We're Mobile, We're National & We're Monuments
Riddles are little poems or phrases that pose a question that needs answering. Riddles frequently rhyme, but this is not a requirement.
In a barn in a city,
where a singer left something
there you will find us.
None of us are named Desire,
and we're always being pulled about.
And if you want to ride us
on some lines you got to get out and push us.
But, we're still the United States' only mobile National Monuments.
What are we?
HintIn New Orleans, a close kin runs on Desire Street.
Hide
Answer
The San Francisco Cable Cars. The Cable Car Barn & Powerhouse in San Francisco is where every cable car, unique in that they are the only street railway in which the cars do not operate under their own power, is pulled along its hilly track by an underground cable. The cable is gripped with a vise-like mechanism that is operated via the grip lever in the front of the car.
Cars on the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines must be rotated to reverse direction at each end of the line, an operation performed on turntables and at stops where the passengers help push the cars about. The cable car lines are named for the streets along which they run. In 1964 an official ceremony at Hyde and Beach designated San Francisco's cable car system, the nation's only "moving" National Historic Landmark. The singer, Tony Bennett's song: 'I left my heart in San Francisco'.
Hide
Comments
cuteandditzy   
Jan 18, 2007
| I knew that the answer had to be cable cars but I did not know that they are national monuments. Great job!!  |
Kiroho
Jan 18, 2007
| One of your clues is incorrect and it threw me off. The USS Constitution, in Boston, MA is also a National Monument and it is very much mobile. |
OldChinaHand
Jan 18, 2007
| Yes Kiroho, the USS Constitution, in Boston, MA is also a National Monument and it was very much mobile, she is a fine ship and is undergoing restoration, and is still commission vessel I believe, but she doesn't sail away chasing the sunsets. That would be a grand sight see her under full sail out to sea again. But I have no record of her being declared a National Mobile Monument. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Your fine feedback is appreciated.
And thanks to all who stop by to share their comments. OCH |
kman613
Jan 18, 2007
| Good one. I had heard this fact before, but forgot it. |
GebbieRose
Jan 19, 2007
| Nice teaser! Had it when I saw "desire" capitalized!  |
Gizzer
Jan 22, 2007
| Having just returned from San Francisco, I knew this from the title.  |
mosca
Feb 04, 2008
| Great teaser! I guessed a street car, so I was way off! 
I especially liked the bit of history you put into the explanation, that made the teaser educational as well as fun to do!  |
Back to Top
| |
|
