Pacific Electric “Box Motor” PCC 5005: Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

Ralph Cantos Collection
Ralph Cantos Collection

By Ralph Cantos

On April 14, 1912, just after the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg, Captain Smith was informed by the Titanic’s builder Thomas Andrews that the Titanic was doomed and was going to sink.

In October of 1953, when Jessie L. Hough purchased the passenger operations of the once-great Pacific Electric, he informed everyone involved with the PE’s rail operations that all remaining rail lines (2 in the Western District, 5 in the Southern District) were “DOOMED.”

And like the Titanic’s brave chief engineer, whose men worked selflessly down below decks to keep the steam up, so electric lights and water pumps worked as long as possible, keeping Titanic afloat long enough to give some passengers more time — the PE crews of the Western District continued to provide top-notch service, despite their looming terminations.

And so it was during the last weeks of August 1954 that the dedicated and hard-working “Toluca Yard Shop Force” would do everything possible to keep the Glendale-Burbank Line alive and fully operational, knowing full well that the line was doomed.

The September 26, 1954, abandonment of the Hollywood Boulevard Line meant that West Hollywood Shops would be unreachable by electrified rail cars of the Glendale-Burbank Line. All maintenance for the remaining 30 PCC and 15 Hollywood cars would be performed under primitive conditions in Toluca Yard.

This photo by the late, great Ira L. Swett was taken at Gardner Junction just a few weeks before the Hollywood Boulevard Line abandonment. It was now time for any and ALL usable parts at West Hollywood to be gathered up and moved to Toluca Yard.

And like the Titanic, the Glendale-Burbank line, PE’s most modern and technically advanced rail line, was doomed. Toluca Yard’s shop men would keep the cars and infrastructure in good working order until the very end, just 9 months later.

In this photo, the 5005 is deadheading to West Hollywood Shops to load up everything usable, and then return to Toluca Yard. According to Ira, several of these “box-motor” trips were made with various PCCs loaded with valuable parts to prolong the inevitable.

The Glendale-Burbank line went down with trolley poles held high. All 45 cars, track, overhead and signals were in perfect working order to the very end.

Ralph Cantos Collection

PE's vast West Hollywood Shops in about 1946. A Hollywood car and PCC can be seen in front of doors #2 and #3. The shops did "running repairs" for Western District cars for decades. With the September 1954 abandonment of the Hollywood Bouleard Line , the shops were no longer accessible by Glendale -Burbank Line cars. By the end of 1954, the Glendale-Burbank Line was an "electrified island" in a sea of asphalt, under siege by a pro bus / anti-rail MCL management. Ralph Cantos Collection.
PE’s vast West Hollywood Shops in about 1946. A Hollywood car and PCC can be seen in front of doors #2 and #3. The shops did “running repairs” for Western District cars for decades. With the September 1954 abandonment of the Hollywood Bouleard Line , the shops were no longer accessible by Glendale -Burbank Line cars. By the end of 1954, the Glendale-Burbank Line was an “electrified island” in a sea of asphalt, under siege by a pro bus / anti-rail MCL management. Ralph Cantos Collection.
Rail fan and book publisher Jeff Moreau and his sister Stefanie pose for the camera in 1951 at West Hollywood Shop along with juice jack 1620 and Hollywood car 5085. Stefanie would go on to fame as actress Stefanie Powers. This photo is from the book "Growing Up With Trains" from long gone Interurban Press. Photo from the Jeff Moreau collection.
Rail fan and book publisher Jeff Moreau and his sister Stefanie pose for the camera in 1951 at West Hollywood Shop along with juice jack 1620 and Hollywood car 5085. Stefanie would go on to fame as actress Stefanie Powers. This photo is from the book “Growing Up With Trains” from long gone Interurban Press. Photo from the Jeff Moreau collection.
It's 1960, and this is the former Pacific Electric West Hollywood Shops and Yard, now 100% bus. Ralph Cantos Collection.
It’s 1960, and this is the former Pacific Electric West Hollywood Shops and Yard, now 100% bus. Ralph Cantos Collection.

LARy Maintenance Car 9204

Steve Armitage Collection

The Los Angeles Railway crew looks to be shoveling fresh ballast onto the private right-of-way at this unknown location featuring Maintenance Car no. 9204. There’s a Security Pacific Bank on the corner, and a Holz Drug across from it. Can anyone identify this location?

Steve Armitage Collection

LARy 1535 on the W Line with Road Construction

Steve Armitage Collection

Steve Armitage Collection

It’s road construction time on the W Line as Los Angeles Railway car no. 1535 passes through the barricades near Buena Vista Street on Figueroa.

Here’s how it looks today:

Steve Armitage Collection

1450 and 346 at the Car Barn

Steve Armitage Collection
Steve Armitage Collection

Los Angeles Railway cars nos. 1450 and 346 pose at an unidentified LARy carbarn in this undated photo. Love the “Aged Beer is Good for You / Lucky Lager” advertisement on 1450!

Steve Armitage Collection

LARY 1021 at East Edgeware Road

Steve Armitage Collection
Steve Armitage Collection

Los Angeles Railway Birney no. 1021 is photographed at East Edgeware Road on Tuesday, March 21, 1944.

Steve Armitage Collection

LARY 53 at Fountain and Vermont

Steve Armitage Collection

Los Angeles Railway car no. 53 on A Line service pauses momentarily as the motorman inspects the front end in this image dated Sunday, January 9, 1944.

Steve Armitage Collection

LARY 1035 on Gage Avenue

Steve Armitage Collection
Steve Armitage Collection

Los Angeles Railway Birney no. 1035 sits idle on Gage Avenue in this 1944 image. Note the “Fresh Fruit” stand that catered to on- and off-boarding passengers (“Candy & Soda” along with Philip Morris cigarettes and Coca-Cola) – built in the front yeard of the house just behind it — plus the bench advertising Eastern Columbia (“Broadway at Ninth,” “Home Furnishings, Since 1892, Smart Apparel”).

The carbody advertisement positions are occupied by World War II propaganda posters, including one reading:

Civilians —
Let’s See Everything / Do Everything
But Say Nothing

Steve Armitage Collection

LARY No. 200 at Spring and Sunset

Steve Armitage Collection
Steve Armitage Collection

Los Angeles Railway car no. 200 (B17), packed with 44 seats on 8 Line service, sits idle at the Sunset and Spring Street Terminus on a lazy Thursday afternoon, July 31, 1941. In just a few short months, Japan will attack Pearl Harbor and Los Angeles will be forever transformed.

The public service advertisement on the carbody side reads:

School’s Out
Kids Are Out
Let’s Look Out
All Out For Safety

Steve Armitage Collection

LARY No. 1054 on Main Street, 1938

Steve Armitage Collection
Steve Armitage Collection

Los Angeles Railway car no. 1054 on the G Line rolls down Main Street in downtown Los Angeles in January of 1938.

Steve Armitage Collection