The accomplishments of groups in Colorado, Texas and Arizona who have returned heritage trolley operations to original routes, by uncovering and using some of the original rails long buried under the ashpalt is impressive. Which causes me to wonder where other such possibilities might lie still buried.. Johnstown, PA perhaps? Trolleys ran there very late in the game and several Johnstown trolleys still exist. Denver? There used to be some impressive trackwork in front of Union Station and at the old Loop building downtown, which would periodically be uncovered by cars driving over it. D.C.? I saw some old trackage there a couple of years ago on a residential street. Baltimore? L.A. area? Aaron Isaacs has told me that some trackage still lies buried in Minneapolis also.<p>Naturally, many of these streets are now clogged with auto traffic, and restoration for most would not be practical. But some might.. Anyone care to comment further about these possibilities? <br>



ryarger1@nycap.rr.com

I seem to recall a proposal some years ago to restore some of the trolley trackage to the streets in Georgetown area of Wasshington, D.C. but not much came of it. That's a shame because it could have added not only to the atmosphere of that area- an upscale bracket of shops and boutiques and restaurants- but could have suplemented the existing Metro subway system, which has only one stop on the fringes of this district. Some of the trackage still exists under the pavement, I believe. The problem is now D.C. streets are being cut up, trenched and repatched for installation of fibre-optic cables. That and the manhole covers have had a nasty habit of exploding in the air recently. Pepco and Washington Gas are still trying to figure that one out!<br>There is also a proposal on the table to convert the right-of-way of the old Georgetown Branch of the B&O Railroad into a light rail line to connect the business districts of Bethesda and Silver Spring, Maryland in Montgomery County, right outside the D.C. line. This would create a useful east to west link in the area, but has gotten tough opposition by neighborhoods lining the old right-of-way.<br>



JMFouchard@aol.com

The Lehigh Valley, where I grew up has these tracks under the asphalt also. Catasauqua, my home town still has them. Unfortunately, I don't think they will ever be uncovered. The poloticians can't even see how a light rail system on the old Lehigh Valley Railroad line would help ease conjestion on some roadways in the area. My company, Lafarge, is putting the rail back in to their plant via the old LVRR mainline. It will be serviced by R J Corman.<br>



Rotarykiln@aol.com

<br>In Knoxville, Tennessee trolley tracks were dug up and scrapped during a resurfacing of Gay Street sometime in the last ten years. I think it is now a gowing trend to remove multiple layers of asphalt for repaving projects. I remember seeing the oiginal brick street that had been covered for most of the last century during a paving project in Morristown, Tenn a few years ago. The bricks were quickly paved over though. So the opertunity to see long buried trolley tracks may arise if a city decides to rebuild their streets instead of just add amother layer. <br>



winklerj@webtv.net

It seems that in Oakland and San Francisco, they pretty much removed the rails about the same time the lines were discontinued. Oakland had a large network of tracks for the Key System. Most of those rails were removed immediately after closure. <p>It is more common now for cities to completely remove all the old layers of pavement when re-surfacing now. I noticed a section of Mission Street in San Francisco being repaved recently. They took everything up right down to the soil, and there were no remnants of tracks. I believe there was once a street car line down that street. Howerver there are still some freight tracks left in SF streets with cobblestone pavers against the rails. Not many left. <br>



magnetic_flagman@yahoo.com