Pacific Electric 643
This image comes to us all the way from England – from Roger Monk of the Tramway & Light Railway Society. We’ll let Roger take it from here:
Greetings from the United Kingdom!
I am in the process of scanning a small collection of USA Street & Interurban Railway photos that belonged to a British enthusiast who was active in the 1930s and 1940s. He had some contacts in the USA who sent him photos of cars on systems in the USA. There isn’t much detail on the backs of the photos and, for each one, I am trying to identify the System, Car details (builder, date etc) and if possible the exact geographical location of the photo. If we can identify the original photographer that would be a bonus. Most of the systems in the collection are in the Mid-West and North-East of the USA. There is just one view of a PE car. The print was in the collection of the late George H. Bullock which later passed to me.
Can anyone help us identify this location, and a possible photographer?
George H. Bullock Collection, Tramway & Light Railway Society Collection, used with permission
Not much to go on in the photo. I’d guess it’s somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, perhaps at the Van Nuys station. I am basing my guess on the small palm tree on the left. Although there were many such palm trees in southern California then and now, the photo somehow feels like it was made in the SF Valley.
I can barely make out the word “vista” on the destination sign, suggesting this car was in service on the Watts-Sierra Vista line. This did happen to be the assignment for many of the 600’s for their entire existence.