Much of the attraction of San Francisco’s surviving cables cars is due to the antique nature of the cars and the seemingly mysterious method by which they travel up and down the steep hills and grades of the City. Most of that is true of the system itself as well; just how the little cars run has fascinated locals and tourists alike who, like Rudyard Kipling in the 1890s, marvel at cars gliding on their tracks, apparently without any visible means of propulsion. Yet the system is amazing simple in many ways and all the more remarkable in that it has changed little since the first cable car lines appeared in Victorian San Francisco of the late 19th century.