January 2014
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January 2014 |
Los Angeles PCC Cars - A few months back, we reported to you about the current group of Los Angeles Light Rail Vehicles. Most of you know that the only narrow gauge PCC cars in the United States were on Los Angeles under the operation of Los Angeles Railway (1937-1944), then Los Angeles Transit Lines (1944-1958) and then Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit authority (1958-1963). Coupled with the need to perform research for the next group of Bowser cars, we found out some interesting facts and decided to report them here. Los Angeles had three groups of PCC cars. The first group, 95 cars, series (3001-3095) were actually delivered in two orders with 3001-3060 being delivered from March 12, 1937 to July 28, 1937 and 3061-3095 arriving between September 27, 1938 and November 25, 1938. The Orange Empire Railway Museum restored their car 3001 to its original configuration in 2004 and it is shown below:
The second group of 35 cars, 3096-3125, were delivered during World War II from November 5, 1943 to January 21, 1944. These were air-electric cars just as the first two orders except that the center door was moved one window to the rear similar to most Boston PCC cars. Note the next photo of 3099. These cars were all delivered in the original Los Angeles Railway Scheme of two tone yellow with silver striping. But were all repainted into the Los Angeles Transit Lines (LATL) "Fruit Salad" paint scheme. Car 3099 is shown in that scheme below:
The final group of 40 were all-electric PCC cars, series 3126-3165. and arrived between September 10 and October 20, 1948. These cars were 108" wide versus the previous cars width of 100". These cars were all delivered in the Los Angeles Transit Lines "Fruit Salad" paint scheme.
Most of the cars were eventually painted in the LAMTA two tone green paint scheme. But for you modelers out there, the following thirty-two cars never received the LAMTA scheme shown in the next photograph:
Red - First Group; Blue - Second Group; Green - Last Group All cars ran on 3"6" gauge track and operated until March 31, 1963 when service ceased and disposal began. Most of the cars, including all of the newer all-electric PCC cars, went to Cairo, Egypt where they ran until (from most photos that we have seen) they were turned to junk. Twenty-five cars, all air-electric models, went to Chile Nitrate Company, Chile, South America. Car 3035 was wrecked in 1956 after being almost cut in half by an AT&SF Locomotive while being towed dead to the South Park Shops. A few were sold, including 3072, 3087, 3101. Three still operate today at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, 3001, 3100 and 3165. 3072 is also now at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. [Data in this article from "Interurbans Special 43, The Yellow Cars of Los Angeles, edited by Jim Walker ] _________________________________________________
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Philadelphia's PCC Cars! By now, every railfan that has been on this planet for the last 19 years knows that the San Francisco F-line was opened in September 1995 with 14 PCC cars acquired from Philadelphia. These cars were originally built in 1947/1948, were rebuilt in the 1980s, rebuilt again in 1990s for San Francisco and are about to get another rebuilding for continued service. These are the cars that exposed the lying tongues of SEPTA management when in 1992, they snatched the cars from Routes 15 (Girard Ave), 23 (Germantown Ave), and 56 (Erie -Torresdale Aves) and told the residents of the City of Brotherly Love that the cars were "too worn out" and had to be replaced. And here they are, looking good after another 19 years of service in the "City By The Bay". Five hundred ninety different PCC cars have run on Philadelphia streets between 1938 and 1992. Philadelphia Rapid Transit (PRT) started the PCC era with 20 cars ordered in March 1938 and delivered in July 1938. They were numbered 2001-2020, and were delivered in a striking sand, silver and blue paint scheme that contrasted with the green and orange conventional cars being used at the time. They were designed for one-man operation and were put into service on Route 53 (Wayne Ave) on August 14, 1938. This route served some of the transit company's major stockholders at the time.
PRT became PTC in 1940 and PTC returned to the same builder, Saint Louis Car Company (SLCC) in June 1940 when they ordered another 130 cars that were delivered from December 1940 to March 1941. This time the one-man cars were numbered 2031 to 2080 and the two-man cars 2501 to 2580. The one-man cars were placed in service in Route 56 (Erie Ave) and the two-man cars entered service on Route 13 (Chester Ave) and Route 42 (Spruce Street). In April and May 1941, the Philadelphia Transportation Company ordered 110 more cars. This time only ten cars were ordered in the one-man configuration and numbered 2081 to 2090. These cars were placed in service on Route 56 (Erie Ave), while the 100 two-man cars were numbered 2581 to 2680 and they were placed in service on Route 47 (5th Street). All cars ordered up to this time were of the pre-war, air-electric variety.
PTC would resume buying PCC cars after World War II with an order from SLCC for the post-war all-electric PCC cars. In July 1944, they would order 100 cars. They would be delivered in February/April 1947 and assigned numbers 2701 to 2780. Most of them would go into service on Mother's Day in 1947 on Route 23, the longest line in the city. But some of them initially ended up in West Philadelphia's Callowhill Depot for service on Route 13 and 42 but ended up on Route 43 (Spring Garden Street). The final PCC order would be placed in July 1946 for 110 cars. This order was initially also to be for two-man cars and were to be numbered 2801 to 2910. When the decision was made to make them one-man cars, the numbering was changed to 2091 to 2200. These cars went into service on Route 6 (Willow Grove), Route 5 (Frankford Avenue - 2nd & 3rd Streets) and Route 43 (Spring Garden Street).
Philadelphia also bought used PCCs from Kansas City, Saint Louis and Toronto. In 1954, PTC acquired 90 second hand PCC cars for $800,000. Forty cars came from Kansas City, all all-electric cars without standee windows. They were numbered 2251 to 2290 and were initially placed in service in Route 5. When that route was converted to buses, they were transferred to Route 50, where they spent most of their lives. The remaining 50 cars came from Saint Louis Public Service. They were 1940 era all-electric PCC cars in bodies normally reserved for air-electric PCC cars. They were considered 'dogs' and were all scrapped by 1960. In 1975, after losing 60 of their best PCC cars in the Woodland Car House fire, SEPTA, successor to PTC, acquired 30 PCC cars from Toronto. All of these were second hand cars themselves, 11 of which were originally from Kansas City and were numbered 2240 to 2250 and 19 were originally from Birmingham, Alabama. These 19 cars were numbered 2300 to 2318 and were the only PCC cars built by Pullman-Standard to operate in Philadelphia. They ran mostly on Route 60 (Allegheny Avenue) until that route was converted to buses.
SEPTA, created in 1968, succeeded the PTC and was never a fan of the PCC cars. They continued to remove the North Philadelphia PCC-equipped routes (6, 23, 47, 50, 53, 56, and 60) one at a time until 1992 when PCC service ended, leaving the 1981 Kawasaki cars running on routes 10 (Lancaster Ave), 11 (Woodland Ave), 13 (Chester Ave), 34 (Baltimore Ave) and 36 (Elmwood Ave) in West Philadelphia. So it was not a surprise when 1948-built cars 2096, 2099, 2101, 2110, 2113, 2116, 2119, 2121, 2122, 2123, 2124 and 2138 along with 1947-built cars 2715 and 2721 escaped SEPTA and were sold to San Francisco in 1993. Car 2133 was also sent in advance as a test car and still resides in San Francisco but has never been rebuilt, although a front pole and catcher was added. The 14 cars listed previously were eventually placed in service on the now world-famous F line in the liveries of the following cities, respectively; Baltimore, Boston, Louisville, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Pacific Electric, San Francisco (1950s), Philadelphia 1938 (PRT), Philadelphia 1955 (PTC), San Francisco (1960s), Chicago, Cincinnati, Newark and Brooklyn. TO OUR READERS: |
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