Car 500 moves to San Pedro Line

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On an overcast September 30th, the second of the two replica Pacific Electric 500 series cars made its way from Berth 155A to 22^nd & Miner to join its two mates on the San Pedro Waterfront Line. Clad of trolley poles, pilots and one coupler, the car was readied by the Port of Los Angeles craftsmen, eased out of the south door of the Berth, with Dave

Garcia manning the brake wheel, loaded on the

special lowboy trailer (Refer to the May 2003 issue of the Times for more information on the trailer), hauled to 22^nd Street, unloaded onto the

rails south of 22^nd Street and towed north to the temporary maintenance tent. As with the movement of car 501 in May, George Jones, of the Southern California Traction Club used his extensive knowledge of heavy equipment to assist the truck driver, James Oxford, (both shown below) in the loading and unloading of the car by manning controls on the tractor.

Unloading this time was done by pulling the car from the trailer.  501 was allowed to coast off the trailer after the initial tug. There is a cable from the tractor in the left of the photo to the trolley. You can barely make it out in the photo. Dave Garcia is again manning the brake wheel.

Finally, the car is back on rails as shown below,

then towed across 22nd Street by the RoadRailer pick-up and coupled to the 1058 as shown at the top of the page  The car should be making test runs within a few weeks. By mid-October, car 500 was able to move under its own power and made test trips along the line.

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George Huckaby and LARy 3001. Story in column 2!

…And then Berth 155A was silent…

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By George Huckaby

Trolleyville Moderator

On that same overcast day, the last of the two replica Pacific Electric 500 series cars left Berth 155A after three years of dedicated work by many professionals. Car 1058 had been placed back on rails here and made operational once again. Car 501 was completed and made ready for service and then car 500 was sent to its new home. To paraphrase the late Chick Hearn, who for years was the voice of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball Team "The Door was Closed, the Lights Out……"

Good Bye Forever…Ole Sweethearts And Pals! As the car pulled away and the door was closed for the last time, all that was left was a sign reminding dog owners to pick up after their dogs.

Just before the door closed and the car left, Trolleyville had some time to talk with some of the remaining craftsmen still around that day. It was almost a funeral type atmosphere coupled with an intense pride in their work. We even found a power Macintosh user in the bunch.

Shown from left to right are: Chuck Parsons, machinist; Tim Buxton, carpenter; Gary McAngus, painter; Ron Hayes, carpenter; Raymond Chin, carpenter; Mike DeLang, electrician, Kent Schumann, lead carpenter; and Bud Renner, machinist. There were many more workers on this project that were not around by the time this picture was taken.

Below is an example of the woodwork inside the car. These craftsmen copied the woodwork inside of replica car 538 that is located at the Orange Empire Railway Museum exactly. Below Kent Schumann, lead carpenter with the finished bulkhead behind him along with one of the interior window posts.

Trolleyville has had the pleasure of watching several of these men work over the years and find their work as first rate. We have never seen a restoration quite this magnificent. The car is almost too good for (some) passengers. Most of these craftsmen made the trip to 22^nd Street to watch the car unloaded and towed to the tent.

One must go see these cars to believe them. There are craftsman still in this country. They may be an endangered species but they are here. Maybe we ought to be preserving them and their skills along with the trolleys they created.

So please, very soon, visit the San Pedro Trolley. Take a ride and look carefully at the exterior and interior of the cars. Feel patriotic as American craftsman did this!

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Orange Empire Railway Museum regains streetcar motorman with 31 years experience.

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On October 19, Trolleyville Moderator and Custom Traxx owner, George Huckaby, resumed monthly operational duties at the OERM. George had been a regular in the 1970s prior to leaving California for two years in Louisiana. Since 1981, George became a qualified operator way back in 1972 and been a regular at the Spring and Fall Rail Festivals until 2000 when support of the now open San Pedro Waterfront Trolley took his spare time. Now that the San Pedro line has been up and running for three months, and the third car will be added very soon, George got to return to one of his main loves, the operation of full scale trolley cars in the friendly museum environment. To celebrate the occasion, George got to operate recently rehabilitated LARy 3001 for the first time. Car 3001 was the first PCC car in Los Angeles, which was welcomed in 1937 by then, child star and phenomenon Shirley Temple. The car was out of service at the end of trolley service, so LAMTA car 3002 got to be the "Crying Trolley" on that last day in 1963.