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The West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway was a cable hauled elevated railway in New York, which was built by Charles T Harvey and ran from July 1 1868 to 1870.
The line used multiple one-mile-long cable loops, driven by steam engines in cellars of buildings adjacent to the track. Each loop was started when a car neared them and stopped when it had passed. The cables were equiped with collars that the car connected to with "claws". As the claws could not be "slipped" the car was jerked each time it moved to the next cable. The system proved cumbersome, broke down several times and eventually the company ran out of money and the system was abandoned. The new owners replaced the cable cars with steam locomotives.
The line eventually became the 9th Avenue Elevated line of the New York City transit system, since demolished.
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