Trolley Thursday 2/4/21 - Pacific Electric Wooden Interurbans

Before steel became reliable and pliable enough to work into railroad car form, almost every interurban, rapid transit, and streetcar system in America depended on solid wood passenger cars. The idea behind them was simple: wood made for great sound insulation and was strong enough to withstand nearly every element exposed to it, so why not build them of wood? Between 1902 and 1913, Pacific Electric (PE) depended on its lumbering thoroughbreds comprising the Los Angeles Pacific (LAP) 950 Class and the mighty fleet of Jewett Car Company 1000-Class cars, commonly nicknamed the "Tens". On today's Trolley Thursday, let's peel back the wooden surface and appreciate these artfully-crafted cars.

Subway Cars Without a Subway

The LAP's 700-Class as built. This number was later taken by
the Hollywood Cars under the PE's new numbering system post-Great Merger.
note the half-wood, half-mesh sides of the open section.
(Ira L. Swett)

A Los Angeles-Pacific brochure showing off caricatures
of their 700-class cars with their distinctive round ends, circa 1900s.
(PERYHS)

As detailed much earlier, railroad magnate E.H. Harriman had big plans for Los Angeles interurban transit after purchasing the Los Angeles Pacific Railway (LAP) from its original owners, land booster Moses Sherman and accountant Isaac P. Clarke. Under Harriman, the LAP planned to build a four-track subway from Hill Street Station (later the Subway Terminal Building) to Vineyard Junction, but the Panic of 1907 curtailed any groundbreaking. What was realized from the planned subway, though, was a fleet of 44 heavy interurban cars from the St. Louis Car Company in 1907. 48 members of the "700 Class" were delivered to LAP and were sumptuously finished inside and out. Its 56-passenger capacity rode in style, with brass window sashes in the smoking sections (which featured wood and mesh sides) and green high-back chairs and mahogany paneling inside the closed section. Under its double-layered wood floor, the cars ported four GE 75-horsepower engines, coupled to a GE Type M multiple unit controller and feeding power from two sprung trolley poles. To make them multiple-unit, or "MU" capable, the cars used normal AAR Janney knuckle couplers but fed each other through air and electrical hoses.

A 1911 GE brochure of the 700s, just after PE rebuilt them.
(Ira L. Swett)

PE No. 994 in Culver City, its
usual haunt. No color photos of
it in blue currently exist.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

Following the purchase of the LAP by the Pacific Electric in the Great Merger of 1911, the cars underwent a significant rebuild to match PE's standards. The two trolley poles were replaced by one pneumatic pole, the sides were sheathed in wood, and new motors and controllers were provided by GE to give them an extra turn of speed. With the upgrades, the 700 Class were sent to work on the Pasadena Short Line as well as keeping on the busy ex-LAP parts of the Western Division like the Santa Monica-Beverly Hills line. As an additional perk, five cars (PE Nos. 021-025, later 994-998) were used as "deluxe" 950s and intermixed into the trains, featuring a reduced seating capacity of 48 and blue exterior paint, the only cars to be painted anything other than red on the PE. The cars were considered separate from the fleet, but eventually joined them in 1928, as detailed below.

As a response to the cars being used so heavily in beach commuter service, PE again rebuilt most of the class, in 1928, into their most recognizable form: the 950s. Gone was the green cloth surface, replaced with Spanish leather, while the originally open sections were now closed with new windows. The Deluxe cars also lost their blue paint schemes and were rebuilt into more proletariat passenger motors. Refurbishment was done at Torrance Shops, with general maintenance and care handled at the ex-LAP Ocean Park Carhouse, which almost all 950s called home at one point or another. Following the closure of the Santa Monica Line in 1940, most of the former deluxe cars were scrapped and the others were reassigned onto the Venice Short Line, Redondo Beach Line, and even as far north as Burbank on the Glendale-Burbank Line. Their lives were due to be cut short due to age, but World War II's traffic resurgence kept them operating until 1950. By then, all 44 remaining 950s were withdrawn and sent for scrapping at Terminal Island, where they were stripped for parts and left to rot. 

A beheaded PE No. 969, pulled by PE No. 999, closes out the final day of service
on the Pasadena Line on October 8, 1950, with the buses replacing them forming
an intimidating wall of diesel and steel behind them.
(Alan Weeks, Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

Car 999

PE No. 999 working a usual beat in Glendora with a
"Portland Twelve" behind her. She was affectionately
known as "Old Flat-Face" by enthusiasts and shop crews.
(Don Ross)

Car 999 was similar in design to the Deluxe 950s, but featured the more-recognizable "Huntington Standard" front window design. Originally built for the LAP as the deluxe car, "El Viento" (The Wind) by the St. Louis Car Company in 1907, 999 remained a unique sight for people traversing the famous "Balloon Route" from Santa Monica to Redondo. Following the Great Merger, No. 999 was used as PE's own deluxe car (renumbered 01) and used to entertain VIPs and other top brass with tours of the system. To accomplish this, No. 999 had her front windows extended downward for better track inspection visibility. However, as the 1920s rolled on, No. 999 found work as a business car dwindling and she was stored at Torrance Shops for some months until PE decided to rebuild her similar to her 950-class cousins. Following the same pattern as the rebuilt Deluxe cars, 999 entered normal service and remained a traction railfan favorite both in service on the Western Division and at Ocean Park Carhouse, where she was known as "Old Flat-Front". By 1950, she joined her sisters on the scrap heap at Terminal Island.

Ten Out of Ten in Passenger Service

PE 1618 leads a train of unmotored, unpoled Tens at
7th Street Yard, preparing to have them loaded at
6th and Main Terminal via the elevated platform.
(Ira L. Swett)

The Great Merger of 1911 brought many operational and management changes to the Pacific Electric by its new parent, Southern Pacific (SP). Not only were freight operations greatly emphasized, but attention was also focused on getting new rolling stock to replace their motley fleet of inherited passenger cars. The first order of cars under SP was the 1000 Class, or "Tens". Described by then-PE president Paul Shroup, they were "45 interurban cars, latest improved type, similar in general design but seating eight more passengers than our present Pacific Electric Railway interurban cars." The "present [...] cars" mentioned were the "Eights" mentioned on Tuesday, and after contracting the Jewett Car Company of Jewett, Ohio, there was already an issue. Due to a misunderstanding and lack of PE representation at Jewett, the carbuilder built the Tens with "half the number of steel car lines they were intended to have". (Swett, 268) Because of this, the Tens suffered from sagging roofs as they struggled to hold up the weight of their pneumatic trolley poles. Their electrical equipment was the same as the 950s, including using MU hoses and standard knuckle couplers over dedicated air-relay Westinghouse couplers.

PE Ten No. 1025 leads a train to Los Angeles somewhere in Monrovia, on the Northern District.
(City of Monrovia)

The first train of Tens arrive at San Bernardino on July 11, 1914.
(SCRM)

The Tens proved to be go-anywhere cars, as evidenced by their immediate rush into service for the 1913 Summer traffic to Long Beach (which necessitated them being pulled by new electric locomotive No. 1601, a Baldwin-Westinghouse Steeplecab). After receiving their motors, the cars were pressed all over the system from San Bernardino (which they opened on July 11, 1914) to Long Beach, but their largest presence was felt all over the Newport-Balboa Line and the Redondo Beach Line. The San Bernardino opening is worth further mentioning, as (hilariously) Nos. 1030-1037 (a later order, but delivered the same year) were the only PE cars fitted with toilets due to the long service distance on the Northern Division. Two (1028-1029) were even assigned to the famous "Orange Empire Trolley Trip" in 1914, outfitted as deluxe cars through seat re-arrangement. However, despite their popularity and go-anywhere attitude, the cars were also a little too late to the party. Upon delivery in 1913, the Vineyard Junction collision happened between two older classes of cars (a Five and an Eight) and wooden cars were immediately design taboo. Only 44 Tens were ever built by Jewett for the PE, and instead of ordering more, PE just rebuilt them with all-enclosed windows and improved roof bracing through louvres and overlapping vent strips by 1942. By 1950, all but two of the aged Tens were sent to Terminal Island to be scrapped alongside the 950s and other retired wooden cars, while newer steel cars took their place all over the system.

A Pasadena Shortline Train, led by PE "Ten" No. 1016, shows off its
solid-vent strips along its roof to give it some roof strength.
(John F. Bromley)

Big Pals From the Peninsula

A "Big Pally" No. 111, photographed on the Peninsular Railway in 1913.
Do not be distracted by the motorman's saucy pose.
(Ira L. Swett)

A rebuilt "Big Pally" in San Gabriel, 1930s.
(Ira L. Swett)

Joining the Tens in service on the PE was a class of seven cars, No. 1050-1057. These were built alongside the Tens at Jewett in 1913 and, as such, shared many design cues between them, including the familiar Huntington Standard window design. Originally built for the Peninsular Railway Company in San Jose, California (another SP interurban holding), the cars worked up north from 1914 until 1937, when PE management decided to press them into working on the Alhambra-San Gabriel-Temple City line of the Northern District. They proved to be exactly what the PE needed, with minimal modifications needed save for pneumatic trolley bases and other group parts, and eventually joined their estranged Ten sisters when the whole fleet was pooled following the closure of the Alhambra Line in 1941. The Big Pallies finished their careers on the Venice Shortline in 1950, then joined their other wooden sisters at Terminal Island. Boy, this story is sure sounding familiar.

The Commodore

The mighty Commodore works a chartered trip from Los Angeles to Balboa in 1939.
Note the antiquated curved destination board on the front, which disappeared in the late 1910s.
(SCRM)

The Commodore I in later life, used as a home in
Baldwin Park. The stained-glass PE sigil can be seen
next to the red door.
(SCRM)

Car 1000 was definitely destined for greatness. After all, you don't just pull the class leader from an order of cars and immediately outfit it with its own office, kitchen, toilet and two parlor sections at either end. However, that's what PE did in 1914 following the opening of the San Bernardino Line. Southern Pacific brass traveled up and down the system on board the Commodore, which was also fitted with extremely low windows for track visibility. On paper, the rebuild made sense, as PE's existing fleet of business cars (including the La Viento/999) could not traverse onto the 1200V DC overhead of the San Bernardino Line. By 1938, with business car traffic similarly all-but-gone for the Commodore after the introduction of the Commodore II (No. 1299), it was rebuilt into a parlor car and used on charter parlor car tours for both top brass and anyone willing to pony up the money. It also saw service in World War II at West Hollywood Shops as a training car, but after the war it was swiftly retired. Unlike many of its "Ten" sisters, the Commodore's body was sold to a private residence in Baldwin Park while its operational parts (trucks, controllers, motors) were parted off to other Tens.

The Visalia Tens

PE No. 1045 when she was first donated to the SCRM in May, 1959.
The text is illegible but probably reads "Honeymoon Hotel".
(SCRM)

The last Tens worth mentioning in this report as part of PE's fleet are PE 1045 and 1046. Arriving onto the PE in 1919 from the Visalia Electric Railway (VE), they were built by American Car & Foundry (ACF) as trailers and they remained two of the most obscure cars in service on the PE. Visually, they looked like the 950s with their curved ends but possessed arched windows on the front and sides, better resembling a car on the Chicago Aurora & Elgin third-rail interurban. Both were usually stationed at Macy Street Yard and only used in unusually-heavy peak service, such as holidays. Their brief working life (if 14 years is brief to you) ended in 1934, when both were sold to private owners. 

Saving 1001

PE No. 993 at the SCRM today, stored inside Barn 7.
(SCRM)

Today, four Pacific Electric Tens and one 950 survive at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA. This includes the Commodore I (which was acquired by the SCRM in 1964 and is undergoing a slow restoration, but is otherwise in hardy and very good condition), both Visalia Electric 1045 and 1046 (again, both bodies, with 1046 originally serving as a repurposed cabin in Crestline, CA), and 950 Class No. 993 (which is on its own trucks, saved by Richard Fellows). The last ten to mention is also the most special one. 

PE No. 00199 (ex-1001) grinds away on Sunset Blvd. at Echo Park.
(SCRM)

Upon being declared "surplus to requirements" in 1948, Pacific Electric selected class leader 1001 to be rebuilt as a rail grinder due to a severe lack of one. To do this, half the seats inside 1001 were replaced with huge water drums for ballast while the truck on that end had its motors removed and grinding devices armed with carbon blocks were installed instead. PE sang praises of its new rail grinder in PE magazine, as the now-00199 worked out of the West Hollywood Carhouse until 1952. As the years dwindled for the 00199, one PE employee took pity on her and set about wanting to buy her straight from the very-confused top brass. Many of them, and his peers, found Abbenseth's dream to be foolish and begged him to reconsider, but he held fast to his convictions.

Ex-PE No. 00199 on display at Traveltown in January, 1954, next to LATL F Type No. 1160.
(Ray Ballash)

A happy man. Walter Abbenseth (center) enjoys the
first run of 1001 since he first purchased her.
(Alan Fishel)

Then, eventually, in 1953, a rather bulky and old car arrived on a truck-bed at Traveltown, Burbank, CA, much to the surprised and amusement of the volunteers of the nascent Orange Empire Trolley Company. It was eventually learned that, after being in storage in November of 1953, PE essentially sold the car for scrap... to Walter Abbenseth. Abbenseth's life was soon dedicated to restoring the 1001, even after the Orange Empire Trolley Company moved to its new campus in Perris CA, in 1958. In 1973, Walter's dream to run the 1001 again was finally realized as it operated along the one-mile main for the very first time, bearing its original number "1001" in golden Roman letters. Up until his death, Abbenseth could be found in Carhouse 2, continuing to care and dote on his interurban car (as well as getting other cars for the OERM's collection) until he passed in 2006. Today, the 1001 is in need of continued internal, external, and mechanical restoration, and it is the SCRM's hope we can run Walter's car again.

Walter Abbenseth in 2003, posing with his car, No. 1001.
(Steve Crise)

There's Something About 1058

Well, that was very heartfelt. Time for something wacky.

PE No. 983 laying over at Ocean Park Carhouse, 1949.
(Don Ross)

PE No. 1058, as rebuilt by Mr. Richard Fellows.
(Willis "Dutch" Hendreck, PERYHS)

Not all wooden PE cars were scrapped immediately at Terminal Island, as others were repurposed as random sheds or houses. One of these random sheds was PE No. 983, a 950-class car that was retired in 1950 and used as a storage shed at Compton Station on the Long Beach Line. One local enthusiast, Richard Fellows of San Pedro, had a boat building business on Terminal Island and he had a direct view of all the PE cars being scrapped at the time at National Metals. He ended up purchasing six Pacific Electric bodies and, with his own ingenuity, planned on converting four of them into rubber-tired trolley cars. One of these was No. 983, which was rebuilt into something resembling a "Ten" between 1960 and 1963. New fronts were fabricated to match the Huntington Standard window design, windows from other cars were used to lengthen it appropriately, and even things from other cars like headlights and controllers were sourced from other places, including the SCRM.

PE No. 1058 in the 1999 San Pedro Christmas Parade at Pacific and 6th, in San Pedro's historic core.
(John Smatlak)

Two eras collide in Del Amo on the Metro Blue Line, as an
RTD P2000 crosses paths with a PE Ten on rubber tires in 1990.
(Wig-Wag on Skyscraper Page)

However, Richard's ultimate piece de résistance was the control system for his mighty 1058. The original controller in the car became a tiller-like steering wheel, with the deadman pedal fashioned into a gas pedal for the under-slung diesel motor. The brakes? They were just the original Westinghouse brakestand and system, now coupled to heavy drum brakes behind the tires. To make the car as nimble as it used to be, four tires on the head end were used to steer around tight corners, while the poles were fixed straight to avoid unwanted swinging. Hundreds of baffled Angelinos, deep in the age of the automobile, ended up watching Richard tootle around Terminal Island in his big streetcar, and he was even able to corrupt the youth of main Los Angeles by taking his car out to the Hollywood Christmas Parade and the opening of the Los Angeles Metro Blue (A) Line's Del Amo Station. He was even able to wrangle his interurban car into a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the only authentic PE car to do so!

PE No. 1058 can be seen early in the film as Eddie Valiant hops aboard a Hollywood Car, trundling
away in the background. The SCRM was also consulted for the design of the Hollywood Car prop.
(Touchstone Pictures/Walt Disney Pictures)

PE No. 1058 trundles along on a charter run past the
Los Angeles Maritime Museum, formerly the San Pedro
Ferry Terminal and part of the PE San Pedro line.
(ProphetM on Skyscraper Page)

Following Fellow's death in 1995, the 1058 was purchased and retained by the Port of Los Angeles in 1999 and featured in the Christmas Parade. However, by 2000, serious attempts were made to put the 1058 back on the rails for the new Waterfront Street Car service. Equipment was sourced from the Seashore Trolley Museum, who provided Japanese-built Baldwin trucks close-enough to what the real Tens had in service. Not only was the 1058 prepped to go back on the rails, but special attention was made to refurbish the whole car into a serviceable condition, including restored seats. After the Waterfront Red Car opened in 2003, the larger 1058 was saved for charters and special events and, thus, was rarely seen compared to the smaller Fives. It is still, today, stored at the end of what used to be the Waterfront Red Car's line in San Pedro, with representatives of the SCRM reaching out to the Port of Long Beach on being able to store and maintain the cars, including Mr. Fellow's 1058.

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, "Vol. 2 - Interurban and Deluxe Cars" by Ira L. Swett, the archives of the Southern California Railway Museum and the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society, and two RYPN articles all about the Waterfront Red Car and eulogizing Walter Abbenseth. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and I hope you like them! On Tuesday, we look at the smaller cars of the Pacific Electric as we take a gander at the Birneys, Dragons, and Submarines! 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!