# Ride P.E. Red Cars Into History



## WhoozOn1st (Mar 12, 2013)

This L.A. Times feature story is about an older gentleman who gives well-attended talks about the Pacific Electric's place in SoCal history, and his personal connection to that history.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beat-red-car-regret-20130312,0,4034536.story - Traveling to an earlier L.A.

"His name is Jeff Arnett. He's a retired financial executive, an enthusiastic historian and a longtime railway buff. He tells them all about how [P.E. owner Henry] Huntington bought up land and grew his trolley system to take people to it.

"He brings back to life a long-ago Los Angeles, when his father worked at Bullocks, where children learned manners in the tea room on Wilshire. In a city still being built, the sound of the streetcars carried, and from his bed he could hear them rumbling through the night."

The article includes a link to a good photo gallery of the P.E., including one very interesting shot of an interurban-truck collision (OUCH!).




This 1935 P.E. train appears to consist of 3 motors and 2 unpowered "sleds." The only remaining example of the 1200 class resides at the Orange Empire Railway Museum at Perris, CA, and is currently undergoing restoration.​


----------



## leemell (Mar 12, 2013)

WhoozOn1st said:


> This L.A. Times feature story is about an older gentleman who gives well-attended talks about the Pacific Electric's place in SoCal history, and his personal connection to that history.
> 
> http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beat-red-car-regret-20130312,0,4034536.story - Traveling to an earlier L.A.
> 
> ...


I was very pleased to see he didn't perpetuate the myth about the redcars being done in by big oil and the auto industry.


----------

