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Trolleys in Arizona Highways

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  • Member since
    July 2014
  • 565 posts
Posted by Fred M Cain on Friday, January 28, 2022 1:16 PM

When I was a kid of about 17, back in the late 1960s, I used to hang out at the SP yard near downtown.  A switchman befriended me and later we became friends since he was also the father to a close friend of my mom.

 

Anyhow, He had a long career with the SP and he told me that in the 1940s, he used to ride the streetcar to work and back. 

In the 1970s, there was still a short stretch of streetcar track exposed on 11th Street just south of McDowell, I think it was, right next to the hospital.  That was the only remaining track I recall seeing in Phoenix.  I'm sure it's long gone now - that was 50 years ago.

Actually, in the 1970s, there was actually more remnant track still in existance in Tucson.  

Regards,

Fred M. Cain

 

<EDIT>

Actually, now that I think of it, I believe it was Tenth street - not 11th.  11th street doesn't even exist in that particular vicinity.

Looking at Google Earth, the neighborhood has changed so much that it's hardly recognizable today from the way I remember it.  That seems to be the case throughout mush of the greater Phoenix area.

Looking at Google Earth, there are no trolley tracks visible on Tenth street.

-FMC

  • Member since
    November 2014
  • 250 posts
Trolleys in Arizona Highways
Posted by ORNHOO on Thursday, January 27, 2022 5:42 PM

The February 2022 issue of Arizona Highways magazine has a six page article on the Phoenis Street Railways ( with photos going back to the horse car days ). It includes a plug for the Phoenix Trolley Museum: https://www.phxtrolley.org

and its efforts to restore two PSR trolleys.

 

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