Cable cars in Seattle

It's probably not all that widely known, but Seattle (and Tacoma) had cable cars until 1940, when they were eliminated as part of a sweeping elimination of rail transit. How could Seattle's cable system be preserved so that it also has a surviving cable car system today, rivaling and possibly surpassing San Francisco's system as a tourist attraction / rolling national monument?
 
It's probably not all that widely known, but Seattle (and Tacoma) had cable cars until 1940, when they were eliminated as part of a sweeping elimination of rail transit. How could Seattle's cable system be preserved so that it also has a surviving cable car system today, rivaling and possibly surpassing San Francisco's system as a tourist attraction / rolling national monument?

Find a way to delay the elimination of rail transit in Seattle and Tacoma until the US declares war on Japan. With fuel being rationed during the war, the rails become safe until the war is over. Afterwards, the peacetime prosperity boosts tourism, and voila! the cable cars become worth saving as a tourist attraction while the rest of the rail system converts to buses as in OTL.
 
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