1873 Clay Street Hill Railroad Car No. 8

At the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco much of what you see is how the current cable cars are operating, which is fascinating. Also there, however, is information about the history of cable cars.

The car shown here is the last surviving car from the inaugural set of cars in 1873.

Here is part of its description as provided by the museum. The rest is above in the third picture.

"The Clay Street Hill Railroad grip car No. 8, displayed here is the only surviving car [from] the original 1873 fleet making it the oldest cable car in the world."

"Note its simple grip device, a screw and clamp system operated by hand wheels. Although the grip mechanism has been redesigned, the cable system that this car ran on is functionally, almost identical to the system we use today."

There is more if you look at the picture.

From my journey to the Cable Car Museum.