Pacific Electric Railway

Logo in 1911

The Pacific Electric Railway Company was a private transportation system in Los Angeles, California. It started when Henry E. Huntington began building and buying streetcar railroads in and around Los Angeles to help people reach his properties.

Main building about 1910

Most of its lines carried people but there was also some freight. Pacific Electric also owned a mountain tourist attraction called the Mount Lowe Railway.

In the 1920s, with hundreds of miles of track, it was the largest system in the world. While Huntington lost money running Pacific Electric, he made money by selling the land it reached.

After Henry Huntington died and the land was all sold, the system started to break down and there was no money coming in to repair it. The city of Los Angeles decided it would be cheaper to move passengers with buses and close the whole system.

And so the last Pacific Electric train ran in 1961. The tracks were all ripped up and all of the old trains were either destroyed or sold to other countries.

Old cars to be destroyed in 1956

Almost thirty years after the last train, with traffic becoming worse and buses becoming slower, the city remembered the old system. They decided to start rebuilding it because they realized trains do not slow down when there is a traffic jam.

Today, a small part of the old Pacific Electric rail network is now part of the new and growing Los Angeles Metro and people are riding trains again.

Network

Los Angeles Pacific Electric Railways (Red Cars) network (interactive version)

Map of the Pacific Electric Railway routes, 1920

The Pacific Electric ran lines from Los Angeles to the following cities:

Pacific Electric Railway Media

Los Angeles Pacific Electric (Red Cars) network
Old Mission Trolley streetcar of the Pacific Electric makes a stop at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, 1905.
Three PE tickets. The top two (front and back views) between downtown LA and Santa Monica, the bottom for a transfer from Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley.
Pacific Electric #1001 at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California. The museum has a very large collection of streetcars - over 200 streetcars, locomotives and other rolling stock.
Pacific Electric & Salt Lake Railroad station in Long Beach, 1905
Pacific Electric Building, Located at Sixth and Main Streets was the Pacific Electric's principal station. The view shows platforms and umbrella sheds east of Los Angeles Street, the tracks at this point being elevated some 16 feet (4.9 m) above the level of the street. This improvement was made in 1916.
Pacific Electric Railway substations Lankershim and Olive (1912)
Pacific Electric #418 at the Southern California Railway Museum. Many of the museum's streetcars are serviceable and operated for the public.

This short article about transport can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.