The cable includes continuous glass filaments which are helically plied in rovings at a constant helical angle from cable center to outer surface and bonded together in elastomeric material. When heated, thermal elongation of the filaments is opposed by simultaneous radially directed thermal volumetric expansion of the elastomeric material. Thus, with respect to overall cable length, thermal elongation of the cable is opposed by a simultaneous increase in cable cross sectional area such that thermal elongation effects are controllable, dependent upon the thermal expansion properties of the filament and elastomeric materials used, by controlling the helical angle at which the filaments are plied to obtain either expanding, contracting or constant length cables, as desired. Thermal contraction effects produced by cooling the cable also are controllable by controlling the helical angle. In some high tensile load cable applications, the helical angle additionally may be related to tensile load, depending upon the modulus of elasticity of the filaments used. The invention is particularly adapted to helically plied glass fiber cables which are thermally stable over a wide range of temperatures.