Before 1902, much of the Southeastern Puget Sound was home to logging and port boom towns served by a single railroad: The
(NP). Since the days of robber baron Jay Cooke, his two successors, Henry Villard and Robert Harris, and even into its ownership through James Hill by 1901, the railroad had been trying to push for a direct route to Puget Sound instead of following the Columbia River through Oregon and entangling itself in Union Pacific territory. Trains would not reach Puget Sound's shores until May 1888, involving the boring of the nearly-2-mile Stampede Pass Tunnel in Kalama, Washington. However, the railroad was not met with open arms, especially in the White River Valley lying between Tacoma and Seattle. The NP held near-complete control over local transport as they displaced traditional horse-and-wagons on muddy roads, which left many passengers and supplies unable to afford the new higher fares and freight rates. Coupled with the giant Seattle fire of 1889 and the Panic of 1893, city officials were left looking for alternatives.
Construction Confounderies
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An early NP passenger train service between Seattle and Tacoma, 1908.
(Tacoma Public Library) |
As construction began in mid-May 1901, some people had reservations about the rapid transit displacing steam and steamboat lines. The railroads, "in high-minded style", proclaimed in newspapers that "They will go on just the same," (Wing, 13) which just about left everyone relieved. In the meantime, as the line stretched down to Stewart's Point, steam locomotives were running on the new interurban to test the track by October 1901. This stirred up more anxiety in the population, fearing the NP was trying to gain another route to Seattle through them. While electric poles went up into late 1901 and 1902, with a running voltage of 500V DC with three substations driving both wire and third-rail, death also struck construction management and momentarily halted all work. John Hale, the original contractor, forced a total halt in January as he was losing money. After being reimbursed by the bonding company, however, he died in March due to typhoid fever. Stone & Webster of Boston, the new holders of the Seattle Electric interurban, as well as the streetcars in Seattle and Tacoma by 1901, got through to the bonding company and construction resumed shortly after.
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An early Seattle Electric car built by Brill, spotted at 15th and Aloha in 1903.
(Seattle Municipal Archives) |
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A PSE train photographed in Kent, Washington, in 1925. Note the
difference in car lengths, the lead car being 50 feet long and the
rear cars only being 42 feet, 6 inches.
(White River Valley Museum) |
August 1902 saw the testing of the new third-rail system using one of the new Brill Interurban cars, No. 500. The test went off a success from Van Asselt Station to Riverside (with return), with a trackspeed of 55 mph held, but unfortunately after the test, several crewmen were shocked so hard "as if struck by lightning" in Kent following an accidental power activation in Seattle. Two of the interurbans were also damaged during delivery and had to be sent back to Brill, but officials reported this would not delay the opening. September 14 saw the inauguration of service from Seattle to Renton, not all the way but still a healthy demonstration of service with a 15-cent fare. That same day, company officials were taken on the full route to Tacoma. Upon deeming the line satisfactory, the Seattle Electric made its first revenue run on the whole line on September 25, with the first service departing Tacoma at 6:15AM and departing Seattle at 6:50AM. Over a total of 22 stops along its 36 1/2 miles of track, the new service was a success (until it had to be cut back from 1st and Pike to 1st and Yesler due to the two-percent grade on 1st Street being too much.)
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A complete map of the Puget Sound Electric Railway's mainline between Seattle and Tacoma, with
the proposed Puyallup branch and the branch line to Renton shown.
(Andrew Filer) |
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Seattle's Interurban Building at 102 Occidental Way S. The building
served as the PSE's northern terminus from 1904 to 1928.
(Paul Dorpat) |
Two big changes then happened over the next two months. On October 7th, an unladen test train set a speed record when it traveled seven miles in six minutes, with the stretch between Kent and Auburn hitting more than a mile a minute. The speed record also meant that the new interurbans also hit the passenger ships hard, with the faster service leaving the slower ferries in the dust (even with the ferries' severe 75% cuts on passenger rates.) The other big change occurred on November 23rd, 1902, Thanksgiving Day, when the Seattle-Tacoma Electric Railway was incorporated as the
Puget Sound Electric Railway (PSE). Its headquarters were moved from Kent to Tacoma on Occidental Street and, as such, the company felt more at home in Tacoma than it did in Seattle. Once the initial novelty of the interurban had died down and passenger numbers shrank to normal operating levels, the PSE could now hunker down and establish itself as a lifeline of Puget Sound.
The Foul Stench of Electric Line Politics
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The Alaskan Yukon Exposition Grounds, 1909.
(Historylink.org) |
On June 1, 1909, President William Howard Taft officially opened the "Alaska Yukon Exposition" in Seattle while not being there at all. Thanks to the wonders of electricity and its rapid expansion through power stations and in communities across the United States, a mere push of a button across the whole country could make the city of Seattle light up like Van Gogh's Starry Night. Even the Puget Sound Electric Railway (PSE) was getting into the swing of things, experiencing the highest ridership since its opening ferrying people to and from the fairgrounds. Jacob Furth, president of the
Puget Sound Traction, Light and Power Company (a holding conglomerate that handled all electric utilities in the area), decided that despite the exposition patronage, the PSE was not bringing in enough money. To remedy this, he proposed a new fare rate of 2 cents per mile, equivalent to main line railroads. (Wing, 38) In 2020 dollars, this would be 56 cents (and we all know how pricey some transit passes are already), so people naturally took arms against this in a time when you were generally earning a dollar per day.
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Jacob Furth, 1900.
Totally succeeding in Movember.
(Alfred D. Bowen) |
Not only were citizens involved in the squabble, but land developers took their side as well due to thinking the interurban company was stiffing them on land value. One developer from Kent, C.W. Horr, recommended the small town annex itself to take control of the interurban fares, while C.D. Hillman, another developer, promised to "spend his last dollar, if necessary" to bring PSE in line. (Wing, 38) The
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (The Milwaukee Road, or MILW) and
Northern Pacific were also contacted as freight aid, hoping their main line operations could foot the cost of PSE operations rather than dump it on the passengers. The State Railway Commission (SRC) finally stepped in on March 1910 to force the PSE to return the rates back down, finding them "unjust, unreasonable, and expensive." (Wing, 38) The owners, Stone & Webster, determined "street railways were declining" as a means to justify their rate increases. By the next year, PSE's 1910 gross earnings were about 20% or so above their earnings in 1909, spread over 208 employees with $192,120 paid in wages. It seemed the rate increases worked.
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A political cartoon from the Electric Railway Journal in 1908, mocking Seattle citizens who protested
the PSE's fare increases by giving them nothing to complain about.
(Smithsonian Libraries) |
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Passengers make room for a PSE train stopping at Kent, undated.
(I Love Kent) |
Unable to let things go, lawyers representing the PSE took the SRC to court in 1913 to protest the rate lowering, arguing their return on investment "should be more like 7%" rather than the "1%" they were already receiving. (Wing, 39) The public didn't buy it, especially when fares in some areas jumped from 15 to 40 cents, one-way. Many people who moved out of Seattle into smaller towns like Tukwila were now moving back up and taking business with them. Despite the protests, the sit-ins, the political cartoons and the faked losses from supposed new bus traffic, the PSE continued on into the 1910s as best they could. The Exposition may have provided them increased patronage enough to gauge if they could made a profit on it (which they did, $1.5 million by 1913), but this was also be the highest point for PSE. Unfortunately, much like all threatened interurbans at this time, things went downhill from here.
Accidents Happen, Now And Again
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A PSE railroad crossing in Edgewood, 1920.
(Historylink.org) |
The biggest hits to the PSE came, literally, through some rather grisly collisions. On December 26, 1906, Train 3 to Tacoma hit a gravel train in Edgewood, giving the company the dubious achievement of first fatalities. Motorman Guyer, Conductor Ross, and one passenger died when Train 3 took the siding to let a northbound Train 6 past. (Wing, 89-90) A brakeman onboard Train 6 failed to alert Train 3 of a gravel train following close behind, so when Train 3 took to the main again, it barreled into the gravel train at 25 mph. The gravel train was travelling the same speed, so both trains hit each other at a combined 50 mph. Heavy gravel cars tore into the lead car so severely that it got ripped off its trucks, and twenty-one people ended up injured. The cut through Edgewood was eventually called "Deadman's Cut," which is today a housing development.
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Two PSE cars crunched together in 1925. The broken
windows suggest passengers may have broken them to escape.
(University of Washington Library) |
Six years later, in July 1912, a southbound train at track speed (35MPH) struck the stalled car of Dr. E.M. Rinninger of Riverton. As he stood up to check on his chauffeur, or for whatever reason, he was thrown out of his vehicle as the train hit and was dragged 60 feet underneath. The train continued on for 300 feet more, becoming just one of many crossing strikes that hurt PSE's reputation. The company tried to save face, running promotional ads that "extolled" management and their safety record, but the people weren't buying it. By 1921, two years after the city Seattle's acquisition, more than 20 people were killed or injured by crossing strikes, including a horse drawn milk wagon in October 1918. If anything, one of the most peaceful "accidents" to happen to the PSE was the record snowfall of February 1916, where the Seattle Star urged the public to "Grab a shovel, folks! Let's give Seattle Electric a hand!" (Wing, 97) Another happened in the early 1920s, when a boy bound from his aunt in Seattle to his parents in Auburn decided to ride the people-catcher from Seattle to Renton Junction, a distance of 12 miles. (Wing, 98) Sounds silly, but it's not so silly when you, dear riders, want to try it yourself!
Just don't try it at home, please. Legally, I have to say that.
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Seriously, even if this photo from Muni's J Church line looks fun,
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
Try it at a museum instead with permission of volunteers!
(San Francisco Chronicle) |
Notable Rolling Stock
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Puget Sound Electric Railway's initial Brill 42.5-foot cars upon delivery,
showing off their third rail shoes and trolley poles for local in-town operation.
(University of Washington Library) |
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PSE No. 523, built by St. Louis, shows off its longer 58-foot length.
Note the air-powered bell and chime whistle, as well as the class lights.
(Living Snoqualmie) |
Over its lifetime, from January 1902 to December 1929, the PSE rostered seventy wooden electric interurban cars, one business car, two box motors, and four locomotives. Most of the original cars delivered in 1902 were built by the J.G. Brill company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and were either 36-seat motor combinations, 42-seat motor coaches, or 40-seat trailers. The cars were a very stubby 42 feet, 6 inches, to navigate city streets and were outfitted (where possible) with four GE-66 motors that ensured a high turn of speed. The next year, more cars were ordered from the John Stephenson Car Company of New York City, New York, to the same design (and parts for these were supplied by Brill as they bought out Stephenson in 1904). After this point, the remaining interurban cars were ordered from St. Louis Car Company and Jewett Car Company, respectively, with new St. Louis 58-foot cars and Jewett 50-foot cars being delivered between 1905 and 1910. Despite the inconsistent delivery dates, the cars were numbered as they went into service between Nos. 500 and 561. An order of 50-foot Jewett Cars in 1907 added another nine to the fleet, these being numbered 600-608. One car, No. 525, was later rebuilt as a parlor-observation trailer, but this was lost in 1921 after a fire on the main line.
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Car No. 523 is spotted again at an unknown location, towing a 42-foot car behind it.
(Northwest Railway Museum) |
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Parlor-observation No. 523 in fine regalia, photographed in 1909.
(Electric Railway Journal) |
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The last car built for the PSE, No. 561, shows off its quick-access
center doors, as well as the trailer behind it. This photo is probably from
1913 or 1915, considering it was the height of the hobbleskirt craze.
(Electric Railway Journal) |
The End of the Tacoma Interurban
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A Milwaukee Road Bi-Polar electric locomotive leads a
passenger train into Tacoma, 1921.
(Historylink.org) |
Remember when the public tried bringing in the
Milwaukee Road and
Northern Pacific to help alleviate the fare costs? Well, the railroads had a vested interest of their own since the MILW, NP, and Union Pacific (UP) all paralleled the route between Seattle and Tacoma. Starting in 1903, new interurban startups came and went, looking to nab the market for themselves, including the
Mt. Hood Railway and Power Company who looked to link Seattle with Portland via a UP survey (that ended up squashed when UP decided to share track with NP instead). Not only were railroads trying to encroach on the bad PR of the PSE, but starting in 1913, bus lines in Tukwila and Duwamish were springing up and taking business by storm. The new state highway between Auburn and Tacoma also meant a smoother, faster, and more direct drive the interurbans simply could not contend with. PSE fought back with a $60,000 block signal system investment and new track, as well as new routes to Puyallup and Renton, but to no avail: the buses were just that good. At the risk of going under, the company sold itself to the city of Seattle in 1918 for $15 million, unable to compete privately.
Not the "NCL" You're Thinking Of
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North Coast's Seattle bus terminal, 1928.
(Washington State Digital Archives) |
The first paved highways in Washington began showing up in June 1925, crossing the Puyallup River in Tacoma just 100 feet away from the PSE's tracks and trestle. The closeness required PSE to remove the alignment, which was merely the first shot in their slow end. In late October 1926, Stone & Webster merged several local companies into the new
North Coast Transportation Company. These included the Park Transport Company, Tacoma Bus, the Portland-Seattle Stage bus company, and the bus division of PSE. (Wing, 72) January 1927 saw the first operations of the North Coast, now
North Coast Lines (NCL,
which seems like a familiar acronym), replacing interurbans north of Seattle to Everett and the opening of the new Puyallup Highway Bridge in Tacoma. Nine miles of travel between Tacoma and Seattle were shaved off thanks to the new highway, and the State Highway Department (SHD) continued investing in new buses and new paved roads in Tacoma for the buses to ride on. Despite the intense growth, the PSE continued operations as normal, cutting back when needed but still doing their best.
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Single car operations became increasingly common as
the PSE looked to alternatives to shrink operating costs.
(Northwest Railway Museum) |
1928 was the death knell of the PSE. The
Auburn Globe Republican was the first to report in early January, noting "ELECTRIC LINE HAS TROUBLES". "Troubles" was an understatement, as PSE defaulted on company bonds worth $2,427,000 that were due by that February. (Wing, 111) This wasn't the first time PSE had defaulted, as Puget Sound Light & Power (PSL&P) refused to grant more funds to its interurban division. PSE was not allowed to sell any rolling stock or properties following an injunction on behalf of the Old Colony Trust of Boston in federal court. No advertising for the PSE appeared in the papers between then and August, when new bus and trolley connections were scheduled for daily service. Then, one week later: "MAY ABANDON TROLLEY LINE." The Federal Court of Tacoma granted Scott Z. Henderson, an attorney from Old Colony Trust, receivership of the PSE. Road construction and new coach service continued up and down the Sound as the PSE filed for termination in December of 1928, with service shut-down one year later.
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An October 1928-dated schedule for interurbans
and stages, two months before termination.
(HistoryLink.org) |
Some time before the last train, NCL put out a new schedule showing which buses would be replacing the
Puget Sound Electric in Auburn, thought to be the center of a new transit hub. The interurban was not going to be part of the hub, as the last train left December 30th from Seattle, bound for Tacoma. Motorman Roy Kelly was granted the job of hatchet man, delivering the last load of passengers and then going up the line to collect any and all freight cars left. In the wee small hours of December 31, 1929, all power for the 26-year-old system went off for good. The story doesn't stop there, surprisingly, as the PSE's physical assets (cars and track) went to a public auction. The highest bid for ownership came from PSE's parent company,
Puget Sound Light & Power, but three other companies put in large bids to just get the cars, whether for secondhand operation or for scrap. The entire value was worth $389,541, or about $5.8 million in 2020 dollars, which PSL&P did pony up until a landslide bid of over $400,000 was put up by representatives of a marine wrecking company and a brass and metal company.
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