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Streetcars of Fresno

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 3:03 pm
by Rodney
You have to go way, way, WAY back to remember Fresno Traction.....

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:41 pm
by Aaron
My old high school girlfriend has a step dad that told me some good stories of his youth riding the streetcars around Fresno. Including a trip to Fresno beach. He even rang the invisible trolley bell like the driver did :) I still know him. Maybe I should do an interview and write his story down.

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:22 pm
by sjvalleydave
I remember some of the old trolley barns down by First and Tulare..Also some old fruit packing docks back then...railroad tracks in the middle of Tulare Ave..LOL

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:52 am
by 69GT
Wow. I would love to see some pics of Tulare street with the tracks still in place. I still see that weird little part/bus stop where the tracks left Tulare street and turned Northeast when I am over there. I bet no one knows why it's there.

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:17 am
by bigbird
Fresno Traction Company used to have tracks running down the middle of Huntington Blvd. In the fifty's, we used to play football on those grass islands, between fifth and sixth.

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:29 pm
by Big J
I remember several years back when I was working downtown, they did a major repaving project and the tracks were still there, on Van Ness.

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:18 pm
by FresnoBeach
Fresno Beach... you see it on the map as a stop but today there is nothing a very forgotten history of Fresno.
were was it looks like at the end of Forkner at the River... well Forkner ave today ends on Herndon and not at the River like it once did when it was just a rail line. Can you find Fresno Beach today?

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 2:21 pm
by JOSEGUNN
According to the history books, Fresno Beach was at the end of Van Ness extension. That place is now Fig Garden Golf Course. Now you have to remember, this is before Friant Dam. Is Fig Garden Golf Course at the Fresno Beach site or was Fresno Beach still aways off or on the other side of the present golf course?

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:33 pm
by 69GT
You can follow some of the trolly right of way to Fresno Beach to this day. If you go out to the end of Van Ness extension and go down the hill you will see two roads to your left and one to your right. Of the two to the left one leads to the golf course parking lot and the other has an electric gate. The one with the gate is the paved over trolly right of way. If you get the chance and get in there it hugs the bluff on it's way down to the houses. The road is one lane and has a weird traffic signal to tell you to wait if someone is coming up the narrow road so two cars going opposite directions don't meet. The road is so narrow because it only needed to be that wide for the trolly. The road goes to the bottom and turns North and I am not sure where the tracks went after that.

Ok now if you turn to the right at the Van Ness dead end you will travel a short distance on the paved over Trolly right of way till you get to a gate. To the right of that gate is what looks like a rough dirt road on an upward grade. That my friends is the trolly right of way. It goes further up skirting the backyards of the homes and curves south to Forkner AVE. Where it disappears. It is a bit rough but I believe you can walk it without any trouble. I plan on taking pics soon. :)

Re: Streetcars

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 12:40 pm
by mimibvo
Back in the day that they were digging the streets up to create the Fulton Mall my uncle came across a spike he said was used on the rail track. I still have it.