California Street Cable Railroad

The California Street Cable Railroad, started by Leland Stanford in 1878, was a San Francisco company that operated cable cars until August 1951 when the company’s three California Street Cable railway lines were shut down due to financial difficulties. In January 1952 the municipal government of San Francisco purchased the company and reopened the three cable car lines with operation under control of the San Francisco Municipal Railway.

Quotes

• On January 7, 1952, the city purchased for $138,785.57 the privately owned and bankrupt California Stree Cable Railroad and with it acquired that company's three cable car lines. Within five years, this event would forever change the Powell Street cable operations. The Muni ran five cable car lines.
  • Emiliano Echeverria and Walter Rice, San Francisco's Powell Street Cable Cars. Arcadia Publishing. 2005. p. 81. ISBN 0738530476. 

• The predecessor of California Street Cable Company commenced operation in 1878 with a line on California Street between Kearney and Fillmore Streets, and twenty-five cars seating approximately eighteen passengers each.
  • Arthur C. Jenkins, Report on California Street Cable Railroad Company: An Analysis of Present and Past Operations as Related to Passenger Fares and Financial Status. California Railroad Commission, Transportation Department, Research Division. 1942. p. 5. 

•      Stanford Court
       ...
       905 California St.
  The California Street Cable Car line was started by Leland Stanford as a tidy investment that could also, if he wished, transport him to his door. After 1906 a luxury apartment with an inner court replaced his palace. It was converted at great expense to a luxury hotel, but somehow the low-ceiling court does not convey a sense of grandeur.
  • Sally Byrne Woodbridge and John Marshall Woodbridge, Architecture—San Francisco: The Guide. American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter. 1982. p. 56. ISBN 0892862041.  1st part of quote last part of quote

External links

• Encyclopedic article on California Street Cable Railroad on Wikipedia