When Fresno Rode the Rails by Edward Hamm, Jr. (1979)
November 22, 2006
Maybe the only local history book on the topic of Fresno's Streetcars. This book was recommended to me by a former librarian, and I remember hearing about it from local Railroad enthusiasts.
The 'Fresno Street Railroad' (built in 1888 opened in Jan 25, 1889) was originally pulled by Mules until September 1901 when it was taken over by 'Fresno City Railway Co.' and converted to electric in 1902 with upgrades of rails from 20lb to 61lb rails and later 75lb rails, then the name was changed to 'Fresno Traction Co.' in September 22, 1903 and was known as that until it's end May 20, 1939, and from then on Buses ruled the streets for mass transit.
1923 was a peak year as there were 50 Miles of Street lines traversing the City and all the way out to the now forgotten Fresno Beach (River View Park) at the San Joaquin River that I think was located where the Fig Garden Golf Club is today. If you look at the Map you'll see that the lines went in all directions from the downtown heart, with the farthest north to Olive Ave, on Fresno St., Blackstone ending at Zapp's Park, and then the Fulton line, that would turn on Olive and go north to the river or west through Roeding Park and end at the cemeteries on Belmont next to the Park. There was also a F St. Line that would go through Chinatown, and a Fresno St. line that would end at California Ave. The East lines were on McKenzie, and a line once called Recreation / Sunnyside (because it would take you to Recreation park that was some where near the fair grounds, this line's name was later changed to Sunnyside), Today some of the tracks for this line are hidden under the grass median on Huntington Boulevard, it was one of the last lines used for hauling Fruit produce from Ventura and Clovis Ave to the downtown packing and shipping houses. (if you look at maps of Fresno before 1980 there were many railroad tracks set up to haul produce to the Southern Pacific and SantaFe main lines that run near each other in downtown, a lot of these tracks have been removed and converted to Trailways)
There were plans for lines to Lane's Bridge Picnic area on the San Joaquin River. (where ever Lane's Bridge is I do not know, But I'll Guess it's were Blackstone now 41 crossed the river, or it could be that area near Lost Lake) There was also plans for a line out to Calwa and Arlington Heights. (where ever Arlington Heights is) Plans for short trains to Yosemite and other valley towns were also planed. But the popular use of the Automobile helped stop these plans, and economically the price was going up... in 1903 there was $5 million planed to build almost 200 miles of electric lines to Selma, Trimmers Springs, Wawona, Central and Washington Colonies. Henry Huntington head of Fresno Traction Co. was the nephew of Colis P. Huntington one of the "Big Four" builders of Central Pacific aka Southern Pacific Railroad. 'Pacific Electric' the same company that ran the light rail lines in Los Angeles area.
I scanned a few selected photos from the book to share, I was trying to find some of the original locations and take a photo of how it looks now, but some sites have changed a lot in 70 years. There are many more photos in the book and I've seen other photos of the trolley system, that are not even in the book. There must be more detailed information in archives some place. When Fresno Rode the Rails is an informative book on Fresno from not too long ago, I do wish that a few of the lines would have been kept, I think it would have helped the downtown area not to die out like it did in the 1980s and 1990s.
Here are 21 selected photos from the book with captions.
Disclosures:a copy of this book is available at the Fresno County Free Library and can be requested in the San Joaquin Valley Library System. I think the book is out of print and the publisher Interurbans Special 73 has not produced any more since it's First printing in 1979
Fresno Trolleys to Friant
Fresno Traction never serviced the Northeast...the line from downtown fresno north-easterly and then north thru Clovis was originally the right-of-way of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad built originally by
Marcus Pollasky...absorbed into the Southern Pacific in early 1900's. Was always a steam freight road.
Fresno trolleys
I was told by people who lived here at the time that a person could ride the trolley all the way to Friant and that line was the one where the double tracks went under the A.TS.F. railroad on Wishon South of Shields Av. The line that went out to Friant ran along the hills to the East of Friant Road and the railbed is still there. While growing up in the 50's-on, I remember that there were even tracks still on that railbed for many years. Maybe this was another line that was not part of the Fresno Traction Co.?
Fresno street car information
Check with toms trains in fresno for a copy of the when fresno rode the rails book.He may still have a few new copys left.The books were reprinted in 1985 by the fresno historical society. There is another publication call the "western railroader" that was dedicated to the fresno interurban line,check with www.railpub.com for a copy, he normally has these in stock. just look under western railroader on his list.
There are several fresno cars and car bodys still around,there are two at the orange empire railway museum in perris calif., one four wheel car is at the oregon electric rwy. museum in oregon,two or three are owned by an individual in the bay area,and I was told there are two other bodys in fresno someplace (besides the old diner)
There are additional photos of cars at "daves electric railroads" website,check the state by state listing, and the "traction preservation" page.The later page shows what was known as a "hobbleskirt" car, this is only one of two known to be still in exsistance.
The orange empire museum I believe has a photo of one of the fresno cars, and its part way restored and painted for fresno traction.
By the way, I think the car behind walmart is a reproduction that was built for the parks dept. if I remember correctly. I will have to check.
I hope this information helps,
Best regards, Alex
great history
A trip to the Clovis Museum will find books for sale written by people that have personal accounts of local history. Quite a bit of info regarding the Edison project; most expensive private endevor taken on by mankind to that date ($1 billion in early 1900s). The Edison project ran electric lines to LA supplying power for the electrically powered transit systems that were owned by Henry Huntington (Pacific Electric)
The Wikipedia account of Huntington didn't mention anything about having a lake named after him. I don't remember which of the Huntingtons the lake is named after.
Here is another interesting transit link: California Trollys
In the Wikipedia account of National City Lines it explains about the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 that made it illegal for a Public Utility Company to own a transit company. This had a huge effect on the transit systems throughout the nation.
Restored Streetcar
Thanks, Alex, for the info! I didn't know about this. Now I'm anxious to go behind Walmart to see it. I think you mean southeast Fresno, right? The Walmart in Sunnyside is on Kings Canyon Rd. just west of Peach Ave.
I'm not sure if it's well
I'm not sure if it's well known that there is a restored streetcar in a park behind a Walmart in southwest Fresno. My mind is drawing blanks on the street the Walmart is on, but it's near Sunnyside. Along with the streetcar, there is a mini Fresno water tower and a mini Muex home. It's a cool little park in a terrible location.
Lane's Bridge
Lane's Bridge is the San Joaquin River crossing where Highway 41 is nows:
http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis538/getgooglemap?p_lat=36.8763379&p_lon...
Very cool post, AntiMusick!
One thing that wasn't mentioned is that there are still trolley tracks buried underneath Wishon as it curves through Old Fig Garden, just south of Shaw! People in the 'hood used to catch it to go to the River back in the day! The railway right-of-way is the reason that Wishon is so wide there, even though it is just a two-lane residential neighborhood road!
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