The Final Days of Fletcher Trestle
Ralph Cantos Collection
The date is July 1959 and Fletcher Trestle – home of thousands of photos capturing the Glendale Line of the Pacific Electric – is about to be no more. From contributor Ralph Cantos:
In what can only be described as a MONUMENTAL ACT OF VANDALISM , Fletcher trestle is just weeks away from destruction in this July 1959 photo. It would be gone by September. The Glendale-Burbank, had it not been destroyed by the moronic thinking of the day, would have been an excellent candidate for up grading to Light Rail Standards. But instead, rubber tires on concrete highways were given preferred treatment over steel wheels on steel rails. Jessie Haugh, Caltrans officials, and LA City politicians should all share the blame for allowing this travesty to be perpetrated on the traveling public!!
Ralph Cantos Collection
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Meanwhile, in Boston, a former Boston & Albany RR route from downtown to Newton was rebuilt and electrified to become today’s “D” line. The “Boston Elevated” tribute PCC in San Francisco was numbered 1059 in honor of one of the few positive news items in the electric railway field that year.
I find it hard to believe now, but way back when I was a high school lad, a friend of mine and I walked across this bridge-AT NIGHT! Can’t remember if the tracks were still there, but do remember seeing daylight (ok- nightlight)coming up through the ties. Talk about “foolishness being tied up in the heart of a boy”!!
It should be rebuilt. The cities north of downtown were developed around this PER line, and it is still the best route! The right of way is intact from Atwater to Burbank. The only obstacles are the 5.fwy and one older apt. in south of Riverside near Glendale. Glendale and Burbank should go back to the future (at least regarding trollys) and not be left behind as the other inner suburbs move forward with rail transit!
One key element is missing–the Subway Terminal is no longer available for a line to Glendale. Also, in downtown Glendale and Burbank the line was mostly street-running in later years.