5063 on Fair Oaks south of Walnut
From the Jack Finn Collection comes this image of Pacific Electric Hollywood Car no. 5063 on Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, south of Walnut. The image is circa 1945 but the cars may provide a more definitive date.
Jack Finn Collection
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As for the date of this photo, Interurbans Special 28 states that the PE 600 class were rebuilt into one man/two man cars and renumbered into the 5050 class in 1949. This photo would date from 1949 or later.
The St. Andrew’s belltower and Shell station are still there in 2016 (though the latter looks completely different).
So was the operator too lazy or in too much of a hurry to lower the rear unit’s forward Pantograph or maybe they didn’t have to lower it all the way.?.
Perhaps changing ends, and the middle pole is in the process of being lowered.
The pole probably was not securely placed under the hook, and it came loose from vibration. The trolley catcher caught it before it
went all the way up to snag the overhead. Chances are the crew remained unaware until they exited at the end of the line, or were told by a boarding passenger.
According to an article from Interurbans about the Pasadena Short Line on the SCERHA website one-man operation began Oct. 22, 1950 (Note the Enter Front sign). So this photo was taken in either late 1950 or in 1951. Neat lights on top of the gas pumps at the Shell station, by the way.
This is a very nice, crisp black & white shot of a PE 5050-class Hollywood Car. I have this interurban car in ‘O’ scale brass from The Car Works. I also have the “Valley 7” version in ‘O’ scale brass.
The Car Works did a splendid job capturing the true likeness and bauty of these great interurbans in scale model form, which includes their body proportions and colorful paint schemes. Having these fine scale models is a great way of keeping our memories of these Pacific Electric interurbans alive.
I meant to say, true likeness and “beauty” in the second part of my comment.
Comparing to 7/1/1950 photo (Glendale service), 5063 seems to have possibly received a minor roughing up just forward of the front door: http://www.pacificelectric.org/pacific-electric/western-district/regarding-pacific-electric-5063/
The Pasadena Short Line ran two-man 5050s for two weeks from October 8 until October 21, 1950.
Beginning October 22, 1950 one-man cars were used until the final abandonment September 29, 1951.