The MW station at Echo Summit was on the ATT Long Lines owned route Oakland thru Lodi along Hwy 50 in the Sierra to the East.  Echo Summit was at the tip-top of the mountains (I  think at about 9000ft).  There was no normal access road to the site.  There was a Forest Service road to the top, but it was awful, and under snow all winter.  When the station was built, a self-propelled cable tram was also built for year-around access.  There was a lower tram house--like a good size barn--that housed the tram car and a trailer--used to haul equipment to the top.  There were two cables--one for the tram to ride on and one haul cable that wrapped around a gas engine driven "bull wheel" that pulled the tram to the top.  I don't remember the distance--maybe a mile or two, but the elevation rise was about 1000 ft.  The slope was somewhat gentle at the start, but was quite steep and rocky at the end.  At the top, there was a cable tower at the edge of the cliff, and then an upper tram house.  The upper house was connected to the MW building by a covered walkway (snowshed).

 

 I mentioned the rescue training.  We had two ways of escape if the tram became disabled.  At the lower end were the terrain was somewhat flat, we used a friction/electric type of cable winch and canvas like overhaul pants to lower a person.  The person could operate this system by himself.  At the upper end over the steep rocky terrain, the person would be winched up to the upper tower in a boson's chair.  This required a couple of people at the top to rig and operate the gear.

 

In the Nor Cal area we were not into using Helicopters, and the tram was used heavily during throughout the years for maintenance and WECo additions to the equipment.  The station was rather busy--TH1, TD long haul systems, a short haul route serving the South Lake Tahoe area (From Sacramento, Collins or Lenkurt I think).