1603 on Ocean Avenue
Jack Finn Collection
Pacific Electric freight locomotive no. 1603 leads a string of PE interurbans on Ocean Avenue in Long Beach in this curious shot from July 4, 1913. They are eastbound on 7th Street near Alameda. 1603 is pulling these 1000-class cars before they were motorized.
Jack Finn Collection
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Factory-fresh “Tens” from the Jewett Car Company delivered in the summer 1913.
Are there any schematic drawings of the 1000-class cars with their underfloor equipment? I have a schematic drawing of a 1000-class car I found in a April 1958 issue of Model Railroader, but it lacks underfloor equipment. Any help/info is appreciated.
For Mr. Neal, you might determine everything you need regarding the 1000 class underfloor equipment by inspecting the 1001 at Orange Empire Museum. I doubt the Museum would object to this.
Secondly, regarding having a freight locomotive haul the unmotorized 1000 equipment in passenger service, I wonder if the freight motors were geared for a higher speed for this assignment – or – were the speeds restricted to something like 30 mph. Every time I saw a PE freight motor in service, they moved extremely slowly.
Thanks for replying, Mr. Still. While it’s great that 1001 still exist, thanks to Walter Abbenseth, I don’t think it would be practical for me to travel all the way from the east coast to OERM just to get info on the 1001’s underfloor components. I still would rather have a schematic drawing of a PERy 1000-series interurban car which also includes all underfloor components and my stubbornness will keep me searching for one.
Since the 1000-series interurban cars were popular with PE crews and passengers alike, I hoped that someone, perhaps a PE railbuff, would commemorate the 1000-series interurbans (aka “Tens”) by publishing a book about their history with the Pacific Electric Ry. The “Tens” were here more than a hundred years ago, I didn’t think anyone would let a popular group of forty-five vintage interurban cars go by without a publication that commemorates their history with the PE. But nary a word was mentioned in 2013 and thereafter. For the “Tens”, I wanted to see something similar to John C. Smatlak’s book, Pacific Electric 500-Class Cars: Interurban Pioneers. A book with great black & white and color photos along with schematic drawings complete with underfloor components. It didn’t happen. I had my hopes up too high.
Back in 1913, 30 MPH wasn’t seen as “slow” the way it would be today. According to Interurbans Special 37, the 1601-1618 group of Baldwin-Westinghouse motors were in two sub-classes, and 1603 was in the set with the faster gear ratio.