Railroads & Locomotives Fallen Flags Remembering Pacific Electric passenger service

Remembering Pacific Electric passenger service

By Chuck Braasch | October 6, 2020

| Last updated on December 29, 2020


The Pacific Electric Railway is Classic Trains' Railroad of the Month for October 2020

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Three cars of an electric passenger train.

Long Beach Express

Three big “Blimp” cars leave downtown Los Angeles behind them as they proceed down PE’s four-track right of way toward Long Beach, August 1953.

Reginald McGovern
Three cars of an electric passenger train.
A streetcar ascending a hill surrounded by a snow-coated forest.

Mt. Lowe’s Alpine Division

An open car runs through an incongruously snowy landscape on the Alpine Division of PE’s Mt. Lowe line.

Charles S. Lawrence
A streetcar ascending a hill surrounded by a snow-coated forest.
Electric passenger cars operate on a four-track main line.

Action at Amoco Tower

Trains occupy three of the four main tracks on a foggy day at Amoco Tower on PE’s Southern Division.

William K. Barham
Electric passenger cars operate on a four-track main line.
Interior of an electric passenger car.

Inside a Blimp

Among the largest cars ever used by an interurban, PE’s Blimps featured high-capacity 3-2 seating.

Pacific Electric
Interior of an electric passenger car.
A side-long image of a half-open, half-enclosed electric interurban car.

California car

Half-open/half-enclosed “California cars” like No. 257 operated all over the PE except on the line to San Bernardino.

Ira Swett collection
A side-long image of a half-open, half-enclosed electric interurban car.
An interurban car operates in the middle of a busy downtown street.

Long Beach limited

Blimp 431 dwarfs a Greyhound bus in Los Angeles as it begins a run to Long Beach in 1951; narrow-gauge tracks were used by city streetcars.

John F. Endler Jr.
An interurban car operates in the middle of a busy downtown street.
Three lighted streetcars operating in darkness on a city street.

Santa Monica–Los Angeles train

Three 950-series cars await departure from Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue station for a run to downtown Los Angeles via the Venice Short Line in the late 1940s.

Robert Carlson
Three lighted streetcars operating in darkness on a city street.
Interior of an interurban car.

Refurbished “Ten-Hundred”

Interior of 1000-series car after refurbishing at Macy Street Shops, 1942.

Classic Trains Collection
Interior of an interurban car.
Two electric interurban passenger trains pass each other on complicated track work.

'Long Beach Limiteds' pass

Outbound and inbound Long Beach Limiteds pass in southwest Los Angeles, August 1953.

Reginald McGovern
Two electric interurban passenger trains pass each other on complicated track work.
A PCC-style streetcar crosses a bridge over a highway.

Burbank–Los Angeles PCC

Double-ended PCC No. 5002 crosses the Fletcher Drive trestle on a run from
Burbank to downtown Los Angeles in August 1954.

William D. Middleton
A PCC-style streetcar crosses a bridge over a highway.
Streetcar about to take a curve toward the photographer.

Watts local

A Hollywood car on an inbound local from Watts starts up the ramp to the Main Street terminal in downtown L.A., August 1953.

Reginald McGovern
Streetcar about to take a curve toward the photographer.
Passenger train terminal in an early 20th century city scene filled with streetcars or interurban cars.

6th and Main Street terminal

Blimps and an 1100 car fill the tracks at the terminal at 6th and Main streets in Los Angeles, 1950.

William D. Middleton
Passenger train terminal in an early 20th century city scene filled with streetcars or interurban cars.
Two electric interurban cars in the middle ground on a straight stretch of four-track main line.

Pasadena–L.A. train

Two 1100 cars stop at the Sierra Vista station on a run from Pasadena to Los Angeles, February 1951.

George Bisenius
Two electric interurban cars in the middle ground on a straight stretch of four-track main line.
Two connected PCC-style electric streetcars.

Glendale–Burbank train

Two PCCs on a Glendale–Burbank run cross the trestle over Fletcher Drive in May 1954.

William D. Middleton
Two connected PCC-style electric streetcars.
Streetcar or electric interurban car about to cross a double-diamond overlooked by an interlocking tower.

1100 at Arcadia

Inbound car 1112 crosses the Santa Fe First District main line at Arcadia, February 1951.

George Bisenius
Streetcar or electric interurban car about to cross a double-diamond overlooked by an interlocking tower.
An interurban and an automobile appear stopped while a uniformed motorman walks to the cars with a stool in hand on a street.

L.A.–San Pedro local

Car 312 stands at the San Pedro station after a run down from Los Angeles in August 1951. A pickup truck working for the Post Office has met the car, and the motorman for the return trip to L.A. walks toward the car with his stool.

John F. Endler Jr.
An interurban and an automobile appear stopped while a uniformed motorman walks to the cars with a stool in hand on a street.
Three electric interurban or streetcars paused on a multi-track main line.

Three “Ten-Hundreds”

Three 1000-series cars are about to depart the Ocean Park car house to go to work on the Venice Short Line in 1950. The 1914-vintage cars were among the last wood interurbans built.

Fred Matthews
Three electric interurban or streetcars paused on a multi-track main line.
Streetcar departs a terminal on elevated tracks in a city scene.

L.A.–Pasadena train

Car 1128 departs the Main Street terminal on a run to Pasadena in December 1948.

Don Sims
Streetcar departs a terminal on elevated tracks in a city scene.
Five connected streetcars or electric interurbans caught moving with a motion-blurred photograph.

'Wartime Long Beach Express'

Five “Ten-Hundreds,” saved from scrap by World War II traffic, dash toward Long Beach in 1942.

H.L. Kelson
Five connected streetcars or electric interurbans caught moving with a motion-blurred photograph.
Bird's eye view of two streetcars meeting on a city street in a color photograph.

Blimps in Long Beach

Two Blimps meet on Ocean Boulevard Street in Long Beach in front of PE’s station next to Lincoln Park in the late 1940s.

Linn H. Wescott
Bird's eye view of two streetcars meeting on a city street in a color photograph.

 

All through October 2020, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, grit, and grandeur of the Pacific Electric Railway.

Please enjoy this Pacific Electric Railway passenger train photo gallery, originally published in February 2015.

If you like this gallery, please take a look at an article on the history of the Pacific Electric, here.

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