The first cable car powerhouses were steam engines, later replaced with electric ones. HallidieвЂ™s invention of the вЂњendless ropeвЂќ that would turn in perpetuity to keep the railway moving required an engine.The city still uses his designs to this day. Engineer Henry Root combined the passenger and dummy car in 1883.But antsy San Franciscans kept climbing up into the dummy car, so eventually the manufacturing company installed seats there too. The original San Francisco cable car had its grip and break mechanism in a lead вЂњdummy carвЂќ and put the passengers in a trailer car towed behind it.In previous decades it showcased at both the Ferry Building and the Cliff House. Only one car from the Clay Street line still exists: The Clay Street Hill Railroad Number 8, presently on display at the Cable Car Museum in Nob Hill.In modern currency thatвЂ™s about $1.64 million.ДЄ cable car travels its route with mannequins on its roof provided by MacyвЂ™s in San Francisco, 1949 as part of a promotional campaign. The cost to build that original line: $85,150.The first San Francisco cable car line serviced Clay Street starting September 1, 1873.His pre-cable car inventions strung the cables overhead in aerial вЂњtramways,вЂќ but taking it down to street level proved a less harrowing journey. Hallidie started using the signature cable-essentially a rope made of steel-to haul ore and passengers in mining camps.Cable car inventor Andrew Smith Hallidie, a mining engineer, got his inspiration for the vehicles after seeing a team of horses meet a gruesome fate when they slipped on a wet street while dragging a heavy load uphill in 1869.Since January 17 is Cable Car Day, hereвЂ™s a look at the driving force that has kept the cables turning for nearly 150 years. So ingrained in city culture are the cable cars that neither big business, City Hall, nor even the San Andreas fault could permanently remove them from the local equation. But only in San Francisco, where the first cables ran, have they become a part of the cityвЂ™s worldwide identity. Once upon a time, cable cars were common sights in Portland, Seattle, and even Oakland.

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