Jun 22, 2009 6:42 pm US/Pacific
New Cable Car Unveiled In San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP) ―
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The newly unveiled cable car known as No. 15.
CBS
A new cable car hit the streets Monday in San Francisco — and it was built from scratch, the same way they have been making them for more than a hundred years.
No. 15, as its known, took nearly 30 Municipal Transportation Agency carpenters, metal workers, mechanics, welders and painters more than five years to build based on blueprints more than a century old.
Car 15 rolled out of the cable car barn Monday where it was built with Mayor Gavin Newsom, who lives on the cable car line, climbing aboard as the very first official passenger.
The cable car was the 12th to be built from scratch by MTA workers in the last two decades. It was painted bright yellow in the style of the 1890's.
Made of bronze, steel, red oak, white oak, knot-free fir, Alaskan yellow cedar, canvas and glass, No. 15 cost $823,000 to create.
"You've got to bring it back to its original glory and that's what we did, most of it with federal dollars and state dollars, we put some local Prop. K dollars up so this wasn't a big general fund contribution," said Newsom.
The average cable car lasts about 100 years.
The transit agency has been slowly adding new cars to its fleet as older ones are retired.
The honor of driving Car 15 on its first run went to five-time cable car bell ringing champion Byron Cobb, who said the new cable car - and its bell - needs a little breaking in.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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