Pacific Electric
The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s. Organized around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, it connected cities in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County.
"Red Car" redirects here. For the taxis of Hong Kong, see Taxicabs of Hong Kong. For the British town, see Redcar.Overview
Los Angeles, California
PE
1901–1961 (passenger), 1965 (freight)
Southern Pacific (freight)
Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, Los Angeles Metro Rail (passenger)
4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Overhead line, 600 V DC, 1200 V DC (San Bernardino Line only)
The system shared dual gauge track with the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge Los Angeles Railway, "Yellow Car," or "LARy" system on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles (directly in front of the 6th and Main terminal), on 4th Street, and along Hawthorne Boulevard south of downtown Los Angeles toward the cities of Hawthorne, Gardena, and Torrance.
The system had four districts:
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
Electric trolleys first appeared in Los Angeles in 1887.[1] In 1895 the Pasadena & Pacific Railway was created from a merger of the Pasadena and Los Angeles Railway and the Los Angeles Pacific Railway (to Santa Monica.) The Pasadena & Pacific Railway boosted Southern California tourism, living up to its motto "from the mountains to the sea."
The Pacific Electric railway electrification system was based on 600 volt direct current power delivered to cars via overhead line.[62][63] The San Bernardino Line operated partially at 1200 volts DC.
Some maintenance and operational sites include: