Western Railroad Discussion > Tacoma area Interurban Railroads Map

Here is my map of Tacoma area railroads. The black lines are existing railroads while the red lines are abandoned railroads. Virtually all the abandoned railroads depicted here are former interurban railroads that went away more than 50 years ago.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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If the Washington State Senate had it their way there would be even more red lines!

Nice work. thanks.

I just received my copy of the May issue of trains. This month's featured map is Chicago area commuter lines. I think it makes for interesting reading.

Ted, a quick clarifiation. Are the red lines including trolley lines as well as interurban lines?
BTW, in case you wern't aware, there's a restaurant in Puyallup that's called the Powerhouse Restaraunt and Brewery.It's located in an ex-Puget Sound Traction substation near downtown Puyallup next to the BNSF mainline. Lots of cool interurban pictures and memorabilia.

Casey

These are great maps. I live now and grew up in Lakewood, Washington...south of Tacoma...and my grandparents used to talk about the interurban lines and now I can see where they were. Is there a larger scale available?

thanks for putting these on,

Explain further, Sirs!!
The ONLY true Interurban line that operated in "South King County" and "North Pierce County" was the Seattle-Tacoma interurban system highly described by historian Warren Wing.. It ran from the Interurban Building in Puioneer Square, Seattle to "A"-Street in Tacoma thru Kent via the White River Valley with a branchline to Renton and a branch to Puyallup, WA. No where else!!

So, what "other" so-called Interurbans were there, if any !! Or are you really referring to local streetcar lines in Tacoma, controlled by Stone & Webster ??

KRK

If it goes from Tacoma to Midland to Puyallup, doesn't that make it inter-urban? (Or maybe inter-rural, considering the size of those towns in the 1930s.)

Ken,
That's the line I was referring to. I didn't realize it was the only interurban in the area. Thanks for the clarificaiton.
I guess I'll have to break down and purchase the Warren Wing book. His other book on the Northern Interurban is fantastic.

It's kinda cool to work for the company who owned them...

Casey