VIDEO
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| Above: YouTubeCA video - Vintage 1948 8mm Film Home Movie BORREGO SPRINGS FLOWERS, SAN DIEGO STREETCARS - Length: 4:51 mins. |
PHOTO
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MAPS
INSET: CENTRAL SAN DIEGO
I created the above maps by overlaying OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps with my own data. Copyright on the OSM maps is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).
Please note that the OSM maps used as templates for these maps correspond to the situation at the time the maps were downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, they may show bridges and highways that were built later.
STREETCAR ROUTES
Operator: San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy)
| 1 | 5th & Market - 5th Av. - University Av. - Park Bd. (El Cajon Av.) |
| 2 | Union Depot - Broadway - 30th St. - 30th & University |
| 3 | 5th & Market - 5th Av. - Washington St. - Mission Hills |
| 4 | 5th & B Av. - 5th Av. - K Street - Imperial Av. - 34th & Imperial |
| 5 | Union Depot - State St. - Market St. - 25th St. - Ocean View Bd. - 39th & Ocean View |
| 7 | Union Depot - Broadway - 12th Av. - Balboa Park - Park Bd. - University Av. - Euclid Av. & University |
| 9 | Coronado Ferry - Market St. - Kettner Bd. - Broadway - 5th Av. - F Street - Kettner Bd. - Market St. - Coronado Ferry [Loop route, clockwise] |
| 11 | Union Depot - Broadway - 12th Av. - Balboa Park - Park Bd. - Adams Av. - Talmadge Park |
| 12 | Union Depot - Kettner Bd. - F Street - 16th St. - Logan Av. - National Av. - 32nd St. & National |
| 13 | Union Depot - Kettner Bd. - Rosecrans St. - La Playa |
| 14 | Union Depot - Kettner Bd. - Ocean Beach |
| 15 | Union Depot - Kettner Bd. - Mission Beach - Pacific Beach |
| 16 | Union Depot - Kettner Bd. - Mission Beach - Pacific Beach - La Jolla |
| 20 | Coronado Island line (Ferry - Orange Av. - Tent City) |
Some of the downtown routing above is based on educated guesswork, as the sources I have at my disposal do not allow for an exact description of the routes in the area.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM
NETWORK LENGTH
- ? km.
HISTORY
- Horse-trams: 3 July 1886 - ?
- Cable cars: 7 June 1890 - 15 Oct. 1892
- Streetcars: 19 Nov. 1887 - 24 Apr. 1949
- Light rail: 26 July 1981 - today
GAUGE
- Streetcars: 1435 mm. (after 1898); 1067 mm. until 1898
- Light rail: 1435 mm.
TRAM PRESERVATION
The San Diego Vintage Trolley, Inc. restores old San Diego streetcars and hopes to operate them in the future over the regular downtown San Diego Trolley tracks for touristic purposes.
SOURCES
- Mills, J.R. "Ten years of the San Diego trolley: A decade of success in California", Light Rail & Modern Tramway, Jan. 1992 (55:649), p.12-17.
- Rice, W. & Robins, K. "San Diego - Where red LRVs rule", Tramways & Urban Transit, Nov. 1999 (62:743), p.412-414.
- San Diego, California: Street guide & automobile road map. San Diego: San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, ca. 1930 and 1940.
- San Diego street guide. San Diego: San Diego Street Guide Publishers, 1941.
- Simons, V. "San Diego: A US original", Tramways & Urban Transit, Aug. 2013 (76: 908), p.344-347.
- Simons, V. "San Diego expands", Tramways & Urban Transit, March 2022 (85: 1011), p.96-99.
WIKIS
- San Diego Class 1 Streetcars
- San Diego Electric Railway
- San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
- San Diego Trolley
WEB SITES
- MTS: San Diego Trolley
- San Diego (on UrbanRail.Net)
- San Diego Electric Railway Association (SDERA)
- San Diego historic streetcars
Also, thanks to Rob Van Laun of San Diego for his kind corrections of my maps of the original San Diego streetcar network.
I am particularly thankful to the staff of the Document Archives at the San Diego History Center in beautiful Balboa Park, without whose helpful assistance in locating relevant maps and street guides I would not have been able to prepare this page.
Copyright Gabor Sandi 1998-2024
Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.
To get in touch with the webmaster, send an e-mail to g_sandi at hotmail.com.
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