Trolley Tuesday 8/10/21 - The Cars of the San Diego Electric Railway

On Thursday, we covered the general history of the San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy), a sprawling 100-or-so mile electric railway system that helped grow America's Finest City into the international port it is today. On this Trolley Tuesday, we'll be opening up the Adams Avenue Carbarn and looking at the many varied streetcars the SDERy rostered. From the usual smatterings of horsecars and cable cars, to home-grown designs and pioneering streetcars, we have it all! So sit back, ride and relax, and enjoy today's post!

  

Horsecars and Cable Cars

A fanciful "First Class" streetcar at the foot of Fifth Avenue, 1888.
(USC Libraries)

Due to the San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) predating the invention of the traction motor, horses and cables were the earliest forms of transit power in the City of Motion. The horsecars were often standard J.G. Brill products, or other similar cars from the Mahoney Brothers, Carter Brothers, and other local Californian carbuilders. The cable cars operated by the San Diego Cable Railway (and later, Citizens Traction Company) were designed similarly to the Powell Street cars in San Francisco, with an open front end and enclosed rear end combining a grip car and trailer, but oddly these were not built by the usual suspects of Mahoney or Carter, but by the Stockton Combined Harvester and Agricultural Works in 1890. Why a farming equipment company was chosen is unknown, but these cable cars were later electrified by 1896 and retired by 1901.

A San Diego Cable Railway cable car sits
outside the powerhouse turntable, 1891.
(San Diego History Center)

Early Electric Streetcars

An ERTC car outside a Victorian Home, 1889.
(San Diego History Center)

The earliest electric streetcars to run in San Diego, and thus the entire west coast, ran on November 19, 1887, on the Electric Rapid Transit Company (ERTC). The cars used a system similar to the early Los Angeles "Daft overhead system", with a rolling "troller" suspended on the wire and dragged along by the power-unit underneath, sort of like how a "trawler" dragged a fishnet behind it. It is said this is where we get the word "trolley" from, but that is subject to much dispute. Unfortunately, this unique system was plagued with issues, as the troller often hopped the wire and fell onto the car roof, taking the overhead with it and onto the waiting laps of passengers. Thankfully, there were no deaths by electrocution, but the ERTC was forced to make a statement assuring riders that "sparks from the wheels will not burn you". The ERTC later ended electric streetcar operations on December 1st, 1887, following a dispute over operations and equipment with the owner of their line (Kettner Boulevard-Old Town), the San Diego & Old Town Street Railway.

SDERy No. 1 on opening day at 5th Avenue, 1892.
(San Diego History Center)

A colorised postcard of a San Diego Electric Railway double-decker,
showing off its handsome blond-yellow colors.
(Unknown Author)

Electric traction did not return to San Diego until 1892, when the San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) made its debut on September 21 that year. Their two new Brill double-decker cars featured traction motors mounted directly to the axle and located below the floor, allowing for maximum seating space, while on the roof was a much safer and reliable trolley pole that pushed against the wire for tensioned contact. SDERy Nos. 1 and 2 caused quite the stir for the general public, as their elegant and airy style owed much to the omnibuses of England and gave the city a refined flair. Electric mania soon caught hold as the remaining railway owners (Citizens Traction Company) rebuilt their cable cars to electric power and SDERy packed their rosters with newer single-truck cars. Later, the double-decker cars were rebuilt with heavier trucks for a lower center of gravity and had the upper levels removed. They were retired by 1912.

SDERy continued to supplement their fleet with double truck "California Cars"
through the early 1900s, some of them built by ex-cable car manufacturers.
(San Diego History Center)

The Elegant Exposition Cars

Abel A. Butterworth's obituary from the San Bernardino County Sun, June 14, 1940.
(Newspapers.com)

A contemporary poster for the Panama-California
Exposition, showing off its Mission Revival architecture.
(Ranch and Coast Magazine)

Behind the SDERy was a man determined to make San Diego a world-class city, "Sugar Prince" and shipping magnate John Diedrich Spreckels (1853-1926). Much like his contemporary, Henry E. Huntington of Los Angeles' Pacific Electric Railway, Spreckels wanted his electric railway to be world-class and, thus, it needed an elegant streetcar design to give riders and visitors a flair for the fashionable. When he served as the Vice President of the Panama-California Exposition Committee, Spreckels took the opportunity to not only expand the SDERy's service, but also introduce a new class of streetcar where he had direct involvement in the design. In 1910, He and SDERy Vice President William Clayton tasked designer Abel A. Butterworth to head an engineering team to design the new car to not only meet the demand for the upcoming Exposition (which opened in 1915), but to continue serving the SDERy well after all three passed away.

A line of electric "California Cars" opens the Adams Avenue Line on August, 1907.
(San Diego History Center)

A J.G. Brill advertisement for a "summer" variant of their "convertible" streetcar.
(Mid-Continent Railway Museum)

A house in Chicago, Illinois, inspired by the "Arts and Crafts"
movement taking the US by storm in the early 1900s.
(Chicago Architecture Center)

Butterworth had two design models to work with: the "California Car" (an enclosed streetcar with open ends) and the "Enclosed Car". Similar models were built by Brill at the time and known as "Convertibles", where an all-enclosed or half-open, half-enclosed car was achieved through the addition or removal of windows and a separating bulkhead door. Butterworth's designers took advantage of the contemporary "Arts and Crafts" movement spreading through California at the time to make a car that was light and airy, with tall windows and a low center entrance that made the car more accessible and more comfortable. Inside, the cars were decorated with gold-leaf oak leaves, hand-polished cherry wood accents, solid bronze hardware like change-over seat handles, and mother-of-pearl "call stop" buttons. Their airy design also enabled them to accommodate 100 people, which came in handy with their eventual introduction to service in 1912.

San Diego "Class 1" No. 138 is on display for the
 100th Anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition.
(San Diego Historic Streetcars)

The spacious and clean interior of the "Class 1".
(Public Domain)

A "Class 1" is hounded by patrons eager to get to the 
Exposition on time, at 5th and Broadway, 1915.
(San Diego History Center)

That year, St. Louis Car Company outshopped twenty-four "Class 1" cars for the SDERy, clad in a handsome golden-cream yellow with green window frames and a grey roof. Though they could hold an absolute crush capacity of 100 people, it was not uncommon to see that limit tested as people jammed themselves into the cars. Anticipating this rush, the cars were built with "Multiple-Unit" (MU) capabilities to allow two or even three cars to run together, but this was later removed after 1923. For safety, the wheels were outfitted with steel mesh skirts to dissuade people from being mulched under the car. Passenger service was streamlined thanks to the introduction of the "Pay As You Enter" system, eliminating the need for a walking conductor, which inspired the New York Railways to create their own "P.A.Y.E" car shortly after.

A larger "Class 2" poses with its crew shortly after delivery, 1915.
(San Diego History Center)

"Class 1" No. 125 is ready to depart Mission Cliff Gardens
in this undated photo, circa late 1910s.
(Public Domain)

To say that the "Exposition Cars" were a success would be an understatement, as the cars roamed from Mission Hills down to the Mexican Border, and everywhere in-between. They formed the backbone of the SDERy fleet for almost two decades. Later orders for an additional fleet of fifty-three "Class 2s" (Nos. 185-224) were delivered in 1914 and in service by 1915. This second order was designed to be much longer than the "Class 1s", with an additional row of windows at each end and able to sit about ten to twenty more passengers. Both these classes of "Exposition Cars" continued in normal operation until 1924, when most of the original "Class 1s" were rebuilt as end-entrance, one-man-operated cars. All cars were retired by 1930, with most being one-manned, but a few (Class 2s 217-219, 221, 222, and 225) were retained due to a streetcar shortage in World War II. All were scrapped or sold off as homes by 1947.

Former SDERy "Class 1" and "2" streetcars find their new purpose as homes 
in Old Town San Diego, circa late 1940s.
(Public Domain)

I'll Have a Birney for 400, Alex

SDERy No. 301 upon delivery, 1920.
(Don Ross)

SN No. 62 (formerly SDERy No. 301) in preservation
at the Western Railway Museum, Rio Vista, CA.
(Jack Snell)

Going into the 1920s, SDERy management was interested in looking for an alternative for the Exposition Cars, despite their reputation for being designed for longevity. Spreckels had retired from running the SDERy in 1919, following his completion of the grueling and troubled San Diego & Arizona Railway, so new management deemed a replacement streetcar was absolutely necessary. The first type tried was the Birney Safety Car, with Nos. 301-325 being delivered from American Car Co. (a subsidiary of J.G. Brill) in 1920. An additional order of Birneys were delivered in 1922, Nos. 326 to 335. For one reason or another (perhaps due to their shameless cheapness), SDERy decided to dispense with their single-truck cars in favor of double-truck cars and sold their Birneys to Sacramento Northern (Nos. 301-304, 309-311) by 1925, the Stockton Electric Railway (Nos. 305-308, 312-313) the same year, and some to the Wichita Falls Railroad in Texas. Only two (Nos. 316 and 318) were retained by the SDERy until 1934.

SDERy No. 400 poses on a Frisco flatcar as it departs the American Car Co. 
factory in St. Louis, Missouri, 1923. Note the single pantograph and no trolley poles.
(Dan D. Sparks)

No. 426 is resplendent in its original yellow and mahogany
scheme as it poses outside of the Adams Street carhouse.
(Dan D. Sparks)

Following the Birneys, SDERy worked closely with American Car to design a new streetcar based on their "double-Birney" (that is, a two-truck Birney car) design, with some elements left over from the "Class 1s" and "Class 2s". Dubbed the "400s" and officially known as the "Class 3", the fifty new cars were quite low and squat, but still maintained an airiness about them that set them apart from normal double-Birneys. They were introduced in 1923 to run on the new Mission Beach Line, and were equipped with shiny new pantographs (plus a trolley pole for redundancies) instead of trolley poles to make it easier for one man to run the car. Unfortunately, despite being a successful class of streetcars, the pantographs were incredibly touchy, often collapsing and stranding the car of power (hence the extra trolley pole) and even tearing down the trolley wires on a couple occassions. As the "Class 1s" and "Class 2s" were retired, the 400s took over as the main tractive power for the SDERy into the 1930s. In 1938, due to more demand for car service, two double-Birneys were purchased off the Glendale & Montrose Railway from Los Angeles, Nos. 351 and 352, and these fit right in with the normal 400s.

SDery No. 438 advertises the Mission Beach Route while wearing two trolley poles
in this undated view along the "7" Line.
(Don Ross)

  

The PCC Cars

PCC No. 507 heads for the Union Depot in this late 1940s view, just before the end of service.
(Bob McCay) 

PCC No. 528 at the Adams Avenue carhouse, leaving for the "11" Line.
(Ralph Cantos)

Following the introduction of the 400s, the SDERy now had to face the looming eventuality of losing passengers to buses and automobiles. The introduction of SDERy's new motor coach line between National City and Chula Vista in 1921 only complicated matters and it resolved the electric railway's management to join in the new President's Conference Committee (PCC) in 1929 to help design the perfect streetcar. In order to stem the passenger numbers bleeding out, the new car had to be cheap to construct (with a monologue body instead of a body on frame), stylish in the latest art-deco finery, comfortable for passengers and operators, and able to run with just one person. Thus, the PCC Car was born in 1936 as the zenith of American streetcar design (at the time). San Diego was entitled to 28 cars as part of the PCC and, in 1937, the first generation of the PCCs arrived on the West Coast, Nos. 501 to 528. Los Angeles Railway (who was also part of the PCC) received theirs the year after.

PCC Car No. 502 is decked out in advertising banners as it waits on the Union Depot loop, 1940s.
(San Diego MTS)

A tribute-livered PCC on the Muni F Market line shows off the different slogans
one would see on the side of a SDERy streetcar.
(Market Street Railway)

"COMFORT" screams No. 524 as it navigates exiting the Union
Depot loop on the "2" Line, 1940s.
(Ralph Cantos)

The new cars also sported a new scheme for San Diego, now a lush light green with cream window bands and a dusty-brick-red roof. On the sides, text in cream boxes proclaimed the SDERy was "TOPS IN TRANSPORTATION" and advertised "COMFORT", while above the center doors read the iconic phrase, "RIDE & RELAX". In the beginning, the PCCs were also fitted with hooks for old-style dash signs to be fitted on the front, but these later went away as operators and passengers were more accustomed to the overhead destination reels. Due to San Diego's tall wires, the PCCs also had their trolley poles mounted on a metal deck similar to the Birney cars, with power pickup coming from an old-fashioned trolley wheel instead of the more-contemporary shoes. As San Diego's singular streetcar type following World War II and sale of the SDERy to National City Lines (NCL) in 1949, all but three of the PCC cars (Nos. 526-528) were transferred to the El Paso International Streetcar Line in Texas, where their story continues. The latter three were stored from 1949 to 1957 and eventually sold to an equipment dealer.

El Paso Streetcar No. 1504 is still working in January 1971 when this
photo was taken, far out of NCL's grasp and not long for service.
(Marty Bernard)

Wartime Wanderers

SDERy No. 1007, one of fifteen ex-Utah Light and
Traction cars to work in San Diego.
(Don Ross)

Due to the severe streetcar storage going into World War II, San Diego's fabulous new PCCs were not up to the task of keeping up with a workforce that now had to commute by rail rather than by car or bus. It is also thanks to San Diego's status as the United States Navy's West Coast facilities that, through an appeal to the War Production Board, the city was able to get fifty-seven "new" (to San Diego) streetcars from New York City, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Salt Lake City, Utah, to provide ample service. Nos. 1001-1014 were the first to arrive, being originally built for the Utah Light & Traction Company of Salt Lake City in 1927. These round-ended steel cars were among the newest cars fielded by the SDERy during wartime.

Ex-Wilkes Barre car No. 1016 passes some gas tanks in San Diego.
(Don Ross)

SDERy No. 1046 looks worse for wear as it's past its
sell-by date in San Diego, 1940s.
(Bill Volkmer)

The next order of cars came from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania's suburban streetcar network, Nos. 1015-1030. These were originally built by American Car in 1922 and Brill in 1926 and were similar to the SDERy's own 400-class double truck streetcars. The last order of cars arrived in June of 1942 from New York City's Third Avenue Street Railway, the city's surface streetcar line. Nos. 1031-1056 formed the largest order of cars run by the SDERy and were also the oldest cars run, being built in 1908 by Brill as "Convertible Cars". After the war ended, all of these streetcars were treated as secondary both to the SDERy and NCL, as rampant streetcar service cuts meant this enormous number of rolling stock was redundant. All but a few escaped the scrap heap, with the rest having their parts recycled.

Freight and Non-Revenue Cars

The only known photo of SDERy No. 35, a small version of
the standard Baldwin-Westinghouse steeplecab.
(Bill Volkmer)

One of the SDERy's many work cars, No. 028 is serving
as a wire greaser thanks to the extra grease hoses at the pole tip.
(Don Ross)

Among the smallest fleet of electric vehicles run by the SDERy was its freight division, with only one 1923 Baldwin-Steeplecab forming the fleet. Being delivered in 1923, No. 35's job was to switch cars for the San Diego & Arizona Railway interchange at National City and around San Diego, but its duties were quite limited. In 1941, it was sold to the Bamberger Railroad of Utah where it continued its freight duties until being scrapped in 1952. The SDERy also rebuilt many elderly passenger cars into either express cars or service tower cars, but all of these were gone by 1949 after NCL got rid of all the streetcars.

Survivors

Today, 23 cars continue to fly the flag for what was once San Diego's finest electric railway. The greatest number of survivors can be found in El Paso, Texas, where ten of the SDERy's original twenty-eight PCC cars are preserved and run by the Paso Del Norte Streetcar Preservation Society. Six (Nos. 1504, 1506, 1511, 1512, 1514, and 1515, originally SDERy Nos. 509, 512, 518, 513, 520, and 524, respectively) currently operate as part of the El Paso Streetcar heritage trolley with heavy modification from Brookville including new traction motors, control system, pantographs, and an air-conditioning system. 

A small smattering of the El Paso PCCs' three flavors, featuring cars 1504, 1512, and 1515.
(El Paso Times, Valentine Thom, David P. Jordan)

San Diego Electric Railway No. 508, undergoing
an operational restoration at the SCRM.
(Hicks Car Works)

As for the other PCC cars, two have now found their home in the Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM) of Perris, California, (Nos. 508 and 528, the former being the first streetcar to arrive following the museum's move from Traveltown in Burbank) and one now has a new home at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, California (No. 502) following a successful fundraising campaign. One (No. 503/El Paso 1503) even ended up at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum in Maryland, regauged to 5'4.5 broad gauge. The other remaining PCC cars not mentioned here are still derelict outside of El Paso's airport, awaiting further restoration or cannibalization for parts. 

The other preserved cars include four "Class 1" exposition cars, one "Class 2" exposition car, one "California" car, two wartime cars, and one Birney that went to Sacramento Northern. The Birney, now SN No. 262, can be seen running on occasion at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, who also have the body of ex-Third Avenue Street Railway No. 1043. A wood and steel composite car (known as a "box car" in New York), it was sold to Mr. Eldon Lucy in 1947 and saved from scrap, being stored in Sacramento until 1964, by which point it was stored at Rio Vista and consequently became part of the museum ten years later.

The only photo of SDERy No. 1043 (ex-TARS 436, ex-Metropolitan Railways 191) at Rio Vista.
(Western Railway Museum)

SDERy No. 167 in the SCRM's Carhouse 7. If you would
like to find out more about this specific car, as well as its progress,
please watch our museum video here.
(Hicks Car Works)

The SCRM is also home to another wartime wanderer, ex-Utah Light & Traction No. 716, in deplorable condition, but also houses one "Class 1" streetcar, No. 167, and one "Class 2" No. 201. The former is undergoing a restoration back to its original appearance, headed by volunteer, historian, and good friend of the Motorman, Danny Giles. After being retired in 1939, it was sold as a cheap, prefabricated building along with other Class 1s until San Diego barred the sale of streetcar bodies that same year and burned the unsold bodies. The SCRM acquired No. 167 in 1984 as a body and it has been undergoing restoration ever since. 

Christian Chaffee with an original body panel off of a "Class 1" car, with the inlaid gold-leaf filigree.
(San Diego Uptown News)

The restored No. 138 on display at Balboa Park.
(Chicago Tribune)

The last three "Class 1s" are privately owned by one man in San Diego, antiques dealer Christian Chaffee. Through his nonprofit, San Diego Historic Streetcars, Chaffee was able to save three "Class 1s" (Nos. 126, 128, and 138) from El Cajon, CA, after they were being threatened with demolition. He was then able to bring them to his antiques yard in San Diego and, over the next decade or so, restored one of the bodies cosmetically to original paint and interior. It was hoped he would have them ready by 2015 to run them to Balboa Park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Exposition, but in the end No. 138 was trucked in as a symbolic gesture to the site's heritage. Chaffee is currently working with the city of San Diego on a small historic streetcar line through Little Italy to run the Class 1s on, but only time will tell.

SDERy No. 54 in the San Diego History Center.
(City of National City)

SDERy No. 150's transformation into the El Carrito, 
1947 to 2018. The paint scheme has taken a more PE approach.
(PanGIS, Inc)

And finally, the last two streetcars mentioned have found special places in San Diego. One, "California Car" No. 54, is the oldest SDERy car extant, having been built by the railway itself in 1903. It is now in the care of the San Diego Historical Society and is on display in its Balboa Park museum location. The other car, "Class 2" No. 150, was not used as a home following its retirement in the 1930s. Instead, the car was transformed dramatically into a lunch-stand known as the "El Carrito", a landmark in San Diego's historic Barrio Logan that has operated for over 70 years. It continues to serve delicious burritos, sopas, and tacos, and is definitely a place worth eating at. 

Your motorman with the El Carrito, which now sports
a completely different, Hollywood Car-inspired face, 2021.
(Myself)

  

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included the archives of the San Diego Historical Society, the members and archives of the Southern California Railway Museum, the archives of the Western Railway Museum, as well as Christian Chaffee of the San Diego Historic Streetcars, the El Paso Streetcar, the El Carrito restaurant, "California's Electric Railways: An Illustrated Review" by Harre W. Demoro, "California Trolleys in Color, Volume 1: San Diego & Los Angeles" by P. Allen Copeland, and the other photo references provided in each photo caption. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Thursday, we'll keep you posted on what we do! 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!