Own a Piece of San Diego Electric Railway History, Help Fund SDERA Projects!
In June 2007 Chris Chaffee, a member of SDERA, was out for his morning stroll along Adams Avenue. He noticed that some original San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) trolley track had been exposed during the start of a construction project at the corner of Adams Ave. and Alabama St. The Adams Avenue streetcar barn originally stood across the road from this spot. The building contractors cut the track into pieces and placed them in a pile at the corner of the property.
This type of track is called girder rail. Its unique cross-section (see photo below) allowed streetcars to run on city streets that were paved. The pavement came up to the edge of the track, and the trolley wheels rode in the ‘dip’ on the top of the rail.
The streetcar line along Adams Avenue was originally built about 1905. However,
the whole trolley system was upgraded in 1923. Two pieces of the unearthed track
were dated 1922. SDERA and Dr. Teguh each have one of those pieces; ours is on
display in the National City depot to the left of the trackside doors in the
Freight room.
The rest of the track pieces have been cut into ½-inch “slices,” painted, and engraved with “SDERY 1922.” They are being sold by SDERA as a fund-raising project, made possible by the generosity of Dr. Teguh and Clint Precision, a machining company, whose owners donated the time and effort to cut the rail into slices. Each slice is accompanied by a numbered certificate of authenticity. They are only $20 each, and are available at the National City Depot. Please add this to your railroad memorabilia collection, and help SDERA toward its goal of becoming a “major league” railroad museum! - Jim Price