LARy 1559

Built

1925

Type K - Home Built
 
 

 

Since its earliest days, the Los Angeles Railway prided itself upon its ability to build, as well as repair, its streetcars. This car is an example of the type of large-scale car building that the LA Railway was capable of. In 1925, the LA Railway shops built 82 of these ‘Type K’ cars as homemade copies of the predecessor ‘Type H’ class. Accustomed as their shops were to working in wood, the ‘Type K’ cars were constructed as clever wood copies of the all-steel ‘Type H’. 

These ‘Type K’ cars used a steel underframe, but the framing above that was wood. A laminated steel/wood siding (an early version of plymetal) was affixed to the exterior, thus giving the appearance of an all-steel car. The use of truss-rods below the floor line (a structural necessity found on most wooden railroad cars), is the give-away that this is a wooden carbody. 

1559 was purchased from the LATL by the Pacific Railroad Society, and has been at the Museum since 1958. It was formally donated to OERM in 2000. PRS' other cars at OERM include the Descanso, an SP articulated Chair Car, an SP Daylight Chair Car, and an SP baggage car. 

 

Links:  Pacific Railroad Society


 
Additional Photos:
LARy 1559 CH1 front sm.jpg (130440 bytes) 1559 CH1 apron sm.jpg (129634 bytes)
November 11, 2000- OERM's Tom Jacobson accepts the donation of LARy 1559 from Will Walters representing the Pacific Railroad Society. 

1559 sunning itself in front of Carhouse One in 2006.

     
LARy 2513 K Car sills sm.jpg (82037 bytes) LARy 2514 K Car sills w wood sm.jpg (74201 bytes) LARy 2515 K Car underframe sm.jpg (88677 bytes)
The longitudinal steel sills are laid out

Wood fillers are added to the sills

The end bumper is added
     
LARy 2516 K Car posts sm.jpg (88984 bytes) LARy 2517 K Car end sm.jpg (79828 bytes) LARy 2519 K Car end sm.jpg (70285 bytes)
The window posts (vertical frame members) are added The roof and ends are added End detail
     
LARy 2193 Haskelite application 001 sm.jpg (66997 bytes) LARy 2194 Haskelite application 002 sm.jpg (73009 bytes) LARy 2195 Haskelite application 001 sm.jpg (70432 bytes)
Wooden side framing ready to accept the plymetal side panels

The "Haskelite" panels are added

Trim is added
       
LARy 2196 Haskelite application 002 sm.jpg (68362 bytes) LARy 1512 McVay.jpg (103803 bytes) LARy 1559 moving to TT 082655 sm.jpg (91567 bytes)
An interior view of the finished installation K Class car in service 1559 on its way to Travel Town in Los Angeles, August 26, 1955
All B&W photos this page, ERHA-SC / Ray Younghans Collection at OERM

 

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