1.
Funicular
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Funiculars of one sort or another have existed for hundreds of years and continue to be used for moving both passengers and goods. Its name derives from the latin, funiculus, diminutive of funis, the basic idea of funicular operation is that two cars are always attached to each other by a cable, which runs through a pulley at the top of the slope. Counterbalancing of the two cars, with one going up and one going down, minimizes the energy needed to lift the car going up, winching is normally done by an electric drive that turns the pulley. Sheave wheels guide the cable to and from the drive mechanism, early funiculars used two parallel straight tracks, four rails, with separate station platforms for each vehicle. The tracks are laid with sufficient space between them for the two cars to pass at the midpoint, the wheels of the cars are usually single-flanged, as on standard railway vehicles. Examples of this type of track layout are the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, layouts that require less width have been developed, with only two or three rails for the most part of the slope and four rails only at the passing section. In layouts using three rails, the rail is shared by both cars. The three-rail layout is wider than the layout, but the passing section is simpler to build. If a rack for braking is used, that rack can be mounted higher in a three-rail layout, some four-rail funiculars have the upper and lower sections interlaced and a single platform at each station. The Hill Train at Legoland, Windsor, is an example of this configuration, until the end of the 1870s, the four-rail parallel-track funicular was the normal configuration. Carl Roman Abt developed the Abt Switch allowing the two-rail layout, in the United States, the first funicular to use a two-rail layout was the Telegraph Hill Railroad in San Francisco, which was in operation from 1884 until 1886. The Mount Lowe Railway in Altadena, California, was the first mountain railway in the United States to use the three-rail layout, three- and two-rail layouts considerably reduced the space required for building a funicular, reducing grading costs on mountain slopes and property costs for urban funiculars. These layouts enabled a funicular boom in the half of the 19th century. The cars can be attached to a cable running through a pulley at the bottom of the incline in case the gravity force acting on the vehicles is too low to operate them on the slope. One of the pulleys must be designed as a wheel to avoid slack in the ropes. In this case, the winching can also be done at the end of the incline. Funiculars used in mines were sometimes unpowered gravity planes, also known as self-acting inclines or brake inclines, the weight of descending loaded wagons was used to pull the empty mine wagons. A few funiculars have been using water tanks under the floor of each car that are filled or emptied until just sufficient imbalance is achieved to allow movement
2.
Llandudno
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Llandudno is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community, which includes Penrhyn Bay, the towns name is derived from its patron saint, Saint Tudno. Llandudno, Queen of the Welsh Resorts, a title first applied as early as 1864, is now the largest seaside resort in Wales, historically a part of Caernarfonshire, Llandudno was formerly in the district of Aberconwy within Gwynedd. The origins in recorded history are with the Manor of Gogarth conveyed by King Edward I to Annan, the manor comprised three townships, Y Gogarth in the south-west, Y Cyngreawdr in the north and Yr Wyddfid in the south-east. Home to several herds of wild Kashmiri goats originally descended from several goats given by Queen Victoria to Lord Mostyn. The summit of the Great Orme stands at 679 feet, the Summit Hotel, now a tourist attraction, was once the home of world middleweight champion boxer Randolph Turpin. A haven for flora and fauna with some species such as peregrine falcons. This great limestone headland has many attractions including the Great Orme Tramway, by 1847 the town had grown to a thousand people, served by the new church of St George, built in 1840. The great majority of the men worked in the mines, with others employed in fishing. In 1848, Owen Williams, an architect and surveyor from Liverpool and these were enthusiastically pursued by Lord Mostyn. The influence of the Mostyn Estate and its agents over the years was paramount in the development of Llandudno, especially after the appointment of George Felton as surveyor, between 1857 and 1877 much of central Llandudno was developed under Feltons supervision. Felton also undertook architectural design work, including the design and execution of Holy Trinity Church in Mostyn Street, the town is just off the North Wales Coast railway line which was opened as the Chester and Holyhead Railway in 1848. It became part of the London and North Western Railway in 1859, Llandudno was specifically built as a mid-Victorian era holiday destination and is served by a branch railway line opened in 1858 from Llandudno Junction with stations at Deganwy and Llandudno. Great Orme Tramway The Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway operated a tramway service between Llandudno and Rhos-on-Sea from 1907 and extended to Colwyn Bay in 1908. Modern Llandudno takes its name from the ancient parish of Saint Tudno but also encompasses several neighbouring townships and districts including Craig-y-Don, Llanrhos, also nearby is the small town and marina of Deganwy and these last four are in the traditional parish of Llanrhos. The ancient geographical boundaries of the Llandudno area are complex, today, Deganwy and Llandudno Junction are part of the town community of Conwy even though they are across the river and only linked to Conwy by a causeway and bridge. A beach of sand, shingle and rock curves two miles between the headlands of the Great Orme and the Little Orme, for most of the length of Llandudnos North Shore there is a wide curving Victorian promenade. The road, collectively known as The Parade, has a different name for each block and it is on these parades, near the centre of the bay is the Venue Cymru
3.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
4.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
5.
3 ft 6 in gauge railways
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Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire, there are approximately 112,000 kilometres of 1,067 mm gauge track in the world. 1795 One of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, other 3 ft 6 in gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century. 1862 In 1862 the Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Norway,1865 In 1865 the Queensland Railways were constructed. Its 3 ft 6 in gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon,1868 In 1868 Charles Fox asks civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a 3 ft 6 in railway in Costa Rica. 1871 In 1871 the Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway,1872 In January 1872 Robert Fairlie advocated the use of 3 ft 6 in gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways, Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance. 1872 also saw the opening of the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan,1873 On 1 January 1873, the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in and broad gauge railways were converted to the narrower gauge. Also in 1873 the Cape Colony adopted the 3 ft 6 in gauge, after conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges. Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger, the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa. 1876 Natal also converted its short 10 kilometres long Durban network from 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in broad gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the colony in 1876. Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, after 1876 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous 3 ft 6 in gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge. An alternate name for this gauge, Cape gauge, is named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, the term Cape Gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as 1065 mm instead of 1067 mm, the gauge is sometimes referred to as CAP gauge, after C. A. The gauge name Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand, in Australia the imperial term 3 foot 6 inch is used. In some Australian publications the term medium gauge is also used, in Japan 1,067 mm gauge is referred to as kyōki, which directly translates as narrow gauge. It is defined in metric units, Cape Government Railways Heritage railway List of track gauges Norwegian gauge controversy South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia Why Did Japan Choose the 36 Narrow Gauge
6.
Gauntlet track
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Gauntlet track or interlaced track is an arrangement in which railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced such that only one pair of rails may be used at a time. Since this requires only slightly more width than a single track, trains run on the discrete pair of rails appropriate to their direction, track gauge or loading gauge. Gauntlet tracks can be used to provide clearance to a fixed obstruction adjacent to a track such as a cutting, bridge. Frog gauntlets are commonly used when a rail lines capacity is increased by the provision of an additional track. They are typically used for short stretches of track where it is cheaper to provide extra rails than to provide switches and this also eliminates the problem of switch failures. In a frog gauntlet, one crosses over a rail on the adjacent track. A frog is used to provide the flangeway for the crossing tracks, the train taking the gauntlet runs over the frog onto the parallel rails, passes through the gauntlet area, and passes over another frog to return to the original line. Since there are no points or other moving parts on a frog gauntlet track, because two trains cannot use the gauntlet at the same time, scheduling and signalling must allow for this restriction. In a point gauntlet track, the rails for the two tracks do not need to cross, so no frog is required. The train taking the gauntlet runs over a set of points onto the parallel rails, passes through the gauntlet area. This arrangement is used at the Roselle Park Station referenced below, at a small number of locations on single track lines in Britain, interlaced loops had been provided where sprung catch points were required because of the steep gradient. The points at either end of the loop were set according to the direction of travel. Trains running uphill were routed via the loop incorporating the sprung catch point, trains running downhill used the opposite loop, bypassing the catch point. Where tracks diverge, a section of track may be provided where the switches require to be located remote from the actual divergence. This arrangement is most commonly used on systems, to move the switches away from a heavily trafficked road. An arrangement similar to gauntlet track is used to allow trains of different gauges to use the same track. In that case, the two interlaced tracks will have different gauges, sometimes sharing one of the rails for a total of three rails, in Sydney, the Como bridge over the Georges River between Oatley and Como was built as single line in the 1880s. The line was duplicated soon after, except for that bridge, the bridge was fitted with gauntlet track, which needs no turnouts, and hence needs no signal box at the far end
7.
Street running
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On-street running or street running is the routing of a railroad track or tramway track running directly along public streets, without any separation. The rails are embedded in the pavement, and the train shares the street directly with pedestrians. Trains generally travel at reduced speed for safety reasons, if there are stations on the section, they can appear similar in style to a tram stop, but often lack platforms, pedestrian islands, or other amenities. Passengers may be required to wait on a distant sidewalk, and then to board or disembark directly among mixed traffic in mid-pavement, rather than at curbside. Although bridges and tunnels are not streets, rails can still be embedded in the surface of bridges and this is also considered to be street running. This list does not include conventional tram, interurban, light rail or the tram portions of tram-train systems, over the Salto Grande Dam, between Concordia, Argentina and Salto, Uruguay. Bridge between Viedma, Río Negro and Carmen de Patagones, Buenos Aires, the North Coast main line runs down Denison Street in Rockhampton, Queensland carrying freight and passenger services. A sugar-cane railway runs down Mill Street, uruguaiana, almost 300 m. in the Vasco Alves street to reach the Paso de los Libres–Uruguaiana International Bridge. Notable examples in Canada include, Brantford, Ontario Clarence Street Guelph, Ontario Kent Street, CNR, near Mannheim, the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn and Rhein-Haardt-Bahn are street running through several villages. In Linkenheim, near Karlsruhe, the Hardt Railway was changed to BOStrab in 2011 for that reason, Road and rail share the Lindaunis Bridge in Schleswig-Holstein. Freight trains using the infrastructure of Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft to the company Evonik in Niederkassel-Lülsdorf passing the village Sieglar are running inside the Pastor-Böhm-Straße, one of the most famous locations is when the steam-powered Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Toy train squeezes between narrow shop fronts down past a bazaar in India. Indonesia used to have an extensive steam tramways network, which had street running sections in various towns and cities in Java. Two sections remain in use in 2010, part of the Wonogiri branch runs along the Slamet Riyadi street in Surakarta, the earlier line sees both passenger and freight service, while the other line is exclusively for freight. Freight trains to and from the docks at Dublin share the Alexandra road with cars The Bernina Railway runs in the streets of Tirano, the Circumetnea ran until 1999 on the Corso delle Provincie in Catania. The Cremona–Iseo railway ran until 1956 in the street of Cavatigozzi. The Domodossola–Locarno railway started until the 1980s from the square of Domodossola. The Rivabahn was until 1981 a freight railway that ran into the city of Trieste along the seaside street, the Rome–Fiuggi railway runs completely along the Via Casilina in Rome. This railway serves as the only way of reaching Machu Picchu from Cusco without walking
8.
Tram
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A tram is a rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets, and also sometimes on a segregated right of way. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways, Tramways powered by electricity, the most common type historically, were once called electric street railways. However, trams were used in urban areas before the universal adoption of electrification. Tram lines may run between cities and/or towns, and/or partially grade-separated even in the cities. Very occasionally, trams also carry freight, Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains, but the size of trams is rapidly increasing. Some trams may also run on railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line. For all these reasons, the differences between the modes of rail transportation are often indistinct. In the United States, the tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains. Today, most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph, in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail. If necessary, they may have dual power systems — electricity in city streets, trams are now included in the wider term light rail, which also includes segregated systems. The English terms tram and tramway are derived from the Scots word tram, referring respectively to a type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which they ran. The word tram probably derived from Middle Flemish trame, a Romanesque word meaning the beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge, the identical word la trame with the meaning crossbeam is also used in the French language. The word Tram-car is attested from 1873, although the terms tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English, North Americans prefer streetcar, trolley, or trolleycar. The term streetcar is first recorded in 1840, and originally referred to horsecars, when electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or later, trolleys. The troller design frequently fell off the wires, and was replaced by other more reliable devices. The terms trolley pole and trolley wheel both derive from the troller, Modern trams often have an overhead pantograph mechanical linkage to connect to power, abandoning the trolley pole altogether. Conventional diesel tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the US, the term may also apply to an aerial ropeway, e. g. the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Over time, the trolley has fallen into informal use
9.
Great Orme
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The Great Orme is a prominent limestone headland on the north coast of Wales, next to the town of Llandudno. It is referred to as Cyngreawdr Fynydd in a poem by the 12th-century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr and its English name derives from the Viking word for sea serpent, which it is said to resemble. It is echoed by the Little Orme, a smaller but very similar limestone headland on the side of Llandudno Bay in the parish of Llanrhos. Both the Great and Little Ormes have been linked to the Old Norse words urm or orm that mean sea serpent. The Great Orme being the head, with its body being the land between the Great and Little Ormes, still some Norse names remain in use within the former Kingdom of Gwynedd. Despite there being a theory for the origin of the name Orme, prior to this, Welsh names were predominantly used locally and in cartography to name the headlands landward features and the surrounding area. The entire peninsula on which Llandudno was built was known as the Creuddyn, Orme only appears to have been applied to the headland as seen from the sea. The first series Ordnance Survey map follows this convention, the headland is called the Great Ormes Head but its landward features all have Welsh names. It is likely that Orme became established as its name due to Llandudnos burgeoning tourist trade because a majority of visitors and holidaymakers regularly arrived by sea. The headland being the first thing to be sighted of their destination in the journey from Liverpool by paddle steamer. Parts of the Great Orme are managed as a reserve by the Conwy County Borough Countryside Service. The area, which is 2 miles long by 1 mile wide, has a number of protective designations including Special Area of Conservation, Heritage Coast, Country Park, the local authority provides a warden service on the Great Orme that reguarlly patrols the special scientific and conservation areas. There are numerous maintained paths for walking to the summit, a section of the long-distance North Wales Path also crosses the headland, about half the Great Orme is in use as farmland, mostly for sheep grazing. In 2015, the National Trust purchased the summits 140-acre Parc Farm for £1million, the Great Orme is a peninsula made mostly of limestone and dolomite, formed during the Early Carboniferous part of the Earths geological history. Most of the Great Ormes rocks are between 339 and 326 million years old, the upper surface of the Great Orme is particularly noted for its limestone pavements covering several headland areas. There are also rich seams of dolomite-hosted copper ore, the Great Orme copper mine was estimated to have produced enough copper to make about 2,000 tons of bronze during the Bronze Age. The slopes of the Great Orme are subject to occasional subsidence, natural wells were greatly prized in limestone districts and the Great Orme was no exception. Water was required for mining purposes as well as for domestic
10.
Great Britain
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Great Britain, also known as Britain, is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, Great Britain is the largest European island, in 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the worlds third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, the island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, the island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term Great Britain often extends to surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England, the archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years, the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, the oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne. The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι. The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans, the Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. The name Albion appears to have out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a term only. It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself King of Great Brittaine, France, Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination
11.
San Francisco cable car system
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The San Francisco cable car system is the worlds last manually operated cable car system. An icon of San Francisco, the car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Of the 23 lines established between 1873 and 1890, only three remain, two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fishermans Wharf, and a route along California Street. While the cable cars are used to an extent by commuters. They are among the most significant tourist attractions in the city, along with Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cable cars are not to be confused with San Franciscos heritage streetcars, which operate on Market Street, the first successful cable-operated street railway was the Clay Street Hill Railroad, which opened on August 2,1873. The promoter of the line was Hallidie, and the engineer was William Eppelsheimer, the line involved the use of grip cars, which carried the grip that engaged with the cable, towing trailer cars, the design was the first to use grips. The term grip became synonymous with the operator, the line started regular service on September 1,1873, and its success led it to become the template for other cable car transit systems. It was a success, and Hallidies patents were enforced on other cable car promoters. Accounts differ as to exactly how involved Hallidie was in the inception of the line, the next cable car line to open was the Sutter Street Railway, which converted from horse operation in 1877. This line introduced the side grip, and lever operation, both designed by Henry Casebolt and his assistant Asa Hovey, and patented by Henry Casebolt. This idea was brought about because Casebolt did not want to pay Hallidie royalties of $50,000 a year for use of his patent, the side grip allowed cable cars to cross at intersections. In 1878, Leland Stanford opened his California Street Cable Railroad and this companys first line was on California Street and is the oldest cable car line still in operation. In 1880, the Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railway began operation, the Presidio and Ferries Railway followed two years later, and was the first cable company to include curves on its routes. The curves were let-go curves, where the car drops the cable, in 1883, the Market Street Cable Railway opened its first line. This company was controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad and was to grow to become San Franciscos largest cable car operator. At its peak, it operated five lines all of which converged into Market Street to a terminus at the Ferry Building, during rush hours, cars left that terminus every 15 seconds. In 1888, the Ferries and Cliff House Railway opened its initial two-line system, the Powell-Mason line is still operated on the same route today, their other route was the Powell-Washington-Jackson line, stretches of which are used by todays Powell-Hyde line
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