Westbound local freight at Claremont
Steeple-cab motor 1619, assembled at PE’s Torrance Shops in 1924, heads a local freight west near Claremont on the San Bernardino line in 1945.Wm. K. Barham
Box motor at Azusa
Westbound at Azusa on the Glendora line, box motor 1447 has a single boxcar in tow on January 4, 1951. The unit was one of five built for Southern Pacific’s Oregon lines in 1913 and transferred to the PE in the late 1920s.William D. Middleton
Westbound at Oneonta Park
Baldwin VO1000 diesel 1321, leased from PE parent Southern Pacific, is westbound at Oneonta Park, junction of lines from Glendora and Pasadena (track at extreme left) in 1949. Diesels on PE used trolley poles to activate signals, which were controlled from the overhead.D. K. Hedgpeth
Twin pushers
Steeple-cabs 1622 and 1619 shove against PE caboose 1961 as they lend a hand to a freight departing the yards at San Bernardino in about 1947.
Wm. K. Barham
Water from Arrowhead Springs
PE 1591 waits on the north side of San Bernardino with three cars of water from Arrowhead Springs for clearance to enter the city’s street trackage in March 1940. The 300 h.p. unit is one of two steeple-cabs built by Baldwin in 1920 for a Cuban railway but never delivered.Harold F. Stewart
Four diamonds at Amoco
Steeple-cab 1610 clatters east across the four-track line to Watts at Amoco Tower with a Western Division freight for PE’s Butte Street Yard. Note the interlocking tower perched on a structure above the crossing.Wm. K. Barham
Steam and electric
Leased Southern Pacific 2-6-0 1740 leads PE motor 1625 on a San Bernardino-bound freight near Etiwanda on October 26, 1945. The electric is tagging along to activate signals with its trolley pole.F. J. Peterson
Tripleheader on a trestle
Steeple-cabs 1631, 1626, and 1628 haul a freight west across the dry bed of the San Gabriel River west of Baldwin Park on the San Bernardino line.Robert Carlson
All this month — October 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Pacific Electric Railway.
Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include PE electric-, diesel-, and steam-powered freight trains through time.
You might also enjoy this Pacific Electric history article from Classic Trains or a passenger train gallery!
