A cableway-type transportation system has an endless cable looped under tension about two reversing pulleys between which its two substantially parallel runs are supported by sustaining rollers yieldably overlain by retaining rollers. At an intermediate point the two runs are laterally bent in the same direction by respective deflectors lying within the loop plane, namely a first deflector comprising a relatively large pulley inside the loop and a second deflector including an array of relatively small pulleys outside the loop. The latter pulleys are partly overlain by a curved shelf rigid with a vertical web of a guard rail, the corresponding cable run passing normally under that web. Loads carried by the cable are connected therewith by generally C-shaped suspensions including cable clamps, each clamp having a movable jaw surrounding the engaged cable portion on three sides and a fixed jaw carrying rollers which coact with the web of the guard rail to detach the engaged cable portion from the array of deflecting pulleys in order to let the load suspension move past. The clamp also carries a roller riding on the shelf during such passage to support the load. The movable clamp jaw temporarily separates the engaged cable portion from any of the other pulleys encountered thereby; tapering fingers on that jaw coact with the over- and underlying retaining and sustaining pulleys to provide guidance during such separation.