The most challenging hill in the network is several blocks of Queen Avenue. Unlike three other lines which retained their cable cars until 1940, with the advent of electric railways this one was fitted with a double-tracked underground counterweight syste 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
