Cable Is NOT Dead.

The cable car museum is on the corner of Washington and Clay. It's a fine museum. But what makes it special is right beside the 150-year-old relics proudly displayed -- is the whirring machinery propelling riders along the San Francisco streets at that very moment. The museum is FREE. It's a little off the beaten path, but the cable car stops right outside.

Looks like the Powell Street line is currently down.

The cable in cable car.

The only surviving member of the original 1873 fleet.

Employee time clock, circa 1900 -- I'm not sure if you punched it, or it punched you.

This scale model features the "cow-catcher" safety feature. Also used for risky free rides.

Life before mass produced parts. A wooden pattern allowed you to fabricate.

The cable beneath the San Francisco street moves at 9.5 mph -- but it's not a strictly go/no go proposition. The gripman can vary the hold on the cable, slowing as it's decreased, and accelerating as it's increased.

This friction-based transportation system demands constant maintenance.

April 18, 1906 -- you know the story. The system's tracks buckled throughout San Francisco, and while the basic structure of the cable car barn survived, the interior was extensively damaged.

Yeah, it's $8 today -- and no transfers.

This was the Muni look in 1967.