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The most challenging hill in the network is several blocks of Queen Anne Ave. Three other lines retained their cable cars until 1940.
Seattle Transit fitted Queen Anne with a double-tracked underground counterweight system to assist cars ascending and brake those descending.
After being kept in reserve through the first winter of trolleybuses, it was retired - prematurely, perhaps, since snowfall invariably closes this stretch.
But six decades later, the hill is still popularly called "The Counterbalance.
Here is 611 again in 1977, descending the block between Aloha and Prospect streets, running from West Queen Anne to Madrona on Route 2.
Don Galt photo
