TIMEPOINTS VOL 3 NO 01 July 1951

THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRACTION REVIEW

CLUB NEWS

TIMEPOINTS NOW ADDS IMPROVED APPEARANCE

Readers will notice that once again TIMEPOINTS has taken a step forward. Commencing with this issue and the Special Reference Supplements (#2), which accompanies it, TIMEPOINTS is multi-lithographed rather than mimeographed, a process, which permits great clarity of type and better reproduction of maps.

TIMEPOINTS is now printed at Yale University’s Duplicating Center. Because of rate-scale differences, this improvement is gained with no added cost.

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AND MESSAGE TO TIMEPOINTS READERS

Due to an unexpected shift in personal circumstances, the Editor’s trip west, which had been planned for this July and August, has had to be cancelled.

ALL EXCHANGE PUBLICATIONS, which had received notification of a schedule of address changes for TIMEPOINTS, which included the California sojourn, are hereby notified to continue sending their publications to the above address until the 15th of September.

The Editor will spend the entire summer of 1952 in Southern California, as he will then be doing research for a Senior Essay involving the history of the street railways of the region. [The Pacific Electric Railway Company 1910-1953, 1953]

This trip cancellation, of course, means that the Editor has the unique and not particularly fortunate task of producing a publication dealing with a region which he has not seen with his own eyes for, as it well be next May, something like twenty months. This may very justifiably disappoint some readers, who would prefer TIMEPOINTS to be “closer to home.”

Yet there are good reasons why TIMEPOINTS should continue to be produced from New Haven. It is very doubtful that multlith rates as low as TIMEPOINTS now enjoys could be obtained in Los Angeles. The magazine’s perspective is broadened by articles on Eastern companies and lines (we hope to have one on Boston in the near future). It must not be forgotten that 42.6% of those who receive TIMEPOINTS live outside the Southern California area. And, from a practical standpoint, there is no one who has volunteered to take over the monthly chore in Los Angeles, while your Editor continues willing to do so (and to contribute a good share of its expenses) from New Haven.

Lastly, and probably most important of all, TIMEPOINTS is fortunate enough to have an able News Editor in Alan Weeks, who does live in Los Angeles and sends us up-to-date news reports. It is true that a certain amount of freshness of our news, is lost during the mails, but after all, most Southern California railfans get the news orally at Ira Swett’s Sunday night open house anyway, and the news articles in TIMEPOINTS have the main function of (1) providing a historical, month by month, record of the news, for later reference, and (2) informing non-Southern California subscribers of the news of the area.

And as far as historical material goes, the Editor has enough in New Haven to last him well beyond May, 1952, while there are certain SC-ERA member sources that can also be drawn upon. In fact, TIMEPOINTS of late has been going to PE itself, as in the case of the new Newport supplement, through H.O. Marler, Passenger Traffic Manager of the company.

So the Editor asks all TIMEPOINTS readers to bear with him as he continues to produce the magazine from across the continent. He asks that it be remembered that SC-ERA itself was founded similarly from the same remote location, and that this has in no way obstructed the development or the success of the organization.

The fact nearly fifty persons subscribe to TIMEPOINTS indicates that such a publication is by no means redundant. With the confidence and support of its readers, it will continue to progress, in spite of handicaps, into the indefinite future.

-LRV, Editor

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LOCAL TRANSIT NEWS

ICC APPROVES PE’S NORTHERN ABANDOMENTS

The Interstate Commerce Commission has given its approval to the abandonment of rail service on PE’s Sierra Vista, Pasadena Short Line, and Monrovia-Glendora routes. PE has not decided whether all three lines will go bus at once or one by one. The dates are still nebulous, but 10 buses have been shipped to PE as the first contingent of the company’s new order. (LATL has also been receiving new buses, some going into service June 17.

BAY AREA HAS UNUSUAL TOUR OF SACRAMENTO...By BA-ERA

On June 3, 1951, former car 12 of the Saskatoon Municipal Railway, Saskatchewan, toured Sacramento, Calif., as the first streetcar to run on the streets of that city since the fourth day of 1947. The car is now to be preserved at the SN station in Oakland.

PE BUSINESS CAR 1299 TO ENJOY BUSY FINAL SEASON

The Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (BA-ERA) announces plans for a member-only trip using PE 1299, to San Bernardino, Glendora, and Pasadena via Short Line, scheduled for the last day of rail operation on those lines.

The Southern California Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association (SC-ERA), also has tentative plans for a trip using 1299 (sole PE car now equipped for 1200-volt operation) on San Bernardino line, probably early in August.

As the car seats but 23 persons, 1299 will not be wasted on these two excursions, which will be the final PE passenger trains on the San Berdo line. SC-ERA may also charter the last Glendora deadhead on the line’s final night.

LATL SCRAPS WOOD STANDARDS, 950, AND ‘BF’s...By Alan Weeks

After a long period of idle storage, a great many of the wooden cars no longer used in passenger service by the Los Angeles Transit Lines have been scrapped.

Included in the group of cars taken to South Park early in June were the last twenty of the historic open-door wood standards which once ran in the hundreds along the streets of the city. These cars, 600-619, had been retired from service on April 24, 1949; being replaced on line “V” by 518-536, 1151-1156, which since then has also entered storage themselves. However, two cars, 616 and 618, saw service for two weeks in January of 1950.

Car 950, former funeral car used by SC-ERA, on its first LATL excursion last July 16, was also scrapped. This car had remained in tripper service on the “V” line until about a year ago.

The following type ‘BF’s were scrapped: 187-200, which had not seen service for quite a while; 425, 430, 431, 438-458, 479, which had last run on the “N” line but were removed from service when the “N” went 100% H4 in mid-June, 1950.

From South Park, the stripped cars were hauled away in trucks.

This scrapping far from exhausts the company’s supply of unused wooden equipment, which includes the BGs (468, 518-536) and the big 1100s. How long these other cars will remain is not know.

PE 700s TO REPLACE BLIMPS ON SOUTH LINE...........By BA-ERA

With the end of service on the Glendora line, Pacific Electric’s 700-class cars will enter service on the San Pedro and Bellflower lines of the Southern District.

Two-man operation, it is almost certain, will be retained. This will probably result in the scrapping of a number of the big 400s, which have been operating on the routes since the World War II.

EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS TO FILL UP SPACE

On June 30, 1945, the New York City Transit System had 191.40 route miles of trolley track in operation on the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, with 1228 cars.

On June 30, 1949, the company had 108.60 miles of trolley routes, and 622 cars.

On June 30, 1951, but 3 lines remain: Church, Coney Island, and McDonald, all using PCC cars.