All ages were excited about the railroad discovery that was dug up today at the 700 block of Pomona Avenue. Many locals took home ‘spike’ souvenirs. Construction workers shared that it will all be removed tomorrow.
By now, most of Coronado residents know about the 1-3 month roundabout construction going on at the intersection of Pomona, Adella and Seventh.
Many folks know about the railway through Tent City, but did you know there were tracks in other parts of town?
After a little ‘digging’, here are some details of the different railway lines that used to operate in or around Coronado.
Coronado Rails – End of an Era (As printed in REPORT April 1971, Issue 77)
On march 24, 1971, a small PSRMA sponsored ceremony commemorated the end of rail service to the community of Coronado which had begun almost 83 years before. A “first spike” was symbolically pulled from one of the old, weathered ties by Coronado Mayor Robin Goodenough, Miss Coronado Janet Clare, and PSRMA President H. Chalmers Kerr, Jr. The spike pulling followed a short historical speech by Dick Pennick, Chairman of the Board of PSRMA.
Complete scrapping of the line began a couple of weeks later by the firm of Walter H. Barber & Son of La Mesa. Wally Barber, incidentally, is a member of PSRMA, and he must have had mixed feelings as his crew began tearing up the old roadbed.
Removal of the railroad track in Coronado and on the Silver Strand closes an era of railroad history that began in 1888. That was the year the Coronado Railroad Company completed the Coronado Belt Line, a railroad which extended from 5th and L Streets in San Diego, through National City and Chula Vista around the south end of the bay, and up the Silver Strand to Coronado.
Read the entire article and learn more about the history of the “trains of Coronado”.
Source: Pacific Southwest Railway Museum
National City to Coronado: The city of Coronado was for many decades separated from San Diego by the San Diego Bay, though Coronado is connected to the mainland by a several-mile-long narrow strip of land called The Strand that extends south to Imperial Beach. The SD&AE connected National City to Coronado with a U-shaped branch. The right leg started at National City, the base was Imperial Beach, and the left leg extended along The Strand and ended in Coronado. At some point, the Coronado end of the SD&AE line was extended, via street running, to an adjacent Naval Base that is now referred to as NASNI (Naval Air Station — North Island).
Source: Abandoned Rails
More photos:
Above photo taken by Drew Goodmanson.
