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'Captain' Adam and Tito had been sitting for only a moment when the car jerked forward. Tito, who wasn't the least bit prepared for the car's movement, felt his back hit rather hard against the wooden seat. "I should have warned you, sir," said Adam, "Is this your first time on a cable car, Mr. Tito?" "A cable car?" Tito asked. He wasn't absolutely sure what that was. "Yes, sir, a cable car." The boy looked delighted. "I'm so glad that it's your first time riding one. I can tell you anything you want to know. In fact, I ride whenever I can, telling people how it works, where it goes, and its history." Tito raised an eyebrow. "History!" he groaned, "I can't get away from it." But for the first time, he wasn't the least bit bothered. In fact, he was intensely curious to know more. "That's why they call me, 'Captain', because I know everything about cable cars", Adam continued. "Oh, I almost forgot! Do you have your ticket, Mr. Tito?" Tito, panicking for a moment, immediately patted his suit jacket, hunting for pockets. He found one inside the jacket and felt a stiff piece of paper. When he pulled it out, he saw just a few words before Adam took it from him with a hearty "Thank you, sir!". Adam handed back a stub that Tito put in his pocket, planning to look at it more closely later. "The cable car is a WONDER, Mr. Tito. Did you know that we're second in the nation to have them? California was first." "San Francisco?" ventured Tito. He had seen a post card of a trolley car going down a steep hill. "That's correct, sir. Do you know how they work?" "Don't they run on metal train tracks with wires pulling them on top?" "They do run on metal tracks, sir, like the locomotive, but the cable is underground. In fact, the cable is 4 feet underground, one foot more than in San Francisco. Because the cable is buried so deep, the cable car doesn't have a bit of trouble getting through the snow or even ice." "The wires must be really thick, as big as a fist to move a car like this", suggested Tito. "Not really, sir. The whole cable line is only 1 and 1/4th inches thick. The center isn't even wire-it's made from hemp". Tito cocked his head looking puzzled and Adam paused. "Forgive me, sir, I forgot that you were a foreigner and you don't know some of these words. I'll try to describe things better." Tito decided not to correct Adam about his being a 'foreigner'. He needed as much explanation as possible. "Hemp rope comes from a plant. It makes very strong cloth that lasts a long time. Sailcloth is made from it, too. Now the center, or core, as they say, of the cable is hemp. Covering the hemp are 96 steel wires, bundled into 6 strands of 12 each. A strand is like..., a braid, a girl's hair braid. So there's 6 braids, you might say, of 12 steel wires each. It's very strong". "Does the cable last forever?" Tito asked. "I'm afraid not. Bits of it have to be replaced about every 167 days." Tito had tons of questions. He could picture the cable running under the car but where did it go? How did it move the car? But just then, Adam pointed to the man who looked like a conductor. "Watch the gears, sir. We're in what's called a 'grip' car. That means that we stop and start all of the cars. Perhaps you noticed when you were about to board that there are three cars behind us. Those are called trailers and they seat twice as many passengers as a grip car." Tito looked at the seats in the grip car and counted twenty. That meant that the trailers could each carry 40 passengers. 140 people total! "That's more than a CTA bus, even the 'accordion' bus, I'll bet", thought Tito. He'd have to count, next time he rode one. "We're about to stop so please lean back and brace yourself, Mr. Tito." As Tito watched, the conductor released one gear and braked with another. The grip car came to a sudden and complete stop. People were getting on the cable car and Tito did his best not to gawk. A lady wearing a long dress, long coat and big hat was being helped on the car by the conductor. She was followed by a man who tipped his hat to Tito. Tito tipped his in return, glad for having practiced in front of the attic mirror a short time ago. Captain Adam pointed to the conductor. "Now, the conductor is gripping the cable." The car jolted and again moved forward. Tito wondered how the grip car could move so quickly. "Except for gripping and ungripping the cable, you must admit, sir, that the cable car has a wonderfully smooth ride. Riding a horse is much rougher." Tito nodded his head. He had been on a horse a couple of times and remembered swaying with each of the horse's steps and practically falling off when the horse stumbled. That horse had stumbled a lot! This was nothing like riding a horse. "And", added Adam with a gleam of pride in his eye, "the cable car is fast--three times faster than the horse-drawn cars!" "Do you mean 'horse and buggy'?" asked Tito. He had ridden one in Chicago. They were four-wheeled carriages for carrying people and a fun way for tourists to see the downtown area along Michigan Avenue. Otherwise, and except for the occasional mounted police, you didn't see horses in the city, unless you went to the zoo. "No, sir. Cars like these but drawn by horses. The first cars on rails were all drawn by horses. Next came the dummy engine." "A stupid engine?" blurted Tito. "No", grinned Adam, "'Dummy' means silent. Only they weren't that quiet! We still have to share the street with people on horseback and horse-drawn buggies, too, sir, like you mentioned. But the dummy engine, also called a steam dummy, used to huff and puff and scare the horses." "But wasn't a dummy engine or steam dummy better than horses?" "Not as much as we thought. The dummy engine was faster but it was also expensive to maintain. We did get a better road, though. They made the road from granite, to support the weight of the steam dummy. And", Adam placed a finger against his nose, "the steam dummy was certainly cleaner." Tito pointed at the hay on the floor. "Cleaner than this?" Adam hid a smile. "The straw was put on the floor to keep your feet warm, sir. Although, I suppose you should look before you dig your feet in because sometimes, people do track in some of the manure from the streets." "Manure!" exclaimed Tito. As in dog doo, he wondered? Adam suppressed a giggle before continuing, "I meant cleaner than the horse-drawn car. That was the best thing about the steam dummy and of course, is one of the advantages to the cable car--no horse manure!" Tito laughed out loud. He was frequently chided for not cleaning up after his dog in the yard. But he had never stopped to imagine what it must be like to live in a place where everyone traveled by horse. Didn't the horses wear diapers? But even if they did, what did you do with all that doo doo? |