Trolley Thursday 2/18/21 - The Pacific Electric (And East Bay Electric And Northwestern Pacific) Blimps

I've written about many anachronistic streetcars all over this blog in the past, that is streetcars that were in service for at least 40-50 years. We've had 1910s steel interurbans working well into the 80s on the South Shore, PCC cars working into the 80s in Cleveland, and even ex-San Diego PCC cars enjoying retirement in El Paso, Texas. Even on the Pacific Electric (PE), anachronistic streetcars working well-past their service life wasn't the exception, but the rule, with many receiving upgrades to keep them in service or downgraded to secondary services, as we covered in the wood and steel interurban car episodes. Today's rolling anachronism was born at the same time as the Twelves, but were much bigger, grander, and long-lived than even the people who saved them expected to be. With some of the oldest members now pushing 108 years old, let's return now to the thrilling days of yester-year as we take a flight aboard the big, the bad, and the beautiful Blimps on today's Trolley Thursday!

Blimps in the Bay

East Bay Electric "Combo" No. 600 leads a three-car train of Blimps (two motors and a trailer)
for a promotional delivery photo in 1911, at SP's West Alameda Repair Shops.
Note the original front windows and the train marker lights above them.
(Electric Railway Journal)

A rebuilt Blimp at Fruitvale Station in Oakland, CA.
This station is now served by the BART.
(LocalWiki)

The story of the Blimps begin nowhere near Los Angeles, but actually in San Francisco Bay, specifically the East Side. Southern Pacific (SP), PE's parent company after 1911, was no stranger to interurban holdings across the bay, as they owned streetcar companies in San Jose, Berkeley, Alameda, and Oakland as well as interurban holdings in Marin County, north of San Francisco. The "Berkeley-Alameda-Oakland" system was known as the SP East Bay Electric, and ran from the Oakland ferry terminal (or "Mole") to other parts of the East Bay. The line started operation on June 1, 1911, using a fleet of enormous 72-foot coach and 60-foot combination baggage-coach steel cars that were built by the American Car & Foundry (ACF) of St. Charles, MO. The lengths provided refer from bumper-to-bumper, as both had 60-foot long passenger compartments.

The cars were, at least superficially derived from Southern Pacific's own standard fleet of 72-foot passenger cars, dubbed "submarines". Not only did the new East Bay Electric cars share these proportions, but also shared the rounded roofs as well, leading to them being nicknamed "Blimps" for their size and shape. Inside, the enormous cars could sit one hundred and sixteen passengers, maximum, with the combination cars designed for express baggage and limited service. Power was distributed from a pantograph running off of a 1200V DC supply from the SP powerplant near Fruitvale Station. However, despite their enormous size and high voltage running, these cars were never "interurbans" in their own right, as most of the East Bay Electric system ran along Oakland's streets and at lower speeds. Considering they did not run on their own right-of-way most of the time, and at the aforementioned lower speeds, crews and passengers treated them more as heavy electric-multiple-units (or EMUs) instead. They were also originally painted green, but due to the habit of Karl the Fog moving in and ruining everyone's day, a deep scarlet color was chosen to make the cars more visible, giving them the nickname "Red Cars" by locals.

IER No. 342 poses for a photo at Alameda Shops, definitely
showing off its impressive length. Stop giggling.
(Unknown Author)

The original interior of the Blimps, with no
smoking section partition or Pantasote seats.
(Railfan44)

SP originally ordered forty powered coaches (motors), twenty-five powered combination cars (combos), and fifty unpowered coaches (trailers) from ACF in 1911, exclusively for the lucrative ferry service between Oakland and San Francisco. Inside, the cars were barren with rattan change-over seats assembled in a 2-and-3 off-centered seating style, which was great for packing passengers and not much else, while the combos were given the job of delivering checked baggage and newspapers to and from the ferry terminal. Normal operating practice always called for one motor more than the number of trailers in a train, and the trailers only had controls for marshalling in yards. Initially, crews were hostile to the enormous cars as their tall glass windows at each end posed a significant risk in the event of a head-end collision. Thus, after the next order of cars (ten motors, four combos, and two express-baggage "box motors") were ordered from the Pullman Car Company of Chicago, IL, SP shop crews modified the extant Blimps with round porthole windows at each end for added front-end strength between 1920 and 1924, also giving them their distinctive owl-eye appearance.

A color photo of the East Bay Electric Blimps in
service. In this one, an IER Blimp is spotted at Fernside
Junction, Alameda, in 1940.
(Unknown Author)

A typical East Bay Electric train comprising of three motors.
(Unknown Author)

The 5-car "Dutton Avenue Express" to San Leandro arrives at
the Transbay Terminal in 1940, just before SP abandoned all
electric service to San Francisco.
(Modern Transit)

Now with one-hundred-forty-seven cars rostered in the fleet, the East Bay Electric decided it was competitive enough with the rival Oakland Key System streetcar and continued running trains well into the 1930s with not much change or update to the cars. By December 1938, the duties of the Blimps were assumed by the construction of the new Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge (or the General Norton Bridge to you more cultured types) and by this point, SP wanted out on all of its interurban operations in the East Bay. The East Bay Electric (now the Interurban Electric Railway, or IER) continued with another two years of operating service until 1941, when the California Railroad Commission finally granted a full abandonment of their streetcars. The one-hundred-forty-seven IER blimps were, thus, scattered to the wind, with two retained by SP as bunk rooms, six scrapped, fifty-eight retained by the State Toll Bridge Authority (who also owned a good majority of the Key System Fleet), and eighty-one were sold to the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) for use in Los Angeles. 

Rapid Transit in Marin

An NWP "school train" hustles past Tower 2, northbound.
Five car trains of these bald-headed Blimps were typical.
(John Harder, East Bay Hills Project)

A handsome photo shops No. 383 waiting for students
and school officials in July 1937, presumably for a
summer day trip to Mill Valley.
(BAERA)

Meanwhile, on the Northwestern part of San Francisco Bay, another fleet of Blimps were tootling around much later than their East Bay Counterparts. The third-rail system of SP's Northwestern Pacific (NWP, their other major Bay Area interurban, originally known as the North Shore Railroad and the North Pacific Coast before that) was primarily dependent on wooden cars following E.H. Harriman's mass-electrification program in 1904 when he purchased the line. These cars worked until 1929, following SP abandoning much of its unprofitable branch lines, and were replaced by new, bigger steel cars from St. Louis Car Company of St. Louis Missouri in 1930. These enormous third-rail electrics were virtually identical to their counterparts in the East Bay, including serving ferry traffic across San Francisco Bay, but featured lighter aluminum bodies instead of the heavy steel ones on the IER, giving them much faster acceleration. Their four Westinghouse motors also generated 560 HP, perfect for fast ferry limiteds.

No need for a combine here, No. 386 has enough room to
load baggage into itself at Mill Valley, October 1939.
This car later became PE 4511, later PE 301.
(MendoTrainTony)

However, the nineteen motors and trailers of the NWP did not enjoy a long working life like their East Bay kin. The NWP suffered a major setback in 1937 with the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, eliminating ferry traffic in favor of motor traffic and rendering the interurban itself redundant by 1939. On February 28, 1941, the NWP formally abandoned all interurban operations and parent company SP assumed ownership and leasing of the Blimps. This prompted Pacific Electric to beg SP to lease the Blimps to them, which happened in 1942 when all nineteen cars were shipped to the Torrance Shops on their own wheels, eventually joining their East Bay Electric cousins in service.

Hot Rods Take Los Angeles

PE Blimps in US Maritime Commission service, taking hoards
 of servicemen to their waiting ships in the Port of LA and Long Beach.
(Vintage Everyday)

A 1944 motorman's manual
on how to properly operate
the new 4500-series Blimps.
(Unknown Author)

The first Blimps to arrive at the Torrance Shops were ex-NWP motors 4500-4511 and trailers 4512-4518. Originally numbered 375-386 (motors) and 250-256 (trailers), PE only had a short time to prepare these cars for wartime traffic and they did so with frightening speed. The most important aspect to change was moving the couplers ten inches out on each end to accommodate the sharp turns PE expected the cars to face just leaving 6th and Main Terminal for San Pedro Street, as well as pneumatic trolley poles for safety. The gates, originally powered by air, now had to be shoved by hand as the air cylinders for them also fouled the curves, and passengers were discouraged from walking between the cars by permanently mounting headlights and chains on either end of the car. Another important addition to the Blimps was a small window to the left of the motorman, allowing for better blind-spot detection if any automobile or pedestrian was hidden by the left side of the car. 

 When first outshopped in 1942 for service on the Long Beach Line, the Blimps immediately made a name for themselves by knocking down every "No Left Turn" sign on Fourth Street in Downtown Los Angeles. PE was so embarrassed by this that, for every new motorman trained on the Blimps, they had to be directly told where they could and couldn't run on the system (just in case the next fouled curve resulted in rubbing up against a passing streetcar). The Blimps immediately made a name for themselves on the busy Long Beach and Santa Ana Lines, where long strings of five "Tens" or six "Twelves" were replaced by two or three Blimps per train, given their enormous seating capacity of ninety-eight (twenty-six short of the IER Blimps). Their biggest assignment came from backing up the "Long Beach Twelves" on the lucrative Catalina Specials, swapping out with the "Long Beach" and "Portland Twelves" when parlor car service wasn't needed. For the crews, the enormous size of the cars needed some getting used to, as well as the speed of them. 

PE No. 4505 (ex-NWP 380) demonstrates the need for a
longer coupler as it curls around a curve, circa 1944-1945.
(Ira L. Swett)

An ex-NWP Blimp in original condition, No. 4508,
runs past the camera on 4th Street in Santa Ana, 1943.
(Terry Salmans, PERYHS)

Due to their highly-wound Westinghouse motors (each generating 140HP), the ex-NWP Blimps could easily hit 60 miles per hour, earning them the nickname of "Hot Rods". They were also, uniquely, the only PE cars to use outside-rigged "clasp brakes" (that is, brake shoes on the outside ends of the trucks) rather than inside the trucks as standard. As usual with interurban operations in LA, they were also outfitted with Eclipse Safety Fenders for running on Downtown LA streets, but these were gone in 1943. The trailers also got involved as cab cars for a time before they, too, were motorized by September 17, 1943, with the Hot Rods making easy work pushing or pulling one trailer per motor. 1943 was also the year that the Hot Rods got smaller gates across their doors, much easier to push and pull, and by next year, they were finally joined by the ex-IER Blimps of the USMC.

Life During Wartime

A Calship Special, led by ex-IER No. 4604, is spotted
leaving LA on April 4, 1945.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

Besides working on the Santa Ana and Long Beach Line to ease capacity issues, the biggest duty for the Hot Rods (and the IER Blimps, eventually) was wartime traffic. Under the USMC, long strings of blimps left 6th and Main Station every day, bound for the Calship Yards of Long Beach in what were called "Calship Specials". These carried everyone from shipbuilders to US Navy servicemen and this is where the capacity for the Blimps really shone. Three blimp trains were able to handle three hundred or more people at a time, and the sheer number of them (over one hundred in total) kept the Calship Timetable up and on time.

USMC No. 379 is spotted next to ex-NWP, now
PE 4516, at 6th and Main Station during WWII. No. 4516 is a
trailer car, soon to be motorized as No. 303 after the war.
(Unknown Author)

Eventually joining the Hot Rods were the PE 4600 Class, made up of fifty-nine of the eighty-one cars USMC had purchased from the IER. PE owned thirty of these cars, with the USMC retaining twenty-nine under their own lettering, while the remaining twenty were shipped to Portland, OR, for shipyard traffic at the Kaiser Shipyard in Vanport, a suburb in northern Portland. Just like the Hot Rods, the 4600s (Nos. 4600-4629, originally USMC 314-375) were rebuilt with extended couplers, manual-converted gates, and (confusingly) two different names. It was not uncommon to see a PE-lettered 4600 running with a USMC-lettered 314-series car, and vice-versa, with PE often having to pick up the tab of having a car they didn't own running on their train. However, the biggest thing differentiating the 4600s from the Hot Rods was the use of sprung trolley poles instead of pneumatic ones, due to the relative lack of spare parts during wartime. PE also inherited IER's two Blimp box motors, Nos. 1465 and 1466, for aircraft parts delivery in El Segundo, owing to their enormous length.

PE "Box Motor" No. 1466 (as SP East Bay Electric No. 701)in service in the mid-late 1920s.
(Unknown Author)

"Modernized Luxury Liners"

Following the war, an enormous mass-rebuilding program was put into place as PE purchased the remaining blimps it leased from SP and USMC to give the people of Los Angeles something worth riding, even that "something" was 30-year old interurban cars. 

PE No. 300 dominates the photo as it's snapped with the Long Beach Express
at the Ocean Avenue terminus. The car is the first of many to be rebuilt.
(Jack Finn, PERYHS)

A color snap of the 300-series interior,
now operating under Metropolitan
Coach Lines in the late 1950s.
(Bill Whyte, Steve Crise, PERYHS)

The first Blimp to be rebuilt into PE spec was ex-NWP 4511, taking the number of the old "Dragon" city car class as the new No. 300. The car, which entered service on October 25, 1946, featured wooden doors instead of gates, making an all-enclosed cab for the motorman, as well as better lighting fixtures and revolving spring-cushion seats clad in a handsome green mohair, complete with an added smoking section in the car, which could now hold two more rows of seating with the removal of the remaining gate gear. 300 was also outshopped in PE's new corporate livery, the familiar red-and-orange "Butterfly" scheme that also graced its Hollywood Cars and, originally, its rebuilt Twelves. A conceptual drawing from a 1947 system map even included a Blimp with side skirts incorporating the "Butterfly Wing" design and integrated destination boards on each roof end, but for some reason this never got off the drawing board. That same year, all members of the 300 class "Hot Rods" (Nos. 301-318) entered service by June. 

What we almost had: a 1947 Pacific Electric system map
shows off a proposed aesthetic addition to the 300s, with 
winged skirts and integrated destination signs.
(Ira L. Swett)

PE Nos. 310 and 415 show off their small differences
in appearance while laying over at 6th and Main Terminal
in 1959. The infamous Hotel Cecil is in the background.
(Robert Gadsdon)

The 400s entered service on November 15, 1946, beginning with No. 400 (ex-4622), and others followed suit until the last 400, combo No. 496 (ex-USMC 4700) was released in August 18, 1948. Despite nearly matching the appearance of the 300-series Blimps to a tee, there were significant mechanical differences between them. 300s were outfitted with Westinghouse motors and controllers (which had to be switched around as NWP equipped them with brakes on the left and controller on the right), while the 400s used tried-and-true GE controllers and motors. The 400s were also much slower than the 300s, which could easily reach 60 miles an hour, so a field shunt was installed in the 400s to push the top speed to a meager 50 miles per hour for smoother operations. Like the Hot Rods, the cars also gained two more rows of seating, bumping their capacity to 80 persons per car. A further ten cars (450-459) were left a subclass by themselves as they did not use the Westinghouse U5A brake valve found on the 300s or 400s, so they could not multiple-unit with either one. 

A common sight on the Long Beach Line was the Southern Division trains
meeting the smaller Watts Local on the Four Track. Here at Amoco Junction in 1950,
a two-car Watts Local runs parallel to a southbound train of Blimps (led by 436) to Bellflower.
(Metro Library and Archive)

The aftermath of 4601's mighty collision with Steeplecab
No. 1628, on October 19, 1946.
(Ira L. Swett)

Only one Blimp did not see modernization. On the early morning of October 19, 1946, just half a week shy of the first PE Blimp in service, car No. 4601 was involved in a collision with PE Baldwin Steeplecab No. 1628, which at the time was handling a 13-car freight. The trains hit at 128th Street and Athens Way in Torrance. No details were given as to why both trains were allowed to occupy the main, but several sources say that it was due to fog and reduced visibility. When 4601 struck 1628, the front end immediately crumpled and killed the motorman, while 70 of the almost-100 Torrance Shop Workers aboard were left with serious injuries. 4601 was soon struck for scrap, and its trucks went to motorizing another trailer Blimp, which eventually became No. 407. 4601 was reported "scrapped" by roster sheets of the PE at the time, and was also reported as such by Ira L. Swett, but in reality the car was quickly snatched up by local Torrance resident Forest Wilson for $50 from National Metals. From there, Wilson chopped off the crushed cab and converted the car into a two-bedroom house, which he lived in until 1987.

Workhorses of the Pacific Electric

A standard lineup of 400-series Blimps at 6th and Main Station.
(Tom Gildersleeve, Jack Finn, PERYHS)

A five-car Catalina Special during the MCL days.
The leader is Blimp No. 455, and the date is around 1957-58.
(L. Swanson, Andy Goddard, PERYHS)

After rebuilding, the Blimps were the kings of the Southern District. Any and all wooden cars formerly serving the Long Beach or Orange County Lines were either retired to the Newport-Balboa Line or the Western Division Beach Lines. Whether one car locals, two cars flyers, or even six cars on the Catalina Specials, PE became heavily dependent on the Blimps for all interurban traffic, with the "Four Tracks" through Watts Junction dominated by these enormous machines rushing back and forth. Some Blimps even ventured farther south after the war, with Hot Rods being spotted once-or-twice on the Santa Ana line and all the way down to Newport Beach. As the years dwindled on and new owners got ahold of the Pacific Electric (like Metropolitan Coach Lines in 1953), the cars went from being PE's workhorses to soon being the only interurban horse left. From here, the cars began to suffer from deferred maintenance, and road crossing strikes on the Long Beach Line became more frequent as the automobile began to invade its home turf. 

Only one blimp was actually involved in an accident during the
LAMTA period. No. 1503 (ex-PE 304) lost its brakes on the steep
San Pedro St. Terminal Ramp and skidded across the street, much
like PE No. 1260 before it. This car was later scrapped in 1961.
(Los Angeles Times)

LAMTA No. 1543 works a charter run
north of Compton, October, 1960.
(Stephen Dudley, PERYHS)

By 1958, the cars were renumbered under the LAMTA and were stuck working on the Long Beach Line, as all other interurban lines had closed. The city believed that this one interurban line, the first for the PE, was the only thing worth saving about their silly little trolley and wanted to show it to the city. So, in September 1960, ex-PE No. 435 (now LAMTA 1543) became the guinea pig for a half-baked (and in some transit fanatics, sacrilegious) experiment. To show that the city was not about to get rid of its trolley cars, 1543 was dressed in a two-tone green livery with modern LAMTA logos affixed to it, as if to say these old cars were to form the backbone of a rejuvenated Long Beach Line. While the transit authority may have patted itself on the back for this publicity stunt, all other traction enthusiasts knew what was coming. On an intolerably early morning of April 9, 1961, the last Pacific Electric train ever drew into Long Beach's Morgan Yard (their maintenance home for two decades since their arrival), headed by LAMTA 1502 (ex-PE 303). When their poles finally came down, a collective 50 years of interurban operation among the Blimps of the IER and the NWP were over. All members were shuttled off to Terminal Island, where they were stripped of any useable equipment and almost all were scrapped.

That's all, folks.
(John West)

Keep Them Flying, Forever

PE No. 4601 in its final resting place at Wilson Park, Torrance.
Note the missing cab on the other end and the big metal gaps between the window
and the doors, which became windows when the others were rebuilt.
(Trolleyville)

LAMTA 1543, in its halfway livery, under shelter
at Traveltown in Burbank, CA.
(Ryan Dickey)

Graciously, ten Blimps have escaped the cutter's torch, with three operating at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA, and six on display or stored in varying conditions at the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, CA. Ex-PE No. 4601 can currently be found at Torrance's Wilson Park, donated to the city by Mr. Forest Wilson's widow, Mrs. Virginia Wilson, following Mr. Wilson's death in 1987. Still missing one end due to the collision, the car has been subject to many plans to convert it into a diner, then a model railroad club, but only time will tell if the Torrance Historical Society plans to restore the car as a grand old interurban once again. Another single Blimp on display is ex-LAMTA No. 1543, which is on display at the Traveltown Museum in Burbank, CA. When the SCRM moved out in 1958, No. 1543 was left behind and restored into a half-PE, half-LAMTA livery, which it retains to this day.

PE No. 457, on display at the WRM in 2015.
(Adrian Brodie, not the actor)

Of the five cars of the Western Railway Museum (WRM), only one is retained in Pacific Electric condition. No. 457 was purchased by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (BAERA) in 1960 following the car's retirement and disposal as LAMTA 1707. Over time, the car has regained some East Bay Electric motifs, including its safety chains across the front doors, but only time will tell if a full restoration will be complete. The other blimps in the collection are all ex-SP, with No. 358 (originally East Bay Electric combo 613) originally being stored with other unsold/unleased Blimps during World War II before being sold to Utah and used at a military installation there. After being reduced to a mere body, the BAERA bought the car and have somewhat restored it to its original coach green colors worn by the East Bay Electric. The WRM also possesses three other unused bodies, combos No. 600, 602, and 603, with the former two on display.

MCL (ex-PE) No. 314 in service at Bellflower Station, wearing a
dark green "mohawk" stripe across her roof to hide
grime and trolley wire grease drippings, early 1950s.
(Jack Finn, PERYHS)

PE No. 314 in her current state, awaiting finished
restoration work at the SCRM. She runs, but still
needs passenger furnishings and general maintenance.
(Joseph C.)

The Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM) is home to three Blimps, one of each type operated by both the East Bay Electric and the NWP. Ex-NWP "Hot Rod" No. 314 is the only surviving car of her type, originally built as NWP 384 in 1930 by St. Louis Car Company. Unlike the 400s, the 300s were sold off early and No. 314 was the first Blimp in the SCRM collection when she was purchased in 1959. Her restoration has since been slow-going, with the ghosts of repaints past fading away over time despite operating in museum service longer than her own working life. Currently, she is awaiting extra labor to restore her seats and interior, as well as exterior, and has a museum reputation of not enjoying operating with the other 400-series cars, especially when coupled in the middle. This is due to the car's light construction and tighter-wound motors, coupled with the older age (and slower performance) of Nos. 418 and 498.

PE No. 418, shining in the sun at Perris, CA.
(SCRM)

Like meeting an old friend at Amococ Junction, PE 418
and 717 pose together on the SCRM Alpine Platform
under a balmy California sun.
(Myself)

PE No. 418 is one of two sole operating examples of an East Bay Electric Blimp anywhere in the world. Originally built as East Bay Electric No. 344 in 1913 by Pullman, 418 worked on the Pacific Electric from 1944 to 1961, being one of the last cars to be retired working on the Long Beach Line. The Orange Empire Trolley Company (later the SCRM) was very pleased to have a Blimp in their collection, as most of its members remembered fondly riding the "Big Red Car" all over the Southland. She is also the most complete Blimp, second to Combo No. 498, as the car has a completely-restored interior (with her LAMTA number, 1528, retained inside) and has been one of the regular operators of the museum mainline. As of this writing, she is in the final stages of general inspection and maintenance and will be out and about on the mainline very soon.

66 years of streetcar history separate 418 and San Diego No. 1003,
originally built by Siemens of Germany in 1979.
(Myself)

LAMTA No. 1546 (ex-PE No. 498) is seen with
"Watts Local" No. 1815 (ex-PE 717) at Watts Carhouse
in June 7, 1959. Both cars later became part of the SCRM.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

The final Blimp worth discussing is PE No. 498, the only operating "Combo" Blimp. Like 418, 498 was built by Pullman in 1913 and went by name numbers in service, originally as 672, then 627, then 302. She never served in USMC service, as she was retained by the IER throughout World War II, but was often seen at the head end of PE's Catalina Specials as well as charters done for the local Electric Railway Association of Southern California (SC-ERA). In 1959, she was also sold to the SCRM following redundancies by the LAMTA where she endured one of the longest restoration attempts your motorman's seen at the museum. Though operated occasionally, it was not until 2016 that 498 received a proper repaint and was then put in operation with 418. Unfortunately, this operating period has not lasted as, after an attempted charter run with some Disney Cast Members in 2017, the car was sidelined with brake issues. After 418 is finished being worked on, it's the museum's goal to ensure 498 can run again as well for a full two-car Blimp train.

Pacific Electric No. 498 in current condition, resting in the back
of Carhouse 4 at the SCRM in Perris, CA.
Her paint is supremely crisp.
(Preserved Traction)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included "Interurban Special No. 36 - Interurban and Deluxe Cars" and "Interurban Special No. 37 - Combos, Locomotives, & Non-Revenue Cars" by Ira L. Swett, the archives of the Southern California Railway Museum of Perris, CA, the Western Railway Museum of Suisun City, CA, and the archives of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be distributed on request. On Tuesday, we get down and dirty as we look at Pacific Electric's non-revenue electric freight locomotives! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!