Highgate Hill Cable Tramway

The Highgate Hill Cable Tramway was the first cable tramway in Europe. Opened in 1884, it was built to demonstrate the benefits of the technology first pioneered in San Francisco.

Origin

The 1860s and 70s saw a boom in horse tramway construction all over the world. Cable haulage had been used in Britain since the 1830s in coal mines and on some short sections of passenger railways, but the grip system patented by Hallidie represented a major technical advance on these operations.

The world's first successful cable tramway was opened in San Francisco, USA, by London-born Andrew Smith Hallidie in 1873 using a constantly moving cable in a conduit with grippers on the cars which could be engaged or disengaged by their drivers.

Establishment

In 1881 the Steep Grade Tramways & Works Company Ltd was incorporated, one of its directors being William Booth Scott, the Chief Surveyor for St. Pancras Borough Council. To build the Highgate Hill Tramway from Archway Tavern to South Grove, Highgate Village they issued 6,000 shares of £5 each and a prospectus endorsed by Sir Sydney Waterlow of Fairseat, who had seen the system operate in the USA.

The Highgate Hill system was designed by William E. Eppelsheimer, who had designed the pioneering Clay Street Hill Railroad and created the grip currently used by San Francisco cable cars. It was constructed by the Patent Cable Tramways Corporation. The engineers for the tramway's construction were Joseph Kincaid and an American, S. Bucknall Smith, who said the route was chosen as the one nearest London which could be used for demonstration purposes.