) converted to electricity

75 years ago - 1951
Feb 19 - Cal Cable, as authorized by the Public Utilities Commission, increased its fares from 10 cents to 15 cents with two tokens for 25 cents or nine for $1. Even with this increase company claims it would lose money (1951), unless Muni paid 5 cents for each Muni transfer Cal Cable received. Cal Cable received 348,900 passengers per year (1950) more from Muni than Muni received from them. Cal Cable lost $19,998 in 1948, $50,474 in 1949 and $51,311 in 1950. The 15-cents fare was expected to reduce the company's 1951 loss to $10,963. The average daily patronage in 1950 was 16,437.

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 20-February-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-October-2025)
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/

Ash Wednesday -- February 17, 2026

Today is Ash Wednesday.

Gung Hay Fat Choy and Happy Mardi Gras 2026 -- February 17, 2026

ann4roleplay@freepik.com

Today is the beginning of Chinese New Year, the Year of the Fire Horse. Visit my other blog, The Big V Riot Squad (http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/) to see a tribute to the Year of the Horse and Rex, King of the Wild Horses: 

https://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2026/02/rex-marvelous-stallion-in-devil-horse.html

Today is also Mardi Gras and the beginning of Ramadan.