Pacific Electric 538 Moves to Perris

Ralph Cantos Collection

By Ralph Cantos

About 1962-63, as Pacific Electric no. 1001 and Los Angeles Railway cars 1160, 2601, and 1201 and other LARY equipment were being relocated from Travel Town, the 538 arrived about the same time to its “Forever Home” at OERM, the end of a long journey into immortality.

The 538, along with other trolleys, endured decades of outdoor storage in the unrelenting weather of Perris. She along with other cars suffered greatly but are now undercover awaiting restoration.

Ralph Cantos Collection

Pacific Electric 538 at Warner Bros. in Burbank

Ralph Cantos Collection

By Ralph Cantos

Twenty years after all other 500s vanished as intact cars, Pacific Electric no. 538 awaits its next call to perform in front of movie cameras.

Here she sits on a shorty section of rail alongside a 1941 Chevrolet parked on Oak Street in Burbank around 1957. As a youngster, OERM member Gary Starre remembers seeing the 538 at this location. Little did he know at the time, that both he and the 538 would find their way to OERM years later.

Ralph Cantos Collection

Pacific Electric 538: Always ready for her close-up

Craig Rasmussen Collection

By Ralph Cantos

Pacific Electric no. 538 was one of a 20 “lite interurbans” (530-549) built for the Pacific Electric Railway in 1909 by world famed St. Louis Car Co. The “Medium Fives” as they were known served the PE well, being used systemwide in 600-volt territory. Retirement of these cars began about 1936. The PE must have been giving the 500s away at bargain prices as more 500s found new lives as mountain cabins and such than any other class of PE car. One car, the 538, was sold intact to Warner Bros. Studios in 1936, as most of cars 500 to 549 were being sold for scrap.

In this 1916 photo from the Craig Rasmussen Magna Collection, a young trolley fan (no, its not me) poses on the steps of the 538 at San Pedro. Craig identifies the young chap as George C. White. The 538 at this time was just another PE rail car. There was no indication of the car’s upcoming fame, notoriety, or immortality that would be bestowed on the 538 in the decades to come…

Craig Rasmussen Collection

1299 Inspection Tour in Covina

William Wherry Photo, Charles Wherry Collection

By Charles Wherry

This second photo of the series (original here) shows Southern Pacific no. 2701 and Pacific Electric no. 1299 at the Southern Pacific depot in Covina on August 23, 1946. I don’t know if the special stopped on this occasion. My dad was working during this time as a PE train dispatcher and presumably had advance information of the train’s itinerary. His note on the back of the contact print says: “S.P. station at Covina, Cal. Aug. 23rd 1946 before electrification. SP2701 and PE1299 inspection trip. Engr. W.H.Owen, Mtrm. A.A. Johnston, Condr. A.H. Brocato.”

The advance station sign reads: “Azusa Ave One Mile”.

William Wherry Photo, Charles Wherry Collection

1299 on the SP’s Covina Branch

William Wherry Photograph, Charles Wherry Collection

On August 23, 1946, Southern Pacific 2-8-0 no. 2701 is preparing to depart Baldwin Park eastward over the SP’s Covina Branch with Pacific Electric office car no. 1299 in tow. The PE would purchase that portion of SP’s branch between Bassett, on the Sunset Route main track, and Ganesha Junction, a short distance from Pomona, on September 1, 1946 a mere 9 days later.

This trip was one that PE officials made over the line to see firsthand what their $400,000 investment looked like. The SP’s trackage between the Reliance Rock Spur, just east of Baldwin Park and Lone Hill was not electrified at this time. That would come in the next two months as PE sought a route that avoided increasing automobile congestion on their original line along Badillo Street in Covina.

Here we see some last-minute mechanical goings-on beneath 1299 as overseen by Road Foreman of Engines Baker. Engineer W.H. (Windy) Owen is keeping an eye on things while the fireman has a last look around.

William Wherry Photograph, Charles Wherry Collection

1322 on the Azusa Branch

William Wherry Photo, Charles Wherry Collection

By Charles Wherry

On September 30, 1951 Pacific Electric ran their last interurban train to Glendora, CA. The following month PE began to remove their famous right of way, beginning at Oneonta Park, Huntington Dr. and Fair Oaks in So. Pasadena) to Myrtle Ave. in Monrovia, west of Glendora. In order for PE to reach their remaining freight customers between Arcadia and Glendora including the non-electrified Day & Night spur which PE had taken over from SP in 1942, it was necessary to build a new piece of railroad, 2.82 miles in length, costing $436,000. The new freight line, called the Azusa Branch, was built from the Crushton spur’s north end to a connection with the Glendora line at Rivas Jct. just west of Azusa, crossing the Santa Fe at Kincaid en route. The first train over the new line ran on September 17, 1951.

The following Sunday, September 23, we find engine 1322 and caboose moving eastward after crossing the ATSF, (see the distant signal leading to the Automatic Interlocking behind the caboose) and dipping under Foothill Blvd. overpass en route to Rivas Jct. Notice the two trainmen ‘decorating’ the rear steps of 1322?

No, they’re not mad at the motorman. You see, they have made room in the cab for some visitors. This day my brother and I are occupying the left-side seat box on one of the first trips over the branch courtesy some of my dad’s working buddies. Tomorrow would be my 7th birthday and there would be plenty of time for cake and ice cream, but today is reserved for some railroading, PE style.

Who would have dreamed that 11 years and a week later I would be making my fireman seniority ‘date’ aboard one of 1322’s brothers, (1401) at the lower end of the ‘C’ Yard in SP’s Taylor yard at Los Angeles?

William Wherry Photo, Charles Wherry Collection

5028 in Atwater

Alan Weeks Photo, Alan Weeks Collection, Courtesy Ralph Cantos

Pacific Electric PCC no. 5028 glides in the Atwater district on June 10, 1955, in this classic Alan K. Weeks photo. The PCC is unhampered by auto traffic.

Just days later, the line would be abandoned, and buses would be mired in auto traffic below this line’s former right of way.

Alan K. Weeks Photo, Alan K. Weeks Collection

Image courtesy Ralph Cantos

PE 5008 at the LA River: A crime against traveling humanity

Alan Weeks Photo, Alan Weeks Collection

By Ralph Cantos

This breathtaking photograph, taken by master photographer Alan K. Weeks, shows the Pacific Electric Glendale-Burbank Line at is best. At the time Alan took this photo, the end for the G-B Line was just days away.

The line a was a showcase for modern light rail rapid transit in the late 1940s and early ’50s. The PE had invested hundreds of thousands of of private capital in 1940 to completely rebuild the line, top to bottom, end to end. The line was equipped with 30 ultra-modern MU PCCs built to PE’s own specs. The PCCs were augmented with a like number of rebuilt suburban Hollywood cars. The Hollywood cars were considered by transit experts to be the finest “standard” rail cars to ever grace the streets of any American city after their 1940 modernization. No other rail cars in the country could equal their smart, handsome appearance, fast acceleration and smooth ride.

And yet after only 15 years of all this investment into providing commuters of the Glendale-Burbank Line the finest transportation possible, the line was scuttled in favor of INFERIOR buses, in the name of curb service and flexible routing. City officials stood by and did not to a DAMN thing. Their take? The line’s commuters could all “take a hike.”

Fast forward to 1990. The LA Metro Blue line opens on a completely rebuilt former interurban rail line that was foolishly abandoned some 29 years earlier, while City officials stood by and again, did not do a DAMN thing. The “new” Metro Blue Line was equipped with the latest light rail cars of LA’s own design, much the same way the Glendale-Burbank line was in 1940.

As the year 2005 dawned, the Blue Line was now 15 years old. Suppose you opened your morning newspaper and read that the Blue Line was to be abandoned in favor of more flexable buses and curb service. This is the shock that greeted commuters of the Glendale-Burbank line when they were informed that the line was to be abandoned. Who in their right mind would look at such a conversion as anything but insane?

And so, the Glendale-Burbank line , just 15 years old, fell victim to “we don’t give a damn” and greed by those in charge of the line’s fate. Had the line somehow managed to survive into the late 1980s it would have been given top consideration for conversion into modern, high-speed light rail service. But unlike the Blue Line’s right-of-way that had remained largely intact for almost 30 years after abandonment, the Glendale-Burbank Line’s infrastructure was demolished and its valuable rights-of-way carved up like a Christmas turkey.

In my humble opinion, an UNFORGIVABLE act of vandalism.

The entire line, everything, wiped out as fast as could be done, a costly lesson for all of us to remember.

Alan Weeks Photo, Alan Weeks Collection

Video: KCET’s “Lost LA” on the Subway Terminal Building

PERYHS’ Steve Crise and Alan K. Weeks are outstanding in the new KCET “Lost LA” episode featuring the Subway Terminal tunnel network still in existence. Trust us – watch this one on your lunch break. You’ll be glad you did! Great work, Steve and Alan!