Trolley Tuesday 3/29/21 - Los Angeles Railway's Maintenance-of-Way Equipment

Welcome to the last Trolley Tuesday post of March! Over the past month, we've seen the history and evolution of the Los Angeles Railway (LARy) and its yellow cars, from the charming antiquity of the Type "B" Huntington Standards to the ultra-modern Type "P" PCCs that closed out another of America's greatest and most iconic street railways. The LARy couldn't have lasted as long as it did, though, without the help of a dedicated fleet of "maintenance of way" (MOW) cars that kept the wires, rails, and rolling stock happy until the final days under the LAMTA. Much like the Pacific Electric's own fleet, LARy's were all shop-built and recycled from older streetcars, so let's not waste any time and get to appreciating all of these varied cars on this, the final Trolley Tuesday of March!

  

Money Train

The "Jewel Box" when first outshopped in 1906, with its
own fancy lined livery befitting its "Pay Car" status.
(Ira L. Swett)

The lowest-numbered LARy service cars, which started at No. 9000, were designated "Pay" or "Money Cars", and were used in transporting both "hard money" (coinage or dollar bills) and day receipts from the various division car houses. Car No. 9000 was the most ornate, being recycled from "old car" No. 500 in 1903, and was nicknamed the "Jewel Box" or the "Hard money" car. All shop workers eagerly awaited the arrival of the money car and, when it came once every month, it was like Christmas morning. Men would line up at the front entrance, just like the passengers used to, and walk through the car to the back entrance collecting their pay. No. 9000 lasted in pay service for only ten years, before being de-trucked and moved to the state of Howard Edward Huntington (one of Henry Huntington's sons) for use as a play-house for his children in 1913.

Pay Car No. 9001 at South Park Shops, shortly after "money car" conversion.
Note the lack of a Huntington 5-window front as well as the mesh sides.
(Ira L. Swett)

Birney "Money Car" No. 9008, shortly before retirement.
(Ira L. Swett)

Working alongside, then replacing, No. 9000 were money cars 9001-9003. Originally built as cable cars, these upgraded and electrified "California Cars" became the new pay cars in 1910 and even lasted into the advent of money checks in 1920, when the class were re-designated "Money Cars". When these old cars fell by the wayside, Type "G" Birneys Nos. 1068-1070 became Money cars No. 9006-9008 in 1929 after being stored out-of-service for four years. The "money train" program ended in 1946 when these three Birneys were scrapped, with the safe assumption being that the LARy (then the Los Angeles Transit Lines, or LATL) switched to armoured trucks shortly after. Other Birney cars served in the same "money" capacity around the same time as the second run of "Money Cars", with No. 9010 (originally Birney No. 1005) serving as a farebox repair car beginning in 1931 and No. 9009 (originally Birney No. 1001) serving as an "Economy Meter Car", auditing the electricity usage of the various division carhouses. All were gone, like the money cars, in 1946.

Flat-Packed Power

LARy No. 602 (later No. 9200) when first built.
(Ira L. Swett)

LATL No. 9200 in 1945 at Vernon Yard, with weed-killing
tanks mounted on the flatbed. If only we could do this now
at the SCRM...
(Ira L. Swett)

Among one of the LARy's most varied-use work cars were the "Power Cars" Nos. 9200-9205 and 9208-9209. These high-cabbed glorified flatcars with motors were all built by the Old Pacific Electric (PE) Shops at 7th and Central beginning in 1903 (when both companies were owned by Henry Huntington) and started out hauling dirt trains. Their duties later grew to whatever the LARy could fit on their flatbeds, including weed sprayers, ballast, and heavy work materials like streetcar parts or even crewmen. When originally built, the cars were rather flat, open and airy; when PE got later got hold of them for rebuilding, the cars gained their distinctive "tower" roofs (which PE also tried on their freight motors). No. 9200 was the first to be outshopped as LARy No. 602 in 1903, with the second, No. 603, released in 1905. Both were then renumbered into 9200 and 9201, respectively. The new cars were outfitted with heavily geared-down motors, which made them perfect for operating heavy trains of work flatcars or ballast cars, and were the only LARy cars capable of being "locomotives". 

LARy No. 9201 in brown and yellow livery in 1940,
hauling what seems to be either old wood or rocks.
(Ira L. Swett)

The infamous LARy No. 9205, the "Aviator", working on a
So Cal Edison powerhouse site in 1913.
(Ira L. Swett)

Power Car No. 9202 delivers last rites onto two
Type "C" Sowbellies" in 1947, shortly after the last
were retired from the "U" Line.
(Ira L. Swett)

For protecting their own loads, the cars were fitted with roofs that were eventually flanked by their high cabs, but some (like No. 9203 and 9204, built in 1910 and 1911 respectively) had theirs removed by 1930 for easier loading. In 1911, No. 9205 was built and quickly gained the odd nickname of "The Aviator" as it was the only car to have a flat roof while all the others had elevated roofs. Nos. 9208 and 9209 were the last Power Cars to be built in 1912 and 1913, respectively, and featured no other mechanical or body changes. For service liveries, the cars were originally painted a cream green (similar to the green used on the Type "H3" deluxe cars) as were most of the LA Railway's MOW fleet, but this later changed to yellow, and finally brown. Nos. 9200 and 9209 were the only Power Cars to wear the "Salad Bowl" scheme, and only 9209 made it past 1948 (after the others were scrapped) as its air compressor was being used for the LARy Building's elevator. 

A brilliant color photo of LATL No. 9209 at Vermont and West 8th Streets, 1950, helping a track gang
with an intersection repair project. It was the only power car operating by this point.
(Ken L. Douglas, PERYHS)

Crane Your Necks

A rear view of LATL no. 9225 at Vernon Yard. The lightbulbs
on the side are "cluster lights", meant to indicate if the unit has power.
(Ira L. Swett)

The "Big Hook", No. 9226, which wore a drab black
livery instead of a yellow, brown, or even green.
(Ira L. Swett)

Joining No. 9209 in LATL operation was No. 9225, a shop-built "derrick car" built by the LARy in 1912. Sharing the same construction style as the power cars, the most noteworthy feature about the crane was the Whiting Foundry Equipment Co. five-ton derrick mounted on the rear of the car with the crane powered by electricity. Its primary duties were both as a wrecking crane (helping derailed cars back onto the tracks and lifting damaged ones away) and as a parts schlepper at both Vernon Yard and South Park Shops. In 1914, No. 9225 was joined by "store-bought" crane No. 9226, a Brown Hoist Company 31-foot boom "Big Hook". Like its companion, No. 9226 was also self-propelled with a trolley pole, and it remained the largest piece of service rolling stock operated by the LARy. No. 9226 lasted until the abandonment of the 5 Line, which also meant the loss of its home carhouse on Division Four, and it was sent for scrap in 1956. No. 9225 on the other hand lasted into LATL, then LAMTA paints as it helped to construct the "S" Line loops in 1958 and bring down the tracks at the Division Four carhouse. It remained in storage after 1962.

Material Cars and Wreckers

Material Car No. 9300, seen here at Division Four Shops, is every bit "Utilitarian" as its duties.
(Ira L. Swett)

The aptly named "Material" cars served the same duties as the "Power" cars, but at a much smaller scale. Almost all built from old PE and LARy horsecars, they were basically "a truck, motors, controllers, ends, and a roof" (Swett, Walker, 257). The material cars were numbered 9300-9307 and 9309, and came from all walks of life from original Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway rosters, to PE, to even old LARy. Some, like No. 9302, were even built by heavily-underrepresented car builders like LaClede by the time it was converted into a material car in 1906. Despite information about these cars as being sketchy or scarce, they were usually found puttering around the South Park Shops or between any of the Division carhouses carrying parts in the yard. 

LARy's first "Emergency Car", No. 999 "Nancy", in 1902.
(Ira L. Swett)

Working alongside them were the five "Emergency Cars" at every Division Carhouse, Nos. 9400-9404. The basic duties of these cars were to run back and forth from Vernon Yard to South Park Shops and their carhouses, taking newly-delivered streetcars to be fitted out for service at the shops and then delivering them to their new Division Home. The first car, originally No. 999, was an adorable single-truck 1891 trolley car that crews named "Nancy"; by 1898, however, her limits were soon surpassed as equipment was getting larger and larger, so another double-bogie passenger car (No. 998) was rebuilt as Division Three "Emergency Car" No. 9400. "Nancy" was renumbered 9401 and saw diminished use as more cars soon joined the fleet. In 1907, Nos. 9402 and 9403 were stationed at Divisions One and Two, respectively, with 9403 fitted with "high speed gearing" (Swett, Walker, 268) to be able to cover most of the system's extremities in adequate time. No. 9404 became the Division Four wrecker in 1912 after being purchased from the PE in the wake of the Great Merger, while the newer No. 9401 entered service in 1920 as the Division Five wrecker. All of these cars were retired in 1948 and 1951.

LARy No. 9404 really shows its PE heritage through its 5-window design, which was similarly
found on box motors and MOW cars on the bigger interurban system.
(Ira L. Swett)

The Nightly Grind

LARy No. 9311, clad in yellow and black, at Vernon Yard.
One of the two hand-operated levers can clearly be seen.
(Ira L. Swett)

One of the noisiest pieces of equipment to run on the LARy, Nos. 9310 and 9311 were built by the South Park Shops in 1916 beginning with No. 9311. When built, it was was originally a streetcar trailer which then became a motorized service car in 1903, then an open-bench car for baseball game service in 1914, and then a rail grinder in 1916. As a grinder, the car helped ease all of the intense rail corrugations left behind by braking streetcars and was primarily seen working at night when traffic was low and everyone else was asleep. Water drums were used, both as ballast for the little car, and to splash some water on the rails to eliminate any harmful sparks. To apply the heavy carborundum blocks against the rails, No. 9311 employed hand-operated levers, which one can imagine did a number on the workman's arms. No. 9311 was later scrapped in 1939.

A newly-built No. 9310 is handsomely displayed at Vernon Yard.
The kerosene marker light was later replaced by twin dash sign lights,
while the front side door was later boarded over and made inside-entrance only.
(SCRM)

LATL No. 9310 in later years, with
all lights on per "night mode".
(SCRM)

In 1925, the LARy ordered another rail grinder from the South Park Shops, and the carpentry department really came through with this one. No. 9310 was much shorter and stockier than 9311, with a taller frame, shorter length, and a handsome round roof matching some of the streetcars. Even its frosted glass "Emergency Car" sign set it apart from other MOW cars. Its duties were the same, running back and forth slowly to get rid of the corrugations on the rails caused by frequently-stopping streetcars, but now its abrasive blocks were applied by wheels instead of levers. 9310 was affectionally nicknamed the "Termite Squasher" by the Los Angeles Times, and was almost always a common fixture of nighttime streetcar operations. A popular story goes that track workers would often stop at a local liquor store while on duty and drink the night away, only to hide the offending hooch in the 55-gallon water drums if a division supervisor (or a narc) would be driving by. No. 9310 later received other upgrades like front dash sign lights to better make itself known to nighttime motorists, and worked at the nightly grind all the way until the end of the LAMTA in 1963, joining Power Car 9209 and Crane Car 9225 as the oldest running cars on the system.

LATL 9310 when first restored and in use at the Southern California Railway Museum, 1974.
If you would like to learn more about this specific tiny guy, I also starred in a museum video about it.
(Ray Ballash, SCRM)

Towers of Power

LARy No. 9350 hard at work repairing a section of
overhead on the "5" Line in 1939. Note the full deck
and the tall tower, which made for lovely views if
one is not acrophobic like I am.
(Ira L. Swett)

Of course, rail maintenance is one thing, but how else are you going to keep that all-important overhead maintained? This is where the "tower cars" come in, of course, and Cars No. 9350-9352 served as the line's dutiful wire maintainers from 1907 all the way to 1963. The first, No. 9350, was built at the South Park Shops' carpentry department and, like their other wooden cars, was a fantastic piece of wooden engineering. Featuring baggage-style doors on either side for effective equipment loading and two insulated wooden towers, the car was a veritable rolling workshop for everything electric wire. Two more cars joined the 9350's catenary crusades, starting in 1912 with No. 9351, originally a rebuilt Power Car No. 9202. Unlike 9350, the car featured one central tower and no sides to it, which it kept until retirement in 1954. The last tower car, No. 9352, was originally a materials car and rebuilt to the same standard as 9351 (open sides, central tower). This car was later sold in 1939 to a private party, but its existence is now unknown. 

LARy Tower Car No. 9351, originally Power Car No. 9202.
Like 9350, it later received a full-roof deck to compensate for its single tower.
(Ira L. Swett)

LATL No. 9351 in later condition, with the full-deck roof, next to a 
being-scrapped Sowbelly, 1946.
(Robert T. McVey, SCRM)

LATL No. 9350 is "ON THE JOB!" in early 1957,
en route to another wire job along Broadway Blvd.
(SCRM)

As for 9350, the car's history after it was built was (appropriately) full of highs and lows. Some time after being put into service, an accident knocked off one of the two towers aboard and the car became a one-tower car from that point on. As a consolation, it received a full-wooden roof deck in 1932, along with Westinghouse air brakes. It continued to serve as the main wire car into LATL, then LAMTA ownership, going from green to yellow-brown, then to the LATL "Salad Bowl" livery. It was not uncommon to see the car hobnobbing with PCCs either on the street or at Vernon Yard where it and all the other remaining MOW cars were stored. Its last use came in 1962, when it was then put into storage.

If you'd like to see more of the 9350, inside and out, I've also
hosted another museum video detailing its history specifically.
(Tales from the Rails)

One-Stop Shop Switcher

Itty-Bitty 9550 in LATL colors, October 13, 1946.
(Robert T. McVey, SCRM)

By far the tiniest car on the LA Railway System, No. 9550 served its entire service life from 1904 to 1959 at the South Park Shops. Its primary duty was as a transfer table tractor, pushing cars on and off into the various workshop entrances. According to Ira L. Swett, the car only ventured outside the shops exactly once in 1907, when it was sent to save a Los Angeles & Redondo (LA&R) car detailed at Jefferson and Main in the middle of rush hour. Due to its diminutive size and modest power (50HP per axle, or 100HP overall), the 9550 couldn't get the LA&R car back to South Park Shops on its own and had to be assisted by Emergency Car 9403. It seemed very happy to just be moving side to side all day though, especially since the car lasted into LATL, then LAMTA service. Its last usage came in 1959, by which point it was still retained by LAMTA to help move buses on and off the transfer table (probably by a drawbar but I like to imagine it gently nudging the buses into line).

Don't Call These Freight Cars

LARy Power Car No. 9204 is seen with two flatcars on the "V" Line at
Vermont and Santa Barbara (now MLK Blvd), 1940s.
(Steve Armitage, PERYHS)

The twin surviving LARy flat cars at
the SCRM, Nos. 9614 and 9615.
(Light Rail Products)

Finally, we've reached the last railway cars worth mentioning on the LARy. Between 1904 and 1924, the railway built a number of different narrow-gauge standard flatcars to suit various needs all around the systems and the carhouses. The smallest were four-wheeled flats built from McGuire truck frames (two of which were old parade floats) and were used for cross-Division cargo, delivering barrels of oil and axles among other things. The larger flatcars, built of redundant trolley trucks without the motors, were used for carrying rail, crane parts, and other construction and maintenance equipment behind the Power Cars. These flatcars even featured little old-style people-catchers on the ends of the trucks, just to be safe. Despite the possibility of local freight service, LARy never leapt at the chance to do any of it (probably to not compete with PE freight service) and the flat cars remained in non-revenue MOW service only. Fourteen of these flat cars were later built with stakes and sides, becoming "Side Dump" cars.

Preserved Examples

Future museum members LAMTA 9225, 9310 and 9350 await transport
to their new home at the Orange Empire Trolley Museum, 1963.
The paint scheme hasn't changed, only the logos.
(Metro Library and Archive)

Power Car No. 9209 is hauled out by Crane No. 9225
during the SCRM's July 2020 "Streetcar Shuffle" to
get Type "M" No. 2602 into Barn 1 from Barn 3.
(Myself)

As you can imagine, the Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM) is now home to all of the remaining MOW fleet, which consists of one crane car (9225), two tower cars (9350 and 9351), one rail grinder (9310), one Power Car (9209), one shop switcher (9550), two flatcars (9614 and 9615), and a unique "Keystone Digger". The latter is an electrically-operated crawler machine, good for digging up piles of rubble and streetcar tracks alike. Of the items listed, all were purchased off the LAMTA in varying degrees from 1960 to 1963, and only 9225 and 9350 currently run on very rare occasions. The two LARy flatcars currently sit on display within the loop line, outside of the standard-gauge Barn 2. Nos. 9351 and 9550 currently live in Barn 3 and have no plans to be restored to operation (even cosmetically), while Nos. 9209 and 9310 have undergone restoration before but sit unused in the back of Barn 1. Nevertheless, almost all disciplines of railway maintenance of the LARy have been preserved, and it is hoped one day they can be on display, celebrating an often-overlooked but massively important part of streetcar operation.

Even in preservation, the tiny little "Termite Squasher" isn't free from fans,
as it is visited by a 1" scale representation of it on August 29, 2020.
(Myself)

  

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included "The Yellow Cars of Los Angeles" by Ira L. Swett and Jim Walker, the archives and members of the Southern California Railway Museum, and the archives of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On next Tuesday, we finally step out of Los Angeles and into San Francisco as we look at the history of the San Francisco cable car! 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!