Everett White in the West
Narration Script
[MAP] Everett White shot the Chicago Loop and vicinity around 1942. The camera symbols show the various locations where he shot this sequence.
Tower 18 has been called the busiest railway junction in the world.
It sits above the intersection of Lake and Wells streets, and marks the northwest corner of Chicago's famous elevated Loop.
These shots were taken from the north end of the Randolf and Wells station platform looking north along Wells Street.
Since 1913 both Loop tracks have been operated in a counterclockwise direction - in 1969 they would change over to operate bidirectionally, right-hand running.
These shots were made around 1942, plus or minus a year.
The streamlined train is one of two Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Electroliners, delivered in 1941.
Now we are at the south end of the Randolf and Wells station, still looking north from one of the pedestrian overpasses. Note that some of the cars have trolley poles for operation along surface portions of the system.
Quincy and Wells station - we will work our way around the Loop in a counterclockwise direction, just like the trains.
We are just outside the Loop now, with a Chicago, Aurora & Elgin train on the left. In the distance is Market Tower.
This is Canal station, on the former Metropolitan West Side Elevated. When the Union Elevated Loop was opened in 1897, the trains of four elevated companies operated over its tracks. In 1913, the operations of the four companies were unified as Chicago Rapid Transit, and through services were operated.
This is another CA&E train, westbound on the four-track Metropolitan West Side mainline.
Looking down on the southeast corner of the Loop.
A train of standard North Shore cars shares the tracks with the elevateds here at Congress Street station.
Behind the camera, the North Shore trains will diverge to their own stub terminal.
The curve turns from Harrison to Wabash, the eastern leg of the Loop.
The streetcars below are on Dearborn, seen from the Clark and Lake station overpass, looking east along Lake Street, the northern leg of the Loop.The State and Lake station is in the distance.
The wooden elevated car is followed closely by a North Shore train.
A steel train is on the left, wooden on the right.
A North Shore Electroliner... and a Chicago Surface lines streetcar turns from Dearborn onto Lake.
Still on the Clark and Lake station overpass, but now looking west. In the distance is Tower 18, where we started. The trains are a mixture of North Shore and elevated trains.
A Milwaukee-bound Electroliner at Wilson Avenue, well north of the Loop.
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[MAP] Mr. White filmed the Garfield Park line in the mid-fifties.
The Congress Expressway (now the Eisenhower Expressway) was under construction.
These temporary surface tracks alongside Van Buren Avenue went into service in 1953.
Crossing California Avenue.
We are about to cross under the joint Chicago & Northwestern/Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle Line.
Approaching Western Avenue.
The brown and orange paint scheme dates from Chicago Rapid Transit days. Green and cream was an early Chicago Transit Authority paint scheme. The CTA was created in 1945 to operate all public transit in the city, under municipal ownership. By 1947 it had acquired the elevateds and the streetcar lines, and took over their operation.
The PCC going north on Western is wearing another early CTA paint scheme.
In the distance a train on the Douglas branch is crossing on a diversion to take it to the Lake Street elevated and on to the Loop. These tracks are now used in regular service by the Pink Line.
Damen Avenue, and jumping ahead to Ogden Avenue.
Crossing under the Douglas branch and then Paulina Street.
This dogleg takes the line from the south side to the north side of Van Buren.
This southbound train over Wells Street is approaching Tower 18 and the Loop.
The pedestrian overpass of the Clark and Lake station. The Loop is still being operated with both tracks counterclockwise. Bidirectional operation began in 1969.
The Clark Street car is southbound crossing Wacker Drive. The prominent building in the background is Mather Tower.
State and Van Buren, with a car southbound on State. The camera was probably on part of the elevated structure of the State/Van Buren elevated station near the southeast corner of the Loop.
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[MAP] The Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee - the North Shore Line - was one of three major interurbans serving Chicago, Illinois, connecting it with Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A northbound Electroliner has just departed the North Shore's terminal south of the Loop.
Here a northbound train for Milwaukee is on the elevated over Wells Street crossing the Chicago River, just north of the Loop.
Now we skip several miles to the north, just after the North Shore leaves the elevated at Evanston. This is the station at Linden Avenue in Wilmette.
Westbound on Greenleaf Avenue, about to turn north and stop at the Wilmett Avenue in Wilmette.
This is the station at Harbor Street in Glencoe. Note the gauntlet track to allow freight trains to go through the station without hitting the platforms. North Shore cars were narrow at floor level to clear the platforms on the Chicago elevated.
North of Park Avenue in Glencoe, parallel to the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.
Making another leap ahead, we are on 6th Street in Milwaukee - that's a northbound Electroliner.
The North Shore's Milwaukee terminal at 6th and Michigan Street.
A southbound Electroliner departs.
The Electroliners were articulated, with four body sections permanently coupled together resting on five trucks, a weight-saving measure. With 8 axles powered, they were capable of cruising speeds of 80 miles per hour in regular service. Maximum speed of 100 miles per hour was achieved on an early test run.
Southbound at the Wilmette station.
South of the Loop, a southbound Electroliner approaches the North Shore's terminal platform.
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[MAP] The North Shore Line provided local streetcar service in some cities along its line, like this car on 6th Street in Milwaukee, but most streetcar service in Milwaukee was provided by The Milwaukee Electric Railway. The first and last streetcar service in Milwaukee was the number 10 line on Wells Street, which ran until 1958 to the suburb of Allis.
The long trestle was near the Allis end of the line.
The Milwaukee Electric also operated some interurban and suburban service until 1951.
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[MAP] Gary Railways operated city and suburban services until 1947. The line to Garyton, shown here returning to Gary inbound, was abandoned in 1942.
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[MAP] The Chicago, South Shore & South Bend is shown in South Bend and East Chicago.
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[MAP] The hub of the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railway was at Wheaton, Illinois. It is where the main line east to Chicago split into a branch to the northwest to Elgin, and a branch to the southwest to Aurora.
Shops and storage yards were at Wheaton.
Chicago bound trains. That's the old Dupage County Courthouse in Wheaton. In the foreground is the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad (now part of the Union Pacific).
The CA&E originally ran all the way to, but not around, the Loop in Chicago, over the tracks of the Metropolitan West Side elevated. In 1953 it was cut back to the Desplaines Avenue Terminal of the Garfield Park elevated route, and in 1957 ceased passenger service altogether. The elevated and the CA&E had interlaced turnback loops.
An outbound evening rush hour train approaches Wheaton. That's the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad again to the right.
At the main station in Wheaton, most trains were split into two sections for Elgin and Aurora. The car in the distance going off to the left is bound for Aurora.
Jumping down to Aurora, where the station, like the one in Elgin, was on the banks of the Fox River. We begin an inbound trip back to Wheaton, here just past Batavia Junction, and then passing under the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern.
The CA&E operated entirely with third rail current collection except for short stretches near the terminals in both Aurora and Elgin.
Crossing Ferry Road...
Approaching the station at Warrenville... and crossing the West Branch of the Dupage River.
Passing under Illinois Route 55, and in the distance Butterfirld Road.
This freight train is arriving at Wheaton from the West.
Another westbound train splits into sections. We'll follow the one to Elgin, passing over Liberty Drive, and then over the Chicago & Northwestern, now part of the Union Pacific which sees heavy Metra commuter traffic.
Passing under the Chicago Great Western at Prince Crossing, and then jumping ahead to Lakewood station and siding.
St. Andrews station at Schramer Road.
Passing over the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern at Wayne.
And a jump ahead to Clintonville station and siding.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific interchange track, and Hollywood station.
Approaching the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific underpass
Approaching the end of third rail, just south of Elgin, on the east bank of the Fox River.
Now a return trip inbound.
That's a Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific train.
Approaching Wheaton, crossing over Wesley and Front Streets, the Chicago & Northwestern, then Liberty Road, and in the distance on the right we see a car parked in Wheaton Yard.
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[MAP] St. Louis Public Service operated local streetcar service in St. Louis, Missouri.
Creve Coeur Lake is in the western suburbs of St. Louis.
A Route 5 Creve Coeur Lake car passes under the Ashby Road bridge... and turns back at Crows Nest Loop.
A Route 12 Maryland car on Maryland Avenue.
A Route 70 Grand car on Grand Avenue... followed by a couple of passes of Route 81 Park cars, the second at Union Station.
At Kossuth Yard. St. Louis Public Service used two-car trains for ball park crowds.
These PCCs date the movies to 1940 or 1941. A Route 10 Delmar car eastbound on Olive... and exiting Kingsland Loop.
The Route 40 Broadway car is probably at Catalan Loop.
A Route 11 University car westbound on Olive.
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[MAP] The Illinois Traction System, known later as the Illinois Terminal Railroad, operated interurbans from St. Louis across central Illinois as far as Peoria and Danville. It had ambitions to reach Chicago, but never achieved them. It also operated suburban services in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis.
On the approach to McKinley Bridge across the Mississippi.
On the suburban Grafton line.
A suburban Granite City car.
But the Illinois Terminal's main claim to fame was its trains of heavy interurban cars. This one rolls into Staunton, on the main line from St. Louis to Springfield and Peoria.
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[MAP] The New Orleans Public Service Company operated an extensive network of streetcar lines in the Crescent City, including a busy four-track mainline along Canal Street, its main thoroughfare.
These shots from around 1940 could be taken from a streetcar named Desire. At least it is following the route of the Desire line along Royal Street towards Canal through the French Quarter, with its famous ornate balconies. Coming up on the right we will see the Civil District Courts Building of 1908, now the seat of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Turning from Royal onto Canal Street for a one-block run to Bourbon Street and the return trip. Canal Street still had four busy tracks at this time.
By the late 1950s, Canal Street was down to two tracks. Trolleybuses and diesel buses had replaced all but two New Orleans streetcar lines, Canal Street and St. Charles Street.
An approaching St. Charles car on Carondelet will turn for one block on Canal before its outbound trip on St. Charles. The St. Charles line, the oldest continuously-operating streetcar line in the US, operates in a parklike median for most of its length.
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[MAP] The Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern connected its name cities in Iowa, as well as Ames, Rockwell City, Webster City, Lehigh, and Boone.
The line's yard and shops were located at Boone, and this car is backing into the Boone station from the yards to prepare for departure. In its later years the interurban operated one trip a day from Boone to Ft. Dodge, then south all the way to Des Moines, and back to Boone, a 170 mile round trip. The Ft. Dodge Line was the biggest interurban system in Iowa.
For almost 50 years, the Ft. Dodge Line provided passenger service with a fleet of ten of these 1907-built Niles heavy wooden interurbans.
The yard was at the north end of town.
The famous High Bridge just north of Boone - we'll see it again later on the return trip.
Like many Iowa interurbans, the Ft. Dodge line staved off abandonment longer than most by cultivating a carload freight business.
The junction at Hope. The line to the left goes to Rockwell City, freight-only since the 1920s.
The Des Moines River bridge, just south of Ft. Dodge.
This was the reversing loop at Ft. Dodge.
The High Bridge over the Des Moines River, the tallest interurban structure in the US.
[No pause]
And now approaching Des Moines, with the Iowa state capitol in the background.
Railway Express Agency trucks were a familiar sight at railroad and interurban stations until it went bankrupt in 1975.
There are a couple of 1954 Fords in this shot. The Ft. Dodge line ended passenger service in 1955.
Northbound just north of Des Moines. Freight service was already being dieselized as passenger service was winding down.
That's the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific on the right.
A one-mile stretch of the Ft. Dodge line in Boone has been re-electrified and is operated as a tourist railroad using Charles City Western car number 50.
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[MAP] Des Moines Railway operated streetcars in Des Moines, Iowa until 1950.
We're on Grand Avenue in downtown Des Moines.
The cars you will be seeing were all part of a batch of 40 built in 1930 by Cummings.
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[MAP] The Des Moines & Central Iowa operated passenger service over its remaining line to Granger until 1949.
Three big Jewett steel interurbans had been bought secondhand in 1939 from the Lake Shore Electric in northern Ohio.
Only interchange freight traffic allowed the line to survive as long as it did.
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[MAP] The Charles City Western connected Charles City, Iowa with Colwell to the northeast and Marble Rock to the southwest.
Car 50 had been built for the line by Cummings in 1915, when the line was electrified.
Departing for Marble Rock over the Cedar River bridge.
The line never had much passenger traffic - no more than two daily round trips. Passenger service ended in 1952, but electric freight service continued.
Interchange freight was always the line's priority. It connected with the Rock Island's main line at Marble Rock. This siding was at Oakwood.
The Charles City Western was acquired by the Iowa Terminal Railroad, successor to the Mason City & Clear lake, at the end of 1963. The line was dieselized in 1968 after a tornado destroyed much of the overhead, but only operated for a few more years. The Iowa Terminal, now Iowa Traction, continues to operate over a part of the Mason City & Clear Lake using electric traction.
Approaching Marble Rock. The Rock Island track is on the right. Schedules of the one daily passenger round trip in the later years were designed to meet a Rock Island train.
Leaving Marble Rock.
About to pass under the Illinois Central, back in Charles City.
This unusual almost-center door wood interurban was built by Jewett in 1910 for Connecticut's Shore Line Electric Railway, which was short-lived, even for an interurban. When it closed in 1920, the Charles City Western bought this car.
Steeple cab locomotive 300 was transferred to the Iowa Terminal Railroad when the Charles City Western dieselized. In 1970 it was sold to the Illinois Railway Museum.
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[MAP] The Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern in Iowa connected Waterloo with both Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids.
This depot in Cedar Rapids is the destination of this big interurban being loaded in Waterloo. It was one of 7 built by McGuire-Cummings in 1914. Car 141 burned in 1954. The trip to Cedar Rapids took about two hours. It was discontinued in 1956.
As it trundles off, it passes an incoming streetcar from Cedar Falls. The Cedar Valley Road operated service over its original 1897 line to Cedar Falls with streetcar type equipment. The schedule was as frequent as every 30 minutes. The bridge is over the Cedar River. Service ended in 1958.
The Cedar Valley Road was one of the interurban pioneers of interchanging freight with the steam railroads. Without this profitable freight business, the passenger service wouldn't have survived the twenties.
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[MAP] The Cedar Rapids & Iowa City was known as the CRANDIC.
The CRANDIC was for the most part moldering away by the time Mr. White got there. He managed to get one shot of a famous CRANDIC Comet in action, cars originally known as the Red Devils of the Cincinatti & Lake Erie. The CRANDIC dropped all passenger service in 1953, but survives today as a successful diesel freight short line.
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[MAP] Sioux City Service Company discontinued streetcar service in 1948. Mr. White didn't get there in time to catch the cars in action. These distinctive wooden cars were built in the company shops. The Birneys were built by the American Car Company.
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[MAP] It is ironic that the Mason City & Clear Lake, which looks abandoned in this shot, has survived, in part, as the Iowa Traction Railroad. It is the only non-museum electric railroad in Iowa.
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[MAP] This is behind the Kansas City Public Service Company's barn at 48th and Harrison. The heavy Route 50 Troost line was being repaired and even extended in these early 1940s views. Streetcar service would end in Kansas City in 1957.
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[MAP] The Union Traction Company, also known as the Union Electric Railway, operated north from Coffeyville, Kansas, through Independence and Cherryvale, to Parsons, and southward to Nowata, Oklahoma.
Freight service on the Union never amounted to much because town along its route were served by the steam railroads.
Passenger service was provided with a fleet of six lightweight cars built by the American Car Company in 1925.
Departing from Coffeyville for a run only as far as Cherryvale. These scenes were probably filmed shortly before abandonment in 1947.
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[MAP] Oklahoma Railway operated three interurban lines centered on Oklahoma City.
The sign suggests that the Oklahoma Railway's other two lines had been abandoned by the time these movies were filmed, dating them to the summer of 1947.
This car had been built in 1923 for the Ft. Wayne-Lima Railroad in Indiana and Ohio.
And this car, leaving Oklahoma City on Walker Street, was built for Rockford, Illinois in 1927. Oklahoma bought it and four sister cars in 1936.
Another Ft. Wayne-Lima car. Oklahoma Railways bought 5 like it in 1932.
The bridge crosses the Canadian River.
Oklahoma Railway was an integral part of the Oklahoma City transit system. It operated two other interurban lines, to El Reno and Guthrie, but the Norman line always had more traffic, especially during World War Two, because of military bases. Norman is home to the University of Oklahoma, which also generated traffic. But the end of the war, and automobiles, spelled the end for Oklahoma Railways in the Fall of 1947.
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[MAP] Sand Springs was a 10-mile suburban line from Tulsa to Sand Springs, Oklahoma.
Waiting to depart from Tulsa for Sand Springs.
The car is turning west to follow the north bank of the Arkansas River.
The Sand Springs Railway had been built by the oil millionaire and philanthropist Charles Page to serve a home for widows and orphans he had founded there.
These lightweight cars came secondhand from the Cincinatti, Lawrenceburg & Aurora in 1934.
Approaching Lake Station, the start of a long clockwise loop through Sand Springs.
This car was one of the lightweights built by the American Car Company for Union Traction. They came to Sand Springs when the Union Traction closed in 1947.
Note the industrial development, another Charles Page initiative, which generated substantial freight traffic. Diesel freight operation continues, long after passenger service was discontinued in 1955.
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[MAP] The Texas Electric Railway operated interurban lines from Dallas to Denison to the north, and Waco and Corsicana to the south.
They had an impressive interurban terminal on Commerce Street in downtown Dallas. Cars departed for their three lines to Denison... Waco... and Corsicana.
A few blocks down Commerce Street and around the corner on Record Street the Texas Electric had a freight terminal.
The street trackage in Dallas was shared with the city cars of Dallas Railway & Terminal.
It was a Stone & Webster property, which favored turtleback roof cars.
Since Corsicana service was abandoned in 1941, these films are probably from 1940 or 1941.
Climbing the approach to the impressive Trinity River viaduct.
Note that the single-ended Texas Electric cars had two rear poles. The second could serve as a spare, and because it had a wheel instead of a shoe like the primary pole, it was considered less likely to dewire during backup moves.
Passing by the freight station, inbound on its way to the passenger terminal.
Dallas had a variety of city cars, including these Birneys.
This one was on Harwood inbound at Coombs Street.
More activity at the freight station... and a departure for Waco.
Note downtown Dallas in the background to the north of the Trinity River viaduct.
Dallas was one of the few cities to order double-ended PCCs.
The Dallas city cars shared the viaduct with the Texas Electric.
This is a run over the line to the north toward Denison. It left town over Commerce Street in the opposite direction of the Waco car, and did not cross the viaduct.
This is the station at Plano, now a museum dedicated to the Texas Electric, including a restored car on display.
Perkins was just a little farther along the line.
Heading back to Dallas... and approaching the freight terminal.
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[MAP] We are in Fort Worth, Texas now. The building at the end of the street is the Tarrant County Courthouse of 1895.
In 1963, Leonards department store constructed a transit line from the basement of their store to a parking lot about 7 tenths of a mile away.
They bought 7 PCC cars from the closed Washington, DC system, and modified them extensively, for high-platform loading, and adding a third door at what had been the rear of the car.
They made the cars double-ended, but they remained single-sided. Air conditioning was added.
The system was double-track, lefthand running. Each intermediate stop was either available inbound or outbound, but not both.
The bridges in the background cross the Trinity River.
Note the courthouse on the hill in the background.
The underground portion of the line, under Taylor Street, was 2 tenths of a mile long.
The Tandy Corporation bough the Leonards store and demolished it, using the site for their headquarters. They kept the subway, and rebuilt the cars once again.
In 2002, they closed the subway. While it ran, it was the only privately-owned subway in the US.
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Juarez, Mexico, was the destination of this El Paso Electric Railway car, operating over the world's first international streetcar line.
These views from the early 1940s are on the Mexican side of the border. The line was essentially a loop, crossing the Rio Grande river - the border - on two different bridges.
On the left is the Mexican freight Customs House, now a history museum.
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In 1949, El Paso purchased 17 PCC cars from the closed San Diego system.
During the 1960s and early 1970s the international streetcar line was repeatedly closed and reopened due to bridge reconstructions, customs house expansion, street widenings, disputes with toll collectors, and eventually the Mexican authorities cancelled El Paso City Lines's right to operate in Mexico. The truncated route on the American side closed for good in 1974.
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[MAP] The Denver Tramway Corporation in Colorado operated a 3 foot 6 inch narrow gauge city streetcar system. It also operated both narrow gauge and standard gauge interurban lines to Golden from a downtown loop terminal. They followed entirely different routes.
Its cars had unusually varied front window arrangements.
One of the few places in the system with dual gauge track.
The narrow gauge city car continues on route 75 to Barnum... while a standard gauge interurban approaches... and takes the dual gauge track towards downtown.
Another standard gauge interurban from Golden.
City and interurban service ceased in 1950.
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[MAP] In the last years, Phoenix Street Railway in Arizona operated service over 4 lines with 17 double-truck Birneys from American Car Company. In 1947, a carbarn fire destroyed all but 6 cars, and the system went all-diesel the next year. Mr. White got only a single shot, probably during the early 1940s.
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[MAP] Utah Power & Light operated the city cars in Salt Lake City until 1945.
The Salt Lake, Garfield & Western operated electric passenger trains from Salt Lake City to the Saltair resort until 1951, then dieselized.
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[MAP] A Yesler Way cable car in Seattle, Washington approaches its in-town terminal at Pioneer Square.
The Yesler Way cable car was the first to open and the last to close in Seattle, in 1940.
It was the last surviving cable car line outside San Francisco in North America, in fact in the entire world except for 4 very short lines in New Zealand.
The cars were originally open at both ends like the California Street cars in San Francisco. They were enclosed before World War One.
Approaching the Lake Washington terminal, two and one-half miles from Pioneer Square.
This 18% grade was steeper than any of the grades in San Francisco's current system except the steepest part of Hyde Street.
This may look like a cable car - see the slot in the tracks? - but it wasn't. It was the Queen Anne Hill counterbalance. The cars were conventional electrically-powered streetcars getting an assist going up and down the hill by a counterweight on the end of a cable.
Seattle's electric streetcar system featured an elevated, originally quite a bit longer than the section shown here, probably in 1940. The entire system closed only a year later.
The elevated was built in the West Seattle industrial district around World War One to avoid crossings with several railroad lines.
This was the line to Alki in West Seattle. West Seattle is on a peninsula across Elliott Bay from downtown Seattle.
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[MAP] The Ferry Building, at the foot of Market Street in San Francisco, California. Note the sign for Key System ferries to the Golden Gate International Exposition, dating these scenes to 1940.
The four tracks on Market Street carried cars of the Market Street Railway on the inside tracks, and the San Francisco Municipal Railway on the outer tracks. The two systems would merge in 1944, and the four tracks would be reduced to two a year later.
The California Street Cable Railway wouldn't join the Muni fold until 1952.
Approaching the crossing of Cal Cable with the Powell Street lines on Nob Hill, with the Bay Bridge in the distance.
An outbound Powell Street car, followed by an inbound.
The two Powell lines at the time of these movies were known as Powell - Mason and Washington - Jackson. Washington-Jackson was discontinued in 1956 and the current Powell-Hyde was opened in 1957.
We are back at Market Street.
The double-ended "Magic Carpet" streamliners were only a year old in 1940.
Cal Cable's shortie double-ended cars served the Jones Street shuttle, discontinued in 1954.
The Sacramento-Clay line, shown here at its Ferry Building terminal, was dieselized in 1942.
The less-than-one-mile Castro Street line was the last remnant of the once-mighty Market Street Cable Railway. The fact that it had steep grades saved it until more powerful diesel buses came along in 1941.
Not a cable car line, but the Fillmore Street counterbalance. Because two electric cars were attached to opposite ends of an unpowered cable, every other trip had to be left-hand running.
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[MAP] The Sacramento Northern connected Sacramento, California with Chico to the north, and San Francisco to the south, a total of 183 miles. The San Francisco to Chico through trains were the longest interurban run in the country.
The Eastbay Terminal was host to Key System articulated cars, the red cars of Southern Pacific's Interurban Electric, and the Sacramento Northern, although we first see it here leaving its 40th and Shafter yard in Oakland.
Note the trolleys and pantograph.
Through the Oakland Hills... These views were probably taken in 1940, because we know Mr. White was in Northern California at the time, and the Sacramento Northern discontinued passenger service a year later.
Approaching the Sacramento Northern's crossing of Suisun Bay on the ferry Ramon. It was one of only two interurban car ferries in the country.
Lisbon trestle.
Entry to Sacramento was over Tower Bridge, which is still in use.
"I" Street in Sacramento.
West Capitol Avenue in Sacramento.
In the distance is the California State Capitol Building.
Entering Union Terminal, which the Sacramento Northern had shared with the Central California Traction Company until the latter discontinued interurban passenger service in 1933. Sacramento Northern's interurban service ended in 1941. However their local streetcar service in Sacramento continued until 1944.
Central California Traction also operated local streetcars in Sacramento, as did Pacific Gas and Electric.
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[MAP] The Pacific Electric operated a network of interurban lines centered on Los Angeles, California. At its peak there were about one thousand miles of track, the largest interurban system in the country. Virtually any point of interest in the Los Angeles area could be reached by Pacific Electric cars.
A Hollywood class car as an Edendale local on Glendale Boulevard.
Same car type, newer paint scheme passing Grauman's Chinese.
The famous Angels Flight funicular on Hill Street, one of the PE's main routes through downtown Los Angeles.
The large building in the center background is the Pacific Electric's main downtown terminal and corporate offices at 6th and Main Streets. These cars are using the 3-block ramp that carries the tracks up to a two-block elevated that fansout to a 6-track station at the rear of the building. Two of the tracks went through the building, emerging onto Main Street, which was one story higher in elevation than the land at the back of the building.
Note the variety of the trains' destinations. The trains turn either north or south on San Pedro Street, another of the PE's major downtown routes.
These views were probably taken in 1940.
The four-car train is a Catalina Special on its way to meet the Santa Catalina Island ferry in San Pedro.
Here we see it making its way south on San Pedro crossing 7th Street.
San Pedro and 9th Street. The PCC car in the wake of the big PE interurban is a narrow gauge car of the Los Angeles Railways. Unlike Denver, where dual gauge trackage was rare, in Los Angeles's downtown it was fairly extensive.
A train turns from San Pedro into 7th, where there was a small storage yard underneath the elevated.
Hill Street. All three cars are Los Angeles Railways.
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A car on the Watts local line lays over at its northern terminus at Sierra Vista.
As the Pasadena car moves from the express to the local track, the Watts car fails to give way to the mainline car, but he insists! Pasadena Oak Knoll cars provided local service from here to the north end of the four-track. From here south, Watts cars provided most of the local service.
The Pacific Electric had stretches of four-track line both to the north and south of downtown - this is the northern part, with an inbound train.
This is Indian Village, where the four-track ends, for this inbound car, or begins for the Watts-Sierra Vista local.
A Western District car southbound on Hill Street between 4th and 5th.
A southbound train on the San Fernando Valley line passs the North Hollywood substation at Vineland Ave.
We can pretty well date these color views as being filmed in the fall of 1944, because Angelus Temple is still draped in mourning for Aimee Semple McPherson. The blue car is northbound on Glendale Boulevard towards either Burbank or North Glendale.
The box motor on the Glendale-Burbank line is on the high trestle over Fletcher Drive in the Elysian Hills.
"Famous" referred to a department store. This is on Brand Boulevard in downtown Glendale.
The wires branching off to the right were on Broadway.
The bridge goes over Verdugo Wash.
This train is turning off Brand Boulevard onto the Burbank line at Arden Junction. This 4 mile branch was single track on private right-of-way.
Continuing north on Brand... to the terminal in North Glendale.
The San Gabriel Mountains form the backdrop.
After World War Two, this portion of the line was single-tracked, the center line poles removed,
and the private right-of-way paved, thus entangling the PCCs with automotive traffic. Rail service on the line was discontinued in 1955.
We are back at Arden Junction, where the Burbank line branches off.
These double-ended PCCs, there were 30, were the last cars ever bought by the Pacific Electric, in 1940. They saw most of their service on the Glendale-Burbank line. After the Pacific Electric discontinued rail service, the cars were sold to the General Urquiza Railroad for use on their suburban lines out of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the background is the Glendale Tower, where the Southern Pacific and the Pacific Electric cross.
At Park and Glendale, a train from the West Hollywood shops is deadheading into the subway for evening rush hour.
A northbound Venice Short Line train on Hill Street.
Continuing north, it turns into the Hill Street surface station just beside the Hill Street Subway Station, between 4th and 5th Streets.
A southbound Venice Short Line train. That's a Los Angeles Railway car in the background.
This Venice Short Line train is on Venice Boulevard at Pico.
Continuing out Venice Boulevard.
Back on Hill Street, a southbound Echo Park local car mixes it up with some center-entrance type C "sowbelly" cars of the Los Angeles Railway.
And this is a Los Angeles Railway Huntington Standard on Spring Street, just south of its terminal at Sunset.
This Birney car is on the Edgeware Road Shuttle.
Another Huntington Standard on the "E" line on Ramona Boulevard in East Los Angeles.
An eastbound "sowbelly" on the "A" line approaching Virgil Avenue on Fountain.
Another eastbound car, this one on Monroe at Vermont on the "V" line. That's Los Angeles Community College in the background.
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[MAP] The Union Depot in San Diego, California was and remains one of its major transportation hubs.
San Diego was an early adopter of the PCC cars - their first order was placed in 1936. During World War Two, when these views were filmed, you could see a virtual parade of historic cars.
These cars were built for San Diego by the American Car Company in 1924.
And these wood-bodied oldtimers from 1906 came to San Diego third-hand, from New York Railways via Third Avenue Railways.
During the war transit ridership went up 600%, so women got a shot at operating. Most of San Diego's PCCs were sold to El Paso after streetcar service ended in 1949.
Broadway, San Diego's main drag.
This second hand car came from Wilkes-Barre Railways.
And this one came from Utah Power & Light in Salt Lake City.
This car is on the number four line, turning from "B" Street onto 3rd Avenue
On Imperial Avenue, approaching the underpass of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern, nearing the end of the number four line.
There were three steel trestles in Balboa Park, where the famous San Diego Zoo is located. This is the middle one.
This car is on a shuttle from the ferry terminal on Coronado Island to the Hotel Del Coronado. It is completely isolated from the rest of the system.
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