Trolley Tuesday 3/9/21 - The Los Angeles Railway Type A "Maggies" and Type B "Huntington Standards"

Henry Huntington prided his electric lines to have a bit of familiarity and class among the citizens of Los Angeles, and so his shop crews always strove for some kind of standardization. The biggest factor in standardization was the iconic "Huntington Standard" window design, a five-window front with curved corner glass that not only was quite complex to manufacture, but provided a uniquely-refined air to both the Pacific Electric (PE) and the Los Angeles Railway (LARy) that no other streetcar company could match. On the LARy, the "Huntington Standard" design was found on their standard line of wooden "California Cars", the Type "A" (also known as the "Maggies") and the Type "B" (Huntington Standards), of which hundreds were seen rolling through the hills and valleys of the City of Angels at all times. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's take a balmy ride aboard a Huntington Standard as we appreciate these fine antique cars.

  

Wooden Wonders

An original LA Railway shop drawing of a "type B", in 1930 condition.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

A California Street cable car that
birthed many electric derivatives.
(SFMTA)

Now, you might be wondering before we even get started, "What's a California Car?". Well, dear reader, do sit down on that bench seat there and I'll explain. When Huntington's engineers began designing a new standard streetcar, careful consideration was given to the weather conditions the cars were going to be operating in. Due to the lack of any loops until the late 1930s, it was obvious that the new cars were going to be double-ended, but Los Angeles' famously-consistent Mediterranean climate gave the designers a chance to take inspiration from San Francisco MUNI's California Street cable car. These cars had one enclosed section in the center and two open areas on either end, letting passengers take in the warm weather as they saw fit and giving rise to the type nickname of "California Cars". Of course, should it ever rain in Los Angeles (as if that happens), passengers could still huddle in the relatively-cramped protection of the center section. These cars were popular on both the PE and LARy, but it was the LARy that carried the design to legendary status among electric railway enthusiasts.

  

Standard and Deliver

Los Angeles Railway No. 823 (built by American
Car Company in 1912) shows off its "as built" look,
with flat mesh sides, no doors, and original multi-tier
destination sign.
(SCRM)

The first thirty Type "B"s were outshopped by the St. Louis Car Company of St. Louis, MO, in 1903 and featured plenty of advancements over the LARy's then-fleet of older converted cable cars, some of which were rebuilt to fit the new car's designs. As originally built, the 40-foot cars featured all-mesh sides on either end up to the belt rail, non-opening windows, no doors, and a single center pole upon the clerestory roof. The cars were delivered without controllers, motors, or brake equipment, which meant the LA Railway was in charge of not only design, but also fitting out the cars to meet their specifications. The most modern feature of the Type B's as they were finished by the LARy were their new electric air compressors, which were able to build up brake pressure faster over the old axle-driven air compressors that often needed ten miles of running for a good working pressure. The trucks, as well, were to a brand-new design between St. Louis Car and the LARy, and featured one motor per truck and outside-slung brakes (compared to inside the truck like on most streetcars) as well as 30" wheels on a 5'3" wheelbase, enabling a swift turn of speed while also taking the tightest of corners. 

An unidentified LA Railway Type "B" is photographed with its crew in 1906.
(Unknown Author)

LARy B1 No. 361 is photographed for company
purposes at South Park Shops in 1930. Note the 
destination headboards.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

In service, the cars were a definite success over their predecessors, with their relatively enormous working capacity of 36 seated passengers making them the LARy's go-anywhere car. These cars were also fitted with early cowcatcher-style safety fenders slung under the car and removable headlights that crews had to switch over at every terminus. The lack of any doors on the car (minus the enclosed section), was due to the cars operating so slow and so frequently that not having doors in the first place meant there could be faster boarding times. This practice soon changed in 1910 with the advent of the first "Pay As You Enter" (PAYE) cars on the LARy system, as the Type B's were rebuilt with two poles and mesh gates, along with the mesh sides being replaced with sheet metal, giving them a more robust appearance. The cars further changed in 1917, gaining new interior lights and wooden doors in place of mesh gates and some were lengthened to 45 feet to add an additional row of seats on either end for an upgraded capacity of 54 people. The final major rebuild for most of the Standards was in 1926-1927, when the cars were upgraded from two motors to four motors, designating these as the Type "B1".

  

Variants on a Standard B

"Interurban Standard" No. 633 at South Park Shops, its destination board reading "Eagle Rock".
(Ira L. Swett)

With so many rebuilds and updates of the now seven-hundred-forty-seven Type B's running around Los Angeles, one-off experiments by the LA Railway were soon bound to follow. Among the first major upgrades were the "Interurban Standards", where between 1913-1915, cars 620-659 gained full-wooden sides with single doorways at both ends, removing the PAYE system in favor of an Ohmer Fare Register, illuminated destination signs, end lamps, and illuminated steps, and multiple-unit controls (which were only ever found on one other type of LA Railway car, the Type H). These were designated Type "B6", and only worked on the longer lines like from Inglewood and Eagle Rock (the "5" Line, some 20 miles). These cars were later un-rebuilt by December, 1922, becoming normal B1 types.

LARy No. 460 represents the "B3" type, with only 
four windows compared to five.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

Types "B3", "B4", and the later "B6" (after the interurban types above) represented the rebuilt Huntington Standards, as they lacked the enormous center-window found on the "B1" and "B2" (which had only six seats on either end compared to the "B1"). These three cars were mostly ex-Main Street & Agricultural Park "California Car" cable cars dating from 1898 and rebuilt to better match the other Standards in equipment and design. Due to their age, most of these cars were retired by 1940 after being bumped again and again from main, then secondary lines. 

Other one-off B types included "The Observation Car", an ex-Pacific Electric mesh-side car obtained in the Great Merger of 1911 that ran until 1951, "arch roof standards" Nos. 326 and 864 (which are pretty self explanatory, and were the pattern for the later Type "F" arch roof car), and Type "B8" No. 271, which was the only all-enclosed Standard ever built with windows installed in the previously-open sections. Despite the passengers loving the car for its quiet and comfort, it remained a one-off and was eventually retired in 1938 to be used as a storehouse at Division Five carhouse. One final significant rebuild to mention for the Huntington Standards was the 1913 "Sowbelly" rebuild, where fifteen cars were rebuilt as arched-roof center-entrance cars, but that's a story for another time...

"All-Enclosed" No. 271 poses for its shop photo in 1930.
(Ira L. Swett)

LA Railway No. 525 demonstrates the "BG" rebuild of the
Standards, with pneumatic doors, folding steps, and a swanky
white and yellow paint scheme. It's seen here on the "10" line
at West Vernon in 1942.
(Jeffrey J. Moreau, SCRM)

In November 1932, all remaining four-motor Standards (Types B1 and B2) were rebuilt into the Type "B10", an all-encompassing heavy rebuild program that converted the cars to one-man/two-man operation (enabling the car to operate with a single motorman or a motorman with conductor) that also added longer steps on either end, modified brake valves, and and farebox stanchions to facilitate one-man operation. One of the more unique aspects of the rebuild was a window-stopper on the center window that only allowed it to open just a crack, dissuading free transit riders from sneaking in through the back of the car. Type "B11" was the same, but only differed from the "B10" by having sideways seating in the enclosed section compared to the "B10"'s five rows of change-over seats. In 1937, all of these cars were folded into Type "BF" as they were rebuilt with folding steps, deadman controls, and pneumatic doors with "sensitive edges" that could sense if someone got snagged in the doors. Type "BG" was the same, but had end-facing seating rather than sideways seating.

LATL No. 619 is eased out of the Division One Carhouse
at Central and 7th. Other Bs (453 and 430) wait with a steel
H-type car, while a trolley bus waits for 619 to clear, late 1940s.
(Jack Finn, PERYHS)

Despite the advent of newer cars like the steel "H" types and the PCCs, and the new management under Los Angeles Transit Lines (LATL) the wooden Standards kept working as they had so dutifully done, cared for by the South Park Shop force as well as their loyal division carhouse crews. The only major upgrade that some cars received was a new blunt safety fender to match the PCC's new design, giving the cars a flat, austere look to them. Other Standards maintained their folding Eclipse safety fenders, and steady work was found on the "U" Line from Nevin to West Adams. When this line closed, many of these wooden cars found themselves out of work and remaining in storage at the Division Carhouses until 1951, when mass scrapping began. Out of the seven-hundred-forty-seven Type "B" Standards to be built or modified, only eight have survived.

Los Angeles Transit Lines No. 490 models the final look of the Type B's,
with their blunt, blocky passenger people catchers and "Salad Bowl" scheme.
By this time, the Type Bs were primarily used on railfan charters.
(Bill Volkmer, Don Ross)

  

The Maggies

LA Railway "Maggie" No. 6, as built fresh from the South Park Shops.
(Ira L. Swett, SCRM)

The magnetic track brakes on the "Maggies". The system
was also trialed on the larger Type "C" "Sowbellies", but
they didn't work on larger cars.
(Jeffrey J. Moreau, SCRM)

Despite coming in later to the LA Railway system in 1911, many of the Type "A" cars predated the Type "B"s on the LARy, originally being single-trucked "Shorty" cars built by Pullman in 1896 after the railway's reorganization under Henry Huntington. By 1904, the cars were rebuilt into small California cars (35 feet long compared to the Type "B"'s 45 feet). By far, the most interesting thing about the Type "A"s were their magnetic track brakes, leading to the nickname "Maggies". Like most brake technology at the time, the magnetic brakes were quite experimental. They had the upside of needing no brake charging, eliminating the need for an axle air pump, but were consequently dependent entirely on keeping the pole on the wire to maintain effective brake force. Without the wire, and with no batteries to hold any charge, brake failure on a Maggie was a terrifying (and inevitable) occurrence.

The twin control stands aboard the Maggies, with the main
controller at left and the brake controller at right.
(Jeffrey J. Moreau, SCRM)

Los Angeles Railway "Maggie" No. 7 on the "I" Line
at Beverly and Bonnie Brae, 1939.
(Jeffrey J. Moreau, SCRM)

Nevertheless, the fifty-nine Maggies (made up of the old Pullman "shorties" as well as some ex-Pacific Electric cars obtained in the Great Merger) worked well through the 1910s on smaller lines, with the most popular of their services being on the "I" line between Beverly/Bonnie Brae (now Filipinotown) and 1st/Broadway. Due to this line's steep hills descending into downtown, the Maggies saved on brake shoes, but nobody ever thought to ever give them any regenerative braking (perhaps because that technology was still far away from being invented). After 1923, only eight Maggies (nos. 1-8) were left in service on the "I" line, as the Type "G" Birney car had taken their work on smaller suburban and crosstown shuttle lines. One Maggie, no. 18, was later rebuilt as "Type F" car No. 1160 in 1923, an arch roof class of car patterned after LA Railway Nos. 326 and 864.

The wreck site of Maggie No. 4, featuring an "X" where she hopped the track and an arrow
to show what she struck as she bounced across Hill Street.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

A closeup of miserable Maggie No. 4, resting at the
bottom of 1st and Hill Street.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

The end of the Maggies (and the "I" Line) came on a tragic day in 1939, which also demonstrated the inherent danger of the Maggies' primitive braking system. As it was coming Eastbound from Beverly/Bonnie Brae, Maggie No. 4's pole came off the wire just as it was about to crest one of the last hills on the line down to Hill Street. For some reason, the motorman neglected to notice the loss of magnetic braking until halfway down, with the car now speeding along at a vicious 45 miles per hour and rising. In a valiant effort, he began cranking the hand brake to slow the car down enough, but it was too late. At the intersection, No. 4 bounced off the tracks, skidded sideways, and hit a pole broadside, enough to crumple little wooden car. By some miracle, only 8 people were injured but the car was not worth saving and was scrapped on the spot. LA Railway was so chilled by the encounter that all other Maggies were immediately retired, and the I Line closed a couple months later.

Two Maggies join three Standards in waiting out the inevitable end at Vernon Yard, 1943.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

  

Hollywood Comes Calling

Maggies 7 (left) and 1 (right) almost mangle the Kops in a film from 1918.
As the man seen dangling on the wire can warn you, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!
(Silent Locations)

Oliver Hardy (left) and Stan Laurel (right) earn the ire
of an LA Railway motorman in a still from "Hog Wild", 1930.
(Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer)

Both the Maggies and the Standards were fixtures of old Hollywood, as much of the nascent film industry was centered around the Southland. The Maggies found film immortality in the early comedy troupe, the "Keystone Kops", where they cameoed in a 1918 film that had cars No. 1 and 7 squishing a Model T Ford between them, collecting some of the Kops along the way. The Type Bs also found their time in the limelight, with a famous still image of two squishing another Model T coming from Laurel and Hardy's Hog Wild from 1930, later replicated at the old Petersen Automotive Museum. One other famous scene featuring the LARy with more prominence can be found in the 1936 Three Stooges short, False Alarms. In one scene, stooge Curly Howard is sent out to unreel a hose onto a city street that is then sliced in half by a passing Huntington Standard No. 400, three times! Such was the ubiquity of the Type Bs that, upon retirement in 1948, No. 665 was purchased by Twentieth Century Fox for use as a film prop, representing a "vintage" trolley car.

Here comes No. 400 to make Curly Howard's day a nightmare...

...and back again to complete the scene.

Curly Howard narrowly avoids being hit by No. 400 again,
travelling the wrong way up Larchmont Ave. to Melrose Ave.
This was shot on what used to be the LARy "H" Line.
(Columbia Pictures)

  

Survivors

LA Railway No. 525 heads back to Carhouse 1 after
a day of carrying museum visitors.
(Metro The Source)

Today, eight Type "B"s and one (technically two) Type "A"s survive in preservation, all in varying conditions. The biggest number of cars are located at the Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM) in Perris, California, which houses Type "B" Nos. 525, 665, 744, 823, and 836, as well as Type "A" No. 7 and Type "F" No. 1160. Of the seven cars listed, No. 525 can be seen in occasional operation, representing a rebuilt Type "BG" in 1931 condition, while Nos. 665 (a type B1) and 1160 are both operable but are either undergoing restoration or require restoration. No. 525 was first preserved by the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park, CA, following its 1955 retirement until 1959 when the Orange Empire Trolley Company (now the SCRM) moved to their new location.

LA Railway No. 665 at the 20th Century Fox Malibu Canyon Ranch,
showing off a fake movie roadname for "Heffernan Transit" in 1967.
The people around her are all early SCRM volunteers.
(SCRM)

Now restored to near-Type "B" condition, 665 emerges
from Carhouse 1 on a night photo charter.
(John Smatlak, SCRM)

Car No. 665 was purchased by Twentieth Century Fox in 1948 and was used in plenty of film productions at their Malibu Canyon Ranch until 1967, when the SCRM purchased the car and transported it to their museum. 665 became a regular operator at the museum, representing a normal Type "B" with its non-folding steps and wooden doors. After 2012, the car was placed into the SCRM's Barn 3 for extensive rebuilding and restoration. This has involved new wooden and steel panels, repainted interiors, new destination roll signs, and refurbished motors and controllers, complete with shining controls. It is hoped that in the next couple of years, the car returns to limited service with No. 525.

LARy Type "F" No. 1160, as built as LARy "Maggie" No. 18, in 1913 at Edgware Road.
(Jeffrey J. Moreau, SCRM)

LATL No. 1160 gets a rare glimpse of sunlight as it's
moved around during the SCRM's "Streetcar Shuffle"
in July, 2020.
(SCRM)

No. 1160 was originally Maggie Type "A" No. 18, and was rebuilt between February 26 and October 25, 1923, to become one of sixteen Type "F"s as part of an improvement program for old Standard Cars. These cars received arched roofs as well as an increase in size (spanning 48 feet long, among the longest cars on the fleet). Besides that, they were about the same with the Type "B"s and lasted just short, being all retired in 1950 and stored at Division One. Car No. 1160 was sold to the Southern California Electric Railroad Association (SC-ERA) in 1953 and followed the SCRM's move from Travel Town to Perris in 1959. It can still move under its own power, but needs internal refurbishment. Its estranged sister, No. 7, was purchased as a body in 1966 and is currently under cover in the museum's backlot.

The body of LARy "Maggie" No. 7, before it had a tarp pulled over it.
(Ray Long, SCRM)

The bodies of LA Railway Nos. 733 and 860 at the Old Pueblo Trolley carhouse.
Note the standard gauge trucks under the one on the left.
(Cactus Catz)

Ex-LATL No. 525 at the Seashore Trolley Museum
in Kennebunkport, ME, as of May 2017.
(Myself)

The other three Huntington Standards are in varying condition. When Type "B-2" No. 521 was retired in 1952, the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, Maine, purchased the car and have since placed it on static display inside one of their carbarns. The car still maintains its ex-LATL livery but is in dire need of restoration. Due to the museum being a majority-standard gauge collection, any chance for its restoration is unlikely. The other two cars, nos. 733 and 860, are said to be under the care of the Old Pueblo Trolley of Tucson, Arizona, but only exist as bodies. Only time will tell if the organization is able to restore them as well.

  

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 Jim Walker and Ira L. Swett, the archives of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society, the Southern California Railway Museum of Perris, CA, The Water and Power Associates Archives, and the Metro Library and Archives. Additional acknowledgements go out to the Old Pueblo Trolley of Tucson, Arizona, and the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, Maine. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be distributed on request. On Tuesday, 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!