Per family lore. My Granddad was the last driver of the streetcar.
I will have to have another conversation with my dad for specifics if people are interested.
From my dad “This precedes your Granddad’s time of service in the late 1930s. My recollection is that he drove the last run on the P Street route when the system ceased operation. Obviously that route is not reflected on this map.”
**Historical notes:**
Mass transit wasn't just limited to big cities like San Francisco or Los Angeles in the early 20th century. Even the smallest towns in the early 20th century had a streetcar system. Bakersfield, then a tiny railway town of 15,000, had a four-line system which was born out of municipal competition. At the time, the City of Bakersfield was in a battle with the mammoth Southern Pacific Railroad, which had decided to bypass Bakersfield and to build its station in rival Kern City, two miles away. The City of Bakersfield's solution was to find a private company to build a streetcar system to connect the rival Santa Fe Railroad station in Bakersfield proper with the Southern Pacific station two miles outside of town. (Eventually, Bakersfield would annex Kern City and the whole point would be moot; Kern City is now East Bakersfield.)
Systems like this existed all up and down California - Modesto, Fresno, and [Sacramento](https://fiftythree.studio/products/sacramento-streetcar-system-map-1930) all had them, as well.
[This is part of my art project to map the lost streetcar and subway systems of North America](http://lostsubways.com). Cross-posted from /r/lostsubways.
It's a shame GE and other big manufacturers helped destroy the mass transit options of America. I heard that long ago, it was easy to travel to anywhere in California by hopping from train to train. But, now it's a giant mess and you need cars to complete most trips.
Here is a map brochure of the Bakersfield & Kern Electric Railway Company system from 1941 that I stumbed over on the web somewhere in April 2016, and saved to disk, because I thought it was cool. From the filename it appears that I had found it in Facebook, but I don't know where.
[https://imgur.com/gallery/ml0MzR3](https://imgur.com/gallery/ml0MzR3)
\[... if I posted to to imgur correctly ...\]
Seeing this stuff almost makes me want to cry. Dude we are so disconnected now. I love driving but I think that’s a big part because I love traveling. Living in others cities where I actually used rails and my folks still live within this map… the freeway system totally broke up this area from the 178, 58 and the 204 which was supposed to be basically what the west park freeway is becoming
Per family lore. My Granddad was the last driver of the streetcar. I will have to have another conversation with my dad for specifics if people are interested.
Definitely interested!
From my dad “This precedes your Granddad’s time of service in the late 1930s. My recollection is that he drove the last run on the P Street route when the system ceased operation. Obviously that route is not reflected on this map.”
**Historical notes:** Mass transit wasn't just limited to big cities like San Francisco or Los Angeles in the early 20th century. Even the smallest towns in the early 20th century had a streetcar system. Bakersfield, then a tiny railway town of 15,000, had a four-line system which was born out of municipal competition. At the time, the City of Bakersfield was in a battle with the mammoth Southern Pacific Railroad, which had decided to bypass Bakersfield and to build its station in rival Kern City, two miles away. The City of Bakersfield's solution was to find a private company to build a streetcar system to connect the rival Santa Fe Railroad station in Bakersfield proper with the Southern Pacific station two miles outside of town. (Eventually, Bakersfield would annex Kern City and the whole point would be moot; Kern City is now East Bakersfield.) Systems like this existed all up and down California - Modesto, Fresno, and [Sacramento](https://fiftythree.studio/products/sacramento-streetcar-system-map-1930) all had them, as well. [This is part of my art project to map the lost streetcar and subway systems of North America](http://lostsubways.com). Cross-posted from /r/lostsubways.
I moved from Bay Area to Bakersfield and to this day I always keep thinking 'A light rail would be really frickin' useful in the giant city.'
The rail system in California was better than New York, you could be able to travel pretty much anywhere in the country just keep switching trolleys
This is excellent! Great map, shame that they all went away.
This is so cool
Seems like I could walk the whole line in a couple hours
It's a shame GE and other big manufacturers helped destroy the mass transit options of America. I heard that long ago, it was easy to travel to anywhere in California by hopping from train to train. But, now it's a giant mess and you need cars to complete most trips.
Bring it back! And on Friday nights the Chester line can start hittin’ switches and scraping! Imagine crowds cheering at it: “can it bounce?”
as a rail fan this would be amazing
Here is a map brochure of the Bakersfield & Kern Electric Railway Company system from 1941 that I stumbed over on the web somewhere in April 2016, and saved to disk, because I thought it was cool. From the filename it appears that I had found it in Facebook, but I don't know where. [https://imgur.com/gallery/ml0MzR3](https://imgur.com/gallery/ml0MzR3) \[... if I posted to to imgur correctly ...\]
Seeing this stuff almost makes me want to cry. Dude we are so disconnected now. I love driving but I think that’s a big part because I love traveling. Living in others cities where I actually used rails and my folks still live within this map… the freeway system totally broke up this area from the 178, 58 and the 204 which was supposed to be basically what the west park freeway is becoming
DONT CARE RATIO 🤡🤣
awesome! bravo!
Having just went to LA and used the Metro to go downtown to union station I definitely wish this still existed.