Ferries & Cliff House Railway
California / Transit / Ferries & Cliff House Railway
History
The Ferries & Cliff House Railway was the steam extension of a cable car transit company in San Francisco. The cable cars ran from the Ferry House at the foot of Market street to California Street and Divisadero Street. From there the F&CH ran west on California street then north on 33rd Avenue to the cliffs of the Golden Gate where the route turned west and continued along the cliffs with a spectacular view until it reached the gates to Sutro Heights and the area of the Cliff House and Sutro Baths. The purpose of the F&CH was to bring tourists out to the Sutro and Ocean Beach area.
Bibliography
- Rice, Walter, and Echeverría Emiliano. When Steam Ran on the Streets of San Francisco: The Story of Passenger Steam Trains on San Francisco Streets. Forty Fort PA: Harold E. Cox, 2002
Reference Material Available Online
Photographs.
Maps.
Equipment Rosters
Video
- Traveling Along the Cliffs as the Ferries and Cliff House Railway returns from Sutro Baths.
- Filmed by Thomas Edison, Inc., 1902. Library of Congress