1. Home
  2. Model Railroad Forum
  3. San Francisco Street Railroading In 1909! (Film.)

San Francisco Street Railroading In 1909! (Film.)

This is really cool!
A seven-minute film shot from the front end of a San Francisco Market
Street cable car, showing everyday life -and urban street railroading-
as it was 100 years ago
formatting link

Note the lack of any traffic controls whatsoever, or even any commonly-
agreed-upon rules of the road. Note also the old original Ferry
building at the east end of Market Street.
This film was shot only three years after the great San Francisco
earthquake.
~Pete
Reply to
Twibil
Loading thread data ...
People and other vehicles didn't have much fear of cutting right in front of the cable cars, did they? Maybe that helps to explain the high incidence of trolley-vehicle accidents that continues today here in Houston. Another thing that it brings to mind that I have pondered recently - When did men stop wearing hats regularly? We see in movies of the '30s, '40s and perhaps even of the '50s that men regularly wore hats as part of their standard business attire, but at some point hats have nearly completely fallen out of favor, other than for cowboys. What sort of event was the impetus for that to occur?
Reply to
Rick Jones
Note also the cyclist playing with his life (about 1:10) - after crossing one rail at an angle, avoiding the risk of catching a wheel in hte slot, he rides right down the cable slot - must have been a real fat tire bike to survive that!
Reply to
Steve Caple
Another thing that it brings to mind that I have pondered recently -
As I was going through my MR's, any issue from 1934 till about 1954 or so, that had a man on the cover, he had a hat of some kind on. Many also had either a cigarette or pipe in his mouth as well.
Reply to
Frank A. Rosenbaum
On 11/28/2009 9:34 AM Rick Jones spake thus:
That's easy; blame the early '60s, and the onset of the rebellion against conformity (remember "nonconformism"?), authoritarianism and other hangovers of the earlier era.
Those scenes showing dozens of men all wearing more or less the same headgear were pretty striking, though.
Reply to
David Nebenzahl
Not as crazy at it looks. Assuming this is the cablecar system, and it works like it does in SF today, that's the cableway, and there's a gadget under the trolley that flips open these metal plate covers in the street as the tow cable gripper thing passes over that part of the road. I can say from direct experience that it's totally safe to ride on. The rail sections on the other hand, are a little carnivorious and I don't think I'd so casually flip my bike over one in front of a moving trolley like that.
The thing that gets you is how this is all really slow (I would guess no more than 10mph and often less), but there's somebody doing something stupid every few seconds. Pretty entertaining, thanks to the person who posted it. *
Reply to
PV
(A) Global warming.
(B) Natural fashion evolution.
(C) The advent of climate control.
(D) So many movies being made from the late '30s on that featured leading men who liked to show off their wavy locks, and women deciding that they *liked* that look.
All things considered, I suspect it was that last one that really turned the tide.
Reply to
Twibil
Once upom a time they had stud contacts for tramcars in a few places in Britain - and possibly on the other side of the ocean. These were spring loaded so the weight of a pedestrian wouldn't operate them, but horses got electrocuted.
Reply to
Christopher A. Lee
Some wonderful footage. Thanks Pete.
Reply to
Christopher A. Lee
Dunno about that. Do women like naseball caps worn backwards?
;-)
wolf k.
Reply to
Wolf K
It's been 20 years since I visited their trolley museum, but I'm pretty sure the covers go UP, not down. And this is a continuous cable system - the cars simply grabbed the cable and were pulled along by it - nothing to get electocuted by, but plenty too dangerous to be accessible to people on the street. *
Reply to
PV
I rode on the Melbourne cable tram system as a kid, and there were no covers over the cable slot there. If you had a bike, you just took care, and if you got your wheel caught in the slot, well, too bad, you ended up on your arse! By the way, the Melbourne sysyem was the largest in the world under one management. The S.F. network was larger by mileage, but was under several comapanies. Regards, Bill.
Reply to
Bill Pearce
How many are there left anywhere?
The Great Orme Tramway is similar but the cars are fixed to the cable so it operates as a balanced funicular but the street section had the cable running in a slot.
formatting link
Reply to
Christopher A. Lee
Ask yourself "Do I see those guys who wear backwards baseball caps fighting off hordes of beautiful women?" and you'll have your answer.
Reply to
Twibil
formatting link
Dunno about any others.
~Pete
Reply to
Twibil
Another thing that it brings to mind that I have pondered recently - When did men stop wearing hats regularly? We see in movies of the '30s, '40s and perhaps even of the '50s that men regularly wore hats as part of their standard business attire, but at some point hats have nearly completely fallen out of favor, other than for cowboys. What sort of event was the impetus for that to occur?
Reply to
vmanes
Ask yourself "Do I see those guys who wear backwards baseball caps fighting off hordes of beautiful women?" and you'll have your answer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's an IQ meter. Full back is close to Zero. Full back plus waist of pants at knee level is less than Zero.
Reply to
LDosser
John F. Kennedy
Reply to
LDosser
Dang, beat me to it! Precisely!!
Though four years in the USAF was enough hat wearing for me ...
Reply to
LDosser
Gee, I don't recall those. Must not have had them in Glasgow or the lot I ran with would have been buggering with them constantly ...
Reply to
LDosser

Further Reading

  • Any Home Shop Machinist in San Francisco?

  • I would like to network with any HSM, home shop machinist, in SanFrancisco or...

  • Aluminum oxide source in the San Francisco bay area

  • Hello all,I have been looking for some aluminum oxide to use as a blasting media...

  • Going to San Francisco

  • Can someone please recommend some good HO shops in downtown San...

  • San Francisco Inventor's workshop

  • Copied from alt.inventors:For all the inventors in this group who live in the...

  • Need plate steel in/near San Francisco

  • Does anyone know a dealer/yard in or near San Francisco, CA that will sell...

  • Welding Supply Stores in the San Francisco/San Jose Area?

  • FWIW, Praxair in San Francisco treated me well when I bought my MIG welder...

  • #OT# San Francisco Bay bridge

  • From the news reports it appears that the major cause for thedelay in repairs of...

  • #OT# San Francisco Bay bridge

  • From the news reports it appears that the major cause for thedelay in repairs of...

  • where can I buy a ball bearing in San Francisco/San Jose in US?

  • Try:Kaman Bearing & Supply Corp316 Littlefield AveS San Francisco, CA 94080(650)...

  • RC Plane Flying in San Francisco East Bay Area

  • Are there any RC hobbyist in the San Francisco Bay Area? I'm in theEast Bay...

  • Railroading in Galviston Texas

  • Gang, We just got back from a week on the beach in Galveston Texas. I had a...

  • Kite Aerial Photography demonstration in San Francisco this Sunday

  • Hi all.One of the world's foremost KAP practicioners, Cris Benton (check...

  • Semi-OT: USS San Francisco

  • hopefully not a total write off. That is if there is no significant structural...

  • The gallery in san francisco is called the CCAC.

  • Thats where my Wessex will end upside down as thats what the artistwants to do...

  • Anyone launching near San Francisco anytime soon?

  • LUNAR launches at Robertson Park in Livermore on a monthly basis.This is a low...

  • MODEL RAILROAD SYSTEM VERSION 2.1.23 RELEASED

  • Deepwoods Software is pleased to announce the release of version 2.1.13 of the...
  • « previous thread

  • Show & Tell.

  • Went to Disneyland this week for the first time in 23 years. Yee Gawds, it's...
  • next thread »

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.