the.com/cable car
a Victorian roller coaster that decided gravity was beneath it.
means A passenger vehicle pulled along by a continuous moving cable, either climbing steep streets on a rail (like San Francisco's) or dangling from an overhead wire up a mountainside.
from A plain compound of "cable" and "car," both doing exactly what they say. "Cable" descends through Old North French from Late Latin "capulum," a rope or halter for catching cattle, tied to the verb "capere," to seize or grasp. "Car" comes through Norman French "carre" from Latin "carrus," a wheeled wagon, itself borrowed from a Celtic word for the same. So the name is literally a grabbing-rope and a wagon — a cart hauled by a seizing line, which is precisely the trick: the car never powers itself, it just clamps onto a rope that someone else keeps moving.
- the grip
- It clamps a moving underground cable to climb hills.
- no engine
- The car itself is powerless; a powerhouse pulls the rope.
- san francisco
- Last manually operated cable car system on Earth.
- the gripman
- Operators yank a lever like rowing through the street.
- survivor
- Saved from demolition by furious 1947 citizen protest.
san francisco cable cars — 3 remaining lines operating since 1873 on steep sf hills
peak tram hong kong — funicular railway to victoria peak since 1888, carries 2 million annually
lisbon tram 28 — historic yellow tram climbing alfama district since 1901