Short History of the Pacific Electric

Old Pacific Electric

The original Pacific Electric traces it's history back to 1895, when the region's first interurban line opened, connecting downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena. Although the line was originally built for the Pasadena and Los Angeles Railway Company, the original builders couldn't raise enough cash to pay the bondholders, so the line was acquired by the investors. The line was then purchased by Henry Huntington, the man who would build the Pacific Electric. His company, the Pacific Electric Railway Company, was incorporated on November 10, 1901. The first new line built under the PE was the Long Beach line, which opened on July 4th, 1902. Additional lines were built, most of which competed with the Southern Pacific for both passengers and freight. During the next ten years, lines to Monrovia, Glendora, Sierra Madre, Newport Beach, San Pedro and Santa Ana opened for both passenger and freight service. To fight back, the SP bought a substantial minority interest in the PE in 1903 by buying out several of Huntington's associates.

Huntington then founded the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway company to continue expanding his trolley network. Competition with the SP continued until SP reached an agreement with Huntington to buy him out. On September 1, 1911 as part of the "Great Merger", the new Pacific Electric was formed by the consolidation of the old PE with seven other local traction and interurban companies. Henry Huntington in turn gained exclusive control over the Los Angeles Railway Company, the local city streetcar system.

New Pacific Electric

One of the first orders of business for the new PE was to unify their fleet color, painting over the yellow of the LARy cars acquired and the green of the Los Angeles Pacific to the standard PE red. New cars were purchased and existing cars renumbered into a unifying car numbering system. The PE was organized into districts, Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western. The Northern and Eastern were soon combined into a single Northern District.

The PE System at its peak- click to enlarge

The Pacific Electric, the "World's Greatest Electric Railway System", hit its peak in the mid-twenties, operating over 1000 miles of track and 2700 trains daily. It was during this time that PE opened a short subway in downtown Los Angeles to speed up service by reducing slow running in downtown traffic. However, by the late 20's PE started using buses and the long and slow decline in rail service had begun.

The Great Depression of the 1930's caused ridership to drop precipitously which in turn caused the PE to lose even more money. Unable to purchase new trolleys, the PE began wide spread bus substitution in the late 30's closing it's first Los Angeles to Pasadena line in that time frame. In addition, the famed Mt. Lowe line, the "Railway to the Clouds" closed after a fire destroyed the Alpine Tavern and a bad rainstorm seriously damaged the tracks. An attempt to reduce rail traffic through the subway to rush hour service only resulted in complaints to the state's public utility commission. In exchange for approval to abandon even more trolley service, the PE acquired 30 double ended multiple unit PCC cars for use on the subway lines. However, bad track restricted the PE PCCs to primarily the Glendale-Burbank line.

The start of World War II saw rail traffic surge, on a system that was rapidly wearing out. The United States Maritime Commission brought surplus cars down to Los Angeles from the Bay Area to use in Cal Ship service between Downtown and the LA Harbor. Traffic did not materialize to use all of the cars, so PE first leased then acquired the cars for use on primarily the Southern District. Known as "Blimps" for their large size and carrying capacity, these cars would become synonymous with the PE in the twilight years.

After the war, abandonment continued with all of the wooden cars gone by the end of the 40's. Southern California began it's love affair with the auto, choking off many of the remaining PE routes, slowing the trains and making them less appealing to commuters. The Northern District ceased operations on September 30, 1951 after the PE was forced to abandon its Northern District lines near downtown LA for construction of a new freeway. Unwilling to pay for the relocation of tracks, PE chose to substitute bus service for these lines.

In 1953, PE sold its passenger service to Metropolitan Coach Lines while retaining freight service, much of which was rapidly becoming dieselized. The Metropolitan Coach Lines continued the policy of rail abandonment, closing the subway and the Western District in 1955. Finally all that was left was four lines of the Southern District, soldiering on with the blimps and a few remaining Hollywood cars.

In 1958, MCL was taken over by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and the rail abandonment continued. Finally, on April 9th, 1961, the last of the Red Cars had made it's last trip on the Long Beach line, the same line the PE first built in 1902.

Stack of abandoned PE "Red Cars" at Terminal Island, Los Angeles

The Pacific Electric continued on as a dieselized freight carrier until it was quietly absorbed into it's parent, Southern Pacific in 1965.

Twenty nine years later, on July 14, 1990, light rail returned to the Long Beach line with the opening of the Metro Blue Line, running over much of the same right of way as the original Long Beach line. The modern cars, originally painted in white with blue trim, carried a red stripe on the body to honor the Red Cars that had come before. Electric traction also returned to portions of Hollywood Blvd., although now modern subway cars run under the street rather than on the surface as the predecessors once did.

A Short History of the Pacific Electric

Old Pacific Electric The original Pacific Electric traces it's history back to 1895, when the region's first interurban line opened, connecting downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena. Although the line was originally built for the Pasadena and Los Angeles Railway Company, the original builders couldn't raise enough cash to pay the bondholders, so the line was acquired by the investors. The line was then purchased by Henry Huntington, the man who would build the Pacific Electric. His company, the Pacific Electric Railway Company, was incorporated on November 10, 1901. The first new line built under the PE was the Long Beach line, which opened on July 4th, 1902. Additional lines were built, most of which competed with the Southern Pacific for both passengers and freight. During the next ten years, lines to Monrovia, Glendora, Sierra Madre, Newport Beach, San Pedro and Santa Ana opened for both passenger and freight service. To fight back, the SP bought a substantial minority interest in the PE in 1903 by buying out several of Huntington's associates. Huntington then founded the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway company to continue expanding his trolley network. Competition with the SP continued until SP reached an agreement with Huntington to buy him out. On September 1, 1911 as part of the "Great Merger", the new Pacific Electric was formed by the consolidation of the old PE with seven other local traction and interurban companies. Henry Huntington in turn gained exclusive control over the Los Angeles Railway Company, the local city streetcar system. New Pacific Electric One of the first orders of business for the new PE was to unify their fleet color, painting over the yellow of the LARy cars acquired and the green of the Los Angeles Pacific to the standard PE red. New cars were purchased and existing cars renumbered into a unifying car numbering system. The PE was organized into districts, Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western. The Northern and Eastern were soon combined into a single Northern District. The PE System at its peak- click to enlarge The Pacific Electric, the "World's Greatest Electric Railway System", hit its peak in the mid-twenties, operating over 1000 miles of track and 2700 trains daily. It was during this time that PE opened a short subway in downtown Los Angeles to speed up service by reducing slow running in downtown traffic. However, by the late 20's PE started using buses and the long and slow decline in rail service had begun. The Great Depression of the 1930's caused ridership to drop precipitously which in turn caused the PE to lose even more money. Unable to purchase new trolleys, the PE began wide spread bus substitution in the late 30's closing it's first Los Angeles to Pasadena line in that time frame. In addition, the famed Mt. Lowe line, the "Railway to the Clouds" closed after a fire destroyed the Alpine Tavern and a bad rainstorm seriously damaged the tracks. An attempt to reduce rail traffic through the subway to rush hour service only resulted in complaints to the state's public utility commission. In exchange for approval to abandon even more trolley service, the PE acquired 30 double ended multiple unit PCC cars for use on the subway lines. However, bad track restricted the PE PCCs to primarily the Glendale-Burbank line. The start of World War II saw rail traffic surge, on a system that was rapidly wearing out. The United States Maritime Commission brought surplus cars down to Los Angeles from the Bay Area to use in Cal Ship service between Downtown and the LA Harbor. Traffic did not materialize to use all of the cars, so PE first leased then acquired the cars for use on primarily the Southern District. Known as "Blimps" for their large size and carrying capacity, these cars would become synonymous with the PE in the twilight years. After the war, abandonment continued with all of the wooden cars gone by the end of the 40's. Southern California began it's love affair with the auto, choking off many of the remaining PE routes, slowing the trains and making them less appealing to commuters. The Northern District ceased operations on September 30, 1951 after the PE was forced to abandon its Northern District lines near downtown LA for construction of a new freeway. Unwilling to pay for the relocation of tracks, PE chose to substitute bus service for these lines. In 1953, PE sold its passenger service to Metropolitan Coach Lines while retaining freight service, much of which was rapidly becoming dieselized. The Metropolitan Coach Lines continued the policy of rail abandonment, closing the subway and the Western District in 1955. Finally all that was left was four lines of the Southern District, soldiering on with the blimps and a few remaining Hollywood cars. In 1958, MCL was taken over by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and the rail abandonment continued. Finally, on April 9th, 1961, the last of the Red Cars had made it's last trip on the Long Beach line, the same line the PE first built in 1902. Stack of abandoned PE "Red Cars" at Terminal Island, Los Angeles The Pacific Electric continued on as a dieselized freight carrier until it was quietly absorbed into it's parent, Southern Pacific in 1965. Twenty nine years later, on July 14, 1990, light rail returned to the Long Beach line with the opening of the Metro Blue Line, running over much of the same right of way as the original Long Beach line. The modern cars, originally painted in white with blue trim, carried a red stripe on the body to honor the Red Cars that had come before. Electric traction also returned to portions of Hollywood Blvd., although now modern subway cars run under the street rather than on the surface as the predecessors once did.
Revised 4/17/08