Pacific Electric Red Cars

Of the rail lines created at the turn of the 20th century, in order to build interurban links through Southern California communities around metropolitan Los Angeles, the Pacific Electric grew to be the most prominent of all. The Pacific Electric Railway is synonymous with Henry Edwards Huntington, the capitalist with many decades of railroad experience, who formed the "P. E." and expanded it as principal owner for nearly its first decade. Huntington sold his PE holdings to the giant Southern Pacific Railroad in 1910, and the following year the SP absorbed nearly every electric line in the fourcounty area around Los Angeles in the "Great Merger" into a "new" Pacific Electric. Founded in 1901 and terminated in 1965, Pacific Electric was known as the "World's Great Interurban."

The Pacific Electric Railway originally provided reliable transportation across more than 1,000 miles of track. Postwar society's affair with the automobile led to the loss of an infrastructure that could have formed the basis for an enviable modern light-rail system, one that current society would be happy to utilize. Authors Steve Crise and Michael Patris look back at the railway and its landscape today. Both serve on the board of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society, from whose archives most of these images are taken.

During the first six decades of the Twentieth Century, Southern California boasted a comprehensive network of suburban electrically powered trains and trolleys. Known as the Pacific Electric, it was the world's largest interurban electric system. In their bright red livery, the Red Cars went everywhere. Lines extended along the beaches from Balboa to Santa Monica Canyon; from the cool snow covered alpine heights of Mount Lowe to the hot dry sandy desert of the San Fernando Valley; and from Los Angeles to the rural orange groves of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. At its peak, Pacific Electric operated 6,200 trains daily over 1,061 miles of track. Raphael Long was there at mid-century photographing the system during its final years under Pacific Electric management. Presented here are 230 images from Mr. Long's private collection. Red Car Era is filled with memories of a Southern California and Pacific Electric Railway that once was and will never be again.

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