Trolley Tuesday 1/21/20 - Portland Traction's Other Cars

The Council Crests might have been the most iconic rolling stock to roam the Rose City's roads, but their trackage was limited due to their specific gauge. With plenty of standard gauge track running though downtown Portland, PT decided to turn to other roads to get Portlandites out and around the shores of the Willamette and Columbia. Here is just a taster of what a commuter would have ridden over 60 years ago (with some familiar faces).

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Ex-Mt Hood 1125 as PTCo 1049
(Don Ross)

Some of the first cars to be purchased secondhand by the Portland Traction Companty came from their expansion into the Mount Hood Railway in 1912. These were old-fashioned interurban cars built to the same pattern as the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin cars, or the Pacific Electric 950 classes. The ex-Mount Hood cars further supplemented a class of wood and steel interurbans built by the PTCo company shops in 1911, and all would find work well into the bus age.

PTCo 1100 near the end of its life in Oregon City,
looking quite worse for wear.
(Don Ross)

Come the 1940s, however, it seems PTCo went into a spree by America's entry into WWII, buying up streetcars from all over the United States to replace the bigger street interurbans. The first purchase came in 1940, when the Interstate Public Service Company between Louisville and Indianapolis sold six 1927 Kuhlman Car streetcars to PEPCO in 1940. These "new" 4000-series cars were much lighter and newer than the old wooden stock, so many motormen and maintenance crews found them a joy to work with.

PTCo 4001 in Portland, just after entering service in the late 1940s
(Don Ross)

PTCo 4006 hustling towards its next destination
(Don Ross)

Also in 1940, Fonda, Johnstown and Gloverville in New York sold two of their own steel interurban cars to PEPCO as cars 4006 and 4007, and these would get right to work hauling commuters in and out of Oregon City. Much closer to the PEPCO, the Yakima Valley Transportation Co. in Washington state sold them three Brill "Master Unit" streetcars in 1946, numbers 4007-4010. These would go well with some of Portland's own Master Units (cars 4012-4014), which were originally narrow gauge but rebuilt to standard by 1950.

PTCo 4008 (Ex-YVT 20) making its way towards Bell Rose
(Don Ross, Bill Volkmer)

Portland-original Master Units 804 and 805, showing off the narrow
gauge track (Cape gauge) they originally ran on
(Richard Thompson.

PTCo 4011 (Ex-Key System 899/987)
in service at Milwaukie Trstle
(Bill Volkmer, Don Ross)

Much farther down, some preserved streetcars would end up leased by the PTCo such as ex-Key System 899, which was donated to the Bay Area Electric Railway Association in 1948 following abandonment. The car was then loaned to PEPCO for continued maintenance and operation (as 4011) until Oregon City discontinued service in 1958. This was due to the BAERA not having any room to store the car, much less find a place to run it.

Ex-Pacific Electric 680 in service as PTCo 4022,
departing Portland for Oregon City
(Ralph Cantos)

Joining the Key System 899 were seven ex-Pacific Electric Hollywood cars in 1953, comprising numbers 4015-4022. All were St Louis-built 600-class Hollywood cars meant for suburban running, and not the faster "Valley Seven" high speed cars. Following cessation of service in 1959, all but one would go right to the scrapper's torch, often in quite a spectacular manner.

A fiery end for Portland Traction 4017 in 1959
(Richard Thompson)

Yakima Valley 22, the "Bob Hively" preserved
as a parts car for Yakima 21
(Keith Owen)

Of the cars that do survive of the PTCo's hand me down fleet, Master Units 4009 and 4010 found their way back to Yakima by 1989. 4010 had been sold to a private owner named Robert Hively by 1959. Both are preserved in their original numbers (YVT 21 and 22) at the Yakima Electric Railway Museum and 21 still operates for rides.

Key System 987 preserved at the Western Railway Museum
(Robert Gadsdon)

Ex-Key System 899 (ex-PTCo 4011) is preserved at Rio Vista's Western Railway Museum in operating condition, now renumbered as 987 (due to replacing the wrecked original on the roster sheet. The car is notable as being a homebuilt copy of an American Car and Foundry design, and was the second car to arrive at Rio Vista.

PTCo 4001 (Interstate Public Service 924) being prepared to
return to the carhouse after a day's running at the WRM.
(Hunter Lohse)

Also at Rio Vista is PTCo 4001, originally Interstate Public Service 924. Following retirement, the Northern California Electric Railway Museum Association bought the car in 1959 and sold it to the Western Railway Museum in 1960. It is currently restored as PTCo 4001, in a handsome shade of blue.





Finally, one Pacific Electric car survives from the fires of Portland Traction: Ex-PE 680 (PTCo 4022). Retired in 1959, it was donated to the Washington County Fairgrounds, who then put it at Glenwood's Trolley Park before selling it to private owner Eugene Stoller in Woodburn, Oregon. While in Oregon, the car's surroundings lacked the dryness necessary to keep the car from rusting, so in 1992, it was sold derelict to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. It is currently undergoing heavy restoration back to PE condition.

Pacific Electric 680 in happier times, headed for North Hollywood
(Don Ross)

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That was the many motly passenger cartypes of the Portland Traction! Join me Thursday when we look at the interesting freight locomotives of the Traction before we zoom into the future to cover the Portland's Trimet railway line and the history of the Oregon Electric Railway Museum. Thanks for reading!