Monday, November 04, 2002

CABLE CARS These are claimed

CABLE CARS
These are claimed to be America’s (or the U.S’s) only moving national historic landmark.  Or something.  I know that it may be moving to see some of the other ones, you get all choked up and verklempt and such, but this one, even if you are phlegmatic when you see it, the damn things squirrel around all over the streets. My very intelligent - um - what do you call your wife’s sister’s husband? - that guy, on a visit here a few years ago, was wondering what made them run.  “Must be electricity,” he mused.  No, mr smartypants (names changed to protect privacy), it’s actually a fat wire cable that zips around underground.  The cars have a clamp that reaches into a slot in the street and seizes on, dragging the old puppies around at a steady rate, up some ugly hills and down some even uglier ones.  When they’re going down these monstrosities (and that’s why they were invented in the first place, so the nastiest hills are the ones that still have working lines), you might smell a homey campfire smell.  Like wood burning.  Just like wood burning.  Cuz it’s made by wood that’s being heated up pretty hot.  The brakes on these large, heavy, often overladen monstrosities are composed of a block of pine and some sand.  You want to slow down?  Pull a lever and a block of pine wood is pressed into the street.  Still out of control?  Grab a handful of sand out of the bucket and throw it in front of the wood block for more friction.  (You must know how I like the friction.) Seems pretty sketchy but it still works.  So when I took my whole lunch hour to try to run a fruitless errand, I got a chance to sit on those aging victorian seats, to feel the old car catch the cable and jerk to life, and of course, got a snootful of pine smoke from the brakes.  Even though I didn’t get anything done, I enjoyed myself.  And it smelled good too.