Metro West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor Map (June 2018)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1530301830824{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]A recently published map from Metro has been circulating around the web showing several proposed routes for the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor.

We thought it would be interesting to compare the proposed new routing to the historic lines of the old Pacific Electric Railway.
Our thanks to Eriks Garsvo for the map overlay artwork.

[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image_switch src_first=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/map_wsab_transitcorridor_2018-06.jpg” src_second=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/unknown.jpeg” image_width=”2550″ image_height=”3300″ crop=”false” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

RTD Blue Line Promotional Poster

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From former RTD employee Edward Langer:

Here is a copy of a Metro Blue Line Line poster we handed out to promote then upcoming rail lire between Long Beach and Los Angeles. I was the project manager on getting the photo. We spoke with the photographer several times. I let him borrow my railroad books to get a sense of what other photographers had done and then let him come up with his own idea.
What he ultimately did was to have a stationary car photographed at twilight. Using a large camera, he panned the camera with the lens open from the back to the front of the car then hit the flash. You get some blurriness in the rear as if there is movement and the flash stop actions the picture.
The photos show the photographer and his assistant. The man in the orange safety vest is my boss Mike Barnes.
Edward Langer Collection

[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_gallery images=”14212,14213″ column=”2″ image_size=”large” hover_scenarios=”slow_zoom”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Pacific Electric Caboose 1984

From Interurban Special #37, page 791:

The final group of second-hand cabooses was purchased from the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac in 1950. This official PE view, taken at 8th Street Yard, shows 1984’s first style of PE lettering which was later changed to resemble SP’s block style lettering of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

Edward Langer Collection

Michael Patris on “What’s Up Pasadena”

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1528824133063{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Mount Lowe Preservation Society Inc. President Michael Patris appears on the latest edition of “What’s Up Pasadena.”[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/gGcYR6Nj2w4?t=11m14s” custom_thumbnail=”true” thumbnail_image=”14192″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Rail Passenger Service History of Pacific Electric Railway by Randolph Karr

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From the Edward Langer Collection comes this fascinating bit of history as written by the General Attorney of Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Randolph Karr, in 1973. Mr. Karr served for 34 years with both the SP and Pacific Electric, and his father Frank Karr served 42 years with PE, retiring in 1944 as Vice President and Chief Counsel of Pacific Electric.

This historic document details many facts of the PE’s history and demise through the eyes of those who were in its management, so it serves as a unique look into the inner workings of his beloved organization.

Edward Langer Collection[/vc_column_text][mk_button dimension=”outline” size=”large” url=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/railpassengerservice-historypacificelectricrailwayco-karr.pdf”]CLICK TO DOWNLOAD PDF[/mk_button][/vc_column][/vc_row]