Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Bay Area Behemoths

Bay Area Behemoths
by Art Peterson

all photos are from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

The Southern Pacific (SP) gets a horrible rap for its latter-day attitude towards commuters and intercity passengers. Yet, the East Bay area commute territory provides a couple of examples where SP management went above and beyond to make things better for its riders. The first instance was the consolidation of independent operators (San Francisco & Oakland and the San Francisco & Alameda) under the Central Pacific banner in 1870 and then the further consolidation of the South Pacific Coast narrow-gauge lines into this operation 17 years later. This could be dismissed simply as strengthening SP’s competitive position, while the later standard-gauging of the ex-SPC lines certainly made things easier operationally for SP.

After having had the East Bay commute traffic to itself for 30+ years, SP had to adjust to the Key Route’s electric trains intruding on the scene from late 1903. This affront happened right in SP’s face at University and Shattuck in Berkeley. Key’s founder, Francis Marion Smith, had much the same motivation as Henry Huntington did in Los Angeles; both saw the value-enhancing role that good transportation could play for their real estate holdings.

SP implemented several measures to improve the time-keeping and speed of its steam services to counteract the Key threat. Key kept expanding, opening lines serving Piedmont, Claremont and central Oakland (another direct threat to a previously-SP-dominated market) in succession. By 1911, they were also opening their Northbrae and Westbrae lines, fueling the suburbanization of previously undeveloped land. In the period 1890 to 1910, Alameda had doubled in size, while Oakland grew three-fold and Berkeley expanded eight-fold. Both Key and SP saw East Bay commuter ridership as a serious growth market.

SP’s big move this time around was a stunner – replace the steam trains with an electrified system, a worthy competitor to the Key System. Initially, SP considered cars similar to what Key was using, but finally they settled on big, steel MU cars, each coach being 72’-10.5” long over pulling faces and 10’-4” wide. This allowed 3-2 seating accommodating a total of 116 riders per coach. SP expected to spend around $4 million for the electrification, and this decision came straight from the top – from Edward H. Harriman, who became the president of the SP in 1901. In fact, SP would spend considerably more than was expected in the electrification project – well past $10 million.   

Ground zero for the ridership wars between Key System and SP was Berkeley. In the foreground, a two-car train of dark olive green SP cars (with their original square end windows and roof-mounted GE arc headlights) waits at the handsome, 1908-vintage Berkeley station. The SP line has been rebuilt to include the centered catenary supports and wider track centers adopted with the coming of the big electric cars. Meanwhile, a three-car train of Key 500-series suburban cars shares Shattuck Avenue with a Key streetcar in the background.

In the first year of electrified operation, SP reported revenue amounting to $1.3 million against expenses of $1.7 million to the State Railroad Commission. These figures did not include any interest on SP’s capital investment or payments into sinking funds. SP went before the Commission the following year (1914), again requesting an increase in fares and demonstrating that it was losing money on every 10-cent (first zone) fare it collected. The road went away empty-handed once again. This went on year after year; in 1917, SP’s presentation to the Commission reflected a deficit of nearly $600,000. Once again, the Commission would not grant an increase.

Finally, in 1918 and again in 1919, SP appealed to a new party to the proceedings – the US Railroad Administration – for fare increases. The Administration granted an increase of 1 cent on the first zone fares in 1918 and followed this up with a 3.5-cent increase on its first zone fares in 1919.

Despite these increases, SP found itself operating at a loss of around $500,000 per year. In early 1920, SP implemented a reduction in the number of cars operated to try and control operating expenses. However, by this time ridership on the SP-East Bay Lines was slipping – between 1919 and 1920, 24% of the riders were lost. The rate of decay slowed a bit in the first half of the 1920s, with the next five years seeing only a 0.5% decrease in annual passenger traffic. In that brief period of stability, SP added six new St. Louis-built MU cars to the East Bay fleet in 1924, which would be the final additions to the roster.

IER Trains on Approach to Oakland Pier – December 23, 1938 – AR Alter Photo
High-capacity electric railroading, SP-style. The approach tracks to the Oakland Mole included four electrified tracks and four tracks for the use of steam/diesel trains. Here, a two-car train headed by car 306 (part of the original 1911 order for ACF-built cars) is filling a 3-Berkeley-Shattuck Avenue trip, while a single car works a 5-Berkeley-9th Street service. Use of the numbered disks, end destination signs and the full-height gates were among the more visible requirements for running over the Bridge Railway. IER had been the service operator for just over three weeks at the time. Within a month, operation to/from the Mole would be a thing of the past. 

In the period 1925-1930, a reduction in ridership of almost 20% occurred, while between 1930 and 1935, this trend accelerated to -22%, and then increased to -26% between just 1935 and 1938. Even the opening of the Bay Bridge and the provision of a one-seat ride to/from San Francisco couldn’t help the Interurban Electric Railway, or IER, as the operation was known after December 1, 1938. Traffic in 1939 was down 6%, with a further 3% decrease reported for 1940 (when just 9.6 million riders were carried). Out of its revenue, IER had to pay the California Toll Bridge Authority a 2.5 cents per passenger toll for each passenger carried in/out of the East Bay Terminal.

Planning for the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco-based terminal facility had begun as early as 1932 as a cooperative effort between the State Department of Public Works, the Key System and SP. The 6.9-mile extension that the Bridge Railway represented was to be owned by the California Toll Bridge Authority, which had secured $15 million in Reconstruction Finance Corporation bonds. On March 6, 1936, SP/IER had reached an agreement with the Authority to deed 52 cars of the East Bay fleet to the Authority in return for Authority-secured funds to make the necessary equipment changes to the fleet in preparation for Trans-Bridge service.

The first spike on the Bridge Railway was driven on the first day of February 1938. Just shy of eight months later, the first train went across the Bay Bridge using the 600V DC third rail distribution provided for the Key System trains. IER combines 601-602 operated a second cross-bridge test trip on the last day of November, while IER coaches 357-375 became the first cars to enter the East Bay Terminal on December 18, 1938.

Ceremonial specials to/from the Terminal operated on January 14, 1939, and the next day regular, revenue service to/from San Francisco began. Six tracks looped through the terminal facility, with tracks 1-2-3 being used by the IER and the other three tracks being shared by Key and Sacramento Northern (SN) trains. Each platform could accommodate a 10-car consist. Between Key System, IER and SN, the initial weekday service included 519 scheduled departures from the terminal. PM rush service scheduled 52 arrivals and 51 departures, all made on a 75-second headway.

IER 628 – East Bay Terminal – 1939 – AR Alter Photo
SP-owned combine 628 (an 83-seat car from the 1912 Pullman order) leads a 4-Encinal Avenue (Alameda) train. At the time, daily ridership on this line was around 4,000 users. The Bridge Railway was confronted with varying electrical supply demands of the three using roads – IER was a 1200V DC catenary operation, Key used 600V DC catenary and SN could run on either 600, 1200 or 1500V DC.  Ultimately, the Bridge Railway was built using 1200V DC catenary and 600V DC third rail. This required the Key cars to have third rail shoes added.

To enhance the safety of such an intense operation, all trains were to receive cab signal equipment. General Railway Signal (GRS) equipment was installed on the Key and SN cars, while the IER cars used Union Switch & Signal (US&S)-made equipment. To manage the flow of trains onto the correct tracks within the Terminal, a train describer system on the west end of the bridge itself sorted the IER trains (right-hand lead track) from the Key/SN train (left-hand lead).

With the restructuring of the IER operation to focus trains onto the Bridge Railway (as opposed to having Oakland and Alameda Piers to provide the ferry connections), the lines serving Alameda Island connected to the mainland network at the east end of the island. This meant that what had once been a 9.7-mile trip via the Alameda Pier now became a 19.8-mile trip from East Bay Terminal to High Street, Alameda. You can see how going the long way around would lead to ridership reductions on these lines.

Unfortunately for IER, ridership across its system was not materializing to the extent envisioned and reductions in service went into effect from February 26, 1940. Where IER had been scheduling 210 weekday departures, now it was running only 162 trains east from San Francisco (a 23% reduction). Sundays/Holidays were subject to an 11% reduction in departures, with 114 now being operated.

IER – Shattuck-Vine - 1941
SP steam operations to Berkeley ran for 35 years, with the last SP steam train on Shattuck Avenue run on December 30, 1911. The successor electrified service by SP/IER was in place for just shy of 30 years, with IER’s last train to Shattuck Avenue leaving East Bay Terminal at 0116 on July 25, 1941. Vine Street, where this photo was taken, was 11.6 miles from the Terminal, located between the Berkeley main station and Thousand Oaks. To improve the visibility of the trains, cherry red exterior paint replaced the olive green within a year of starting operation. This car also reflects the rebuilding of the original order with porthole end windows, which was done to enhance crew safety/protection.

IER petitioned the Railroad Commission for abandonment of operations on the ground that it was not financially justified. The Commission concurred on August 26, 1940, while the ICC agreed with this determination on November 9, 1940. The two lines serving Alameda (Encinal and Lincoln Avenues) were the weakest of the system, and both made their last runs on January 18, 1941. These rail lines were replaced by Key System bus service.

Service on the 7th Street Line ended on March 21, 1941, at which time IER’s West Alameda Shops were also closed. All IER railcar maintenance was thereafter handled out of the Bridge Yard. A replacement Key System rail service to Havenscourt began running on April 14, 1941.

The IER Berkeley Lines were originally planned to finish up operations on March 1, 1940. This was postponed due to Key not having sufficient cars on hand to operate the replacement service. Key considered the lease of the Authority-owned ex-IER cars, but the State would not concur with this. The last day of IER 9th Street and Shattuck Avenue services was July 25, 1941.

Ultimately, Key had to rearrange its service plans to provide sufficient rail equipment, including giving up on plans for ‘G’ and ‘H’ rail lines. The ‘G’ line (now operated by motor bus) began on July 26, 1941. A track connection between Key and the ex-IER line at Shattuck/Dwight was made and Key ‘F’ line trains began running to Northbrae on August 6, 1941.

Part of the IER 7th Street line was used by East Bay Transit streetcar lines 1 and 3, while a portion of the 9th Street line was operated as part of the Richmond Shipyard Railway. The Shipyard Railway also made use of ex-IER pantographs and pilots (installed on former New York elevated cars), in addition to employing two IER substations, overhead catenary and rail (salvaged from various lines).

On March 15, 1944, the California Toll Bridge Authority sued IER for $15.8 million in damages, alleging Breach of Contract. This was finally settled in December 1945 for $750,000. The IER Board filed its Certificate of Dissolution as part of its August 3, 1949 meeting and the Railway ceased to exist.

And what of the IER fleet? The Bridge Authority owned 52 cars (30 motors and 22 trailers). After cessation of IER service, these were initially taken to the Key Pier and stored. The cars were sold for continued use (with all motor cars de-motorized) to the following locations: Aberdeen Proving Grounds (until 1954); the Ogden Army Depot (through 1947); the Red River Army Depot (until the end of 1954); by the Gulf Shipbuilding Company for use between Mobile and Chickasaw (through 1945); and for Los Angeles-San Diego military service on the Santa Fe (until 1947).

AT&N X-210 – Memphis, TN
One of the 10 de-motorized IER cars that had been originally bought by Gulf Shipbuilding for use on “The Gulf Arrow” service between Mobile and Chickasaw later (after 1945) found its way into the Alabama Tennessee & Northern (AT&N) work car fleet. Used as a kitchen car, this car reportedly survived until 1970. Some sources assign this car directly in the Frisco work car fleet with the number 102292. The AT&N was absorbed into Frisco in 1971, but neither car/identity shows up on surviving rosters. No longer requiring the double-stream entry/exit platform to swallow crowds, the car has had the inner set of doors plated over and steps removed as part of its work train reassignment.

Of the 94 cars to which SP retained title, all but eight were requisitioned by the United States Maritime Commission. Cars from this group ended up in: Portland, OR (shipyard service to/from Vancouver, WA via the SP&S); San Diego (AT&SF military service fleet); two cars were retained by the USMC at PE-Torrance Shops and from there one each went to Ft. McClellan, AL and to Bremerton, WA; and SP retained two and used them as temporary office space. Three of the SP cars were scrapped by Hyman-Michaels in South San Francisco circa 1941.

Ex-IER Trailer – near Gresham, OR – June 11, 1956 – George Krambles Photo
The ACF order of 1911 originally was for 60 cars, of which 30 were to be trailers. It was later increased to 125 cars, increasing the quantity of each type of car (motor, trailer and combine) received. Over time, SP/IER rebuilt 10 of the 400-series trailers to motor cars. All but one of the trailers (404) retained its square end windows through to the end of service. After the end of IER operations, 15 of the trailers migrated north to Oregon for use on Portland-Vancouver (WA) shipyard service. Which SP/IER car this may have been has been lost to history, but it is indicative of how the cars got scattered by the USMC.

The bulk of the SP-held cars (54) made their way to Los Angeles and initially were used by the USMC and later by Pacific Electric (PE). These were the famous PE “blimps” where they joined ranks with the 19 similar ex-Northwestern Pacific cars. In 1953, PE sold its operation to Metropolitan Coach Lines (and the surviving blimps went with the property). In 1958, the operation was sold to Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority and the remaining blimps finished out their operating days (last day for the LA-Long Beach rail operation was April 9, 1961) under that banner.

PE 498 – EB Oneonta Junction, South Pasadena – March 1950 – S Goodrick Photo
Arriving in Los Angeles in 1943 as IER 627, this car was renumbered to USMC 27 to avoid a conflict with PE’s Hollywood-type car 627. Its identity was changed to USMC 302 in 1944 and then it became PE 4702 in 1946. PE’s Torrance Shops began a major modernization program on both the ex-NWP and former IER “Blimps” and the 4702 was rebuilt into PE 498 on August 15, 1947. PE’s employee magazine carried a feature article on this work under the title “Remodeled Luxury Liners,” noting that $7,500 per car was being spent. Work included new seats, reflector-type lighting, a drop ceiling, and vestibule doors replacing the sliding gates. The 498 retained its PE number during Metropolitan Coach Lines days, but when the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority took over, it was assigned number 1546. It made exactly one trip with that number (a May 25, 1959 fan trip) and was sold to the Orange Empire Trolley Museum in 1961.  

Acknowledgements:  this article would not be possible without HW Demoro’s “The Key Route – Part One: (Interurbans Special 95 – 1985), RS Ford’s “Red Trains in the East Bay” (Interurbans Special 65 – 1977), RS Ford’s “Red Trains Remembered” (Interurbans Special 75 – 1980) and IL Swett’s “Cars of the Pacific Electric – Volumes II and III” (Interurbans Specials 36 and 37 – 1965). In addition, the assistance of Phil Gosney and Greg Sommers in researching the post-IER careers of the rolling stock is gratefully acknowledged. The work of each of the original photographers (where known) is also sincerely appreciated.

Monday, November 4, 2024

Fifty Years

Frank writes...


My father and I were both at IRM on Saturday for reasons that will be made clear shortly. The big news was that Richard made a lightning trip out east during the week and visited the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad. The M&H's former owner, Wendell Dillinger, died late last year; he had been a major force in CA&E preservation in the 1960s and saved quite a bit of CA&E-related material. He left his estate to the M&H Railroad and its employees, so they've started distributing his collection. Some of the CA&E artifacts have now arrived at IRM. Thanks to Mike Graycar and the people of the M&H Railroad for making these items available and to Bill Wall for facilitating the acquisitions. Special thanks to the late Wendell Dillinger, who had the foresight to preserve these items.
There were some boxes of paperwork, which is appreciated and which we will go through and scan. A lot of the items were patterns, as shown above. Some of these were obvious - brake heads, center bearings, swing link hangers - but others weren't. All of them had CA&E pattern numbers painted on them, which is good, but of course we don't have the key. Still, these were dutifully labeled and added to our collection of patterns.
All, that is, except for this pile. We're really excited to get these because this appears to be a full set of patterns for casting third rail beam components! From left to right, you've got contact shoes; suspension links, with the contact shoe hanger behind it; in the foreground, the large casting that bolts to the underside of the wooden beam; then a wooden pattern for the base of the sleet scraper cylinder (the second board behind it is the sleet scraper shoe); and in the box at right are patterns for the sleet scraper cylinder. Wow, neat! We acquired a number of third rail beams from Trolleyville back in 2010, but not as many as we need, and we're a total of five beams short. We are going to look into pricing for getting these components cast, hopefully in the near future. Watch this space for updates!
While we were sorting parts, the boss stopped by. "The beatings will continue until morale improves." Many thanks to Zach and Ashton, who worked with me to get the patterns into storage. And a huge thank you to Richard for making the trip out east and loading all these items!
After that, I worked in the 460 for a while. It took some time and elbow grease, but I got all the screws to thread into the first replacement seat back, after which we added the cushions. Voila, the first seat is done! My father models it, pointing out the window at a North Shore car going past as part of a switch move to rearrange the 714 and 749.
In other news, a contractor was working during the week to spray foam insulation into the ceiling of Barn 4. There's more to go, but they made a lot of progress.

In the evening came the main event: a small party to celebrate my father having been an IRM volunteer for 50 years! He joined in July 1974 and started working on the 309 in 1975.
Pizza and cake were enjoyed by all. Many thanks to my wife Bevin, who ordered the cake, made up the decorations and party favors, and was really behind the entire thing.
My father thought ahead and brought a bottle of sparkling grape juice, which went quickly. Photo by David Fullarton.
Here he is cutting the cake with Bill, Jon, Norm and Steve at the table behind him, while some of the younger "second shift" guys are in the background.
After the food came a slide show, with my father showing a few trays of slides he took from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s. Here he is, pointing out something, with onlookers including me, Will, Mike, and Steve. Photo by Zach Ehlers. Many thanks to all who attended, and of course, a big congratulations to my dad on 50 years of volunteering!

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Recognize This Part?

Tim Peters needs another two dozen of these hinge pins.  If you might have some like this, please let us know!

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

From Another Angle

We welcome Steve Smunt and Paul Hough as contributors, who have started sending photos of their work on the 277.  


Start of rehab.  Window sashes, interior transom, jambs, and mullions have been removed from windows #9,10. The exterior transom with 1913 art glass is exposed.

The alligatored paint has been heat stripped off the wall veneer.

A close-up view of the failed paint during removal.


Paul Hough is positioning the compression brace for regluing wall linoleum to the bulkhead
.

The compression brace for regluing wall linoleum is in its ready position.  The first top coat of tan wall enamel has been applied.


The editor adds: This compression brace is the one I made back in the late 70's for gluing the veneer back onto the walls of the 309.  And I never throw anything out.  Incidentally, pictures such as the third one down bear an uncanny resemblance to what the 309 used to look like. 

IT 277 Progress

 Gregg reports on recent work on the IT combine 277.


Some more progress on the 277. An old belt was reused to make a strap. A grommet was also recycled.


Steve and Paul are making good progress on the interior. Stripped and sanded. Then white primer.


In the baggage compartment are a slack adjuster and a brake shoe. Recently the 277 was over the pit for its yearly inspection. Some problems were discovered and are being worked on. Meanwhile, some of the parts are being stored on the floor.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

End of the Season

Frank writes...


We're posting a bit out of order here, but my father got his post about Monday's news written before I even started on my post about Sunday's news. Oh well. Sunday was the end of the museum's regular season and the final day of the Pumpkin Train event. It was also (barely) warm enough for another coat of paint on the latest "broom job" cosmetic restoration subject.

I put a third coat of orange on the entire car below the belt rail. It may need one more coat, I'm not sure, but it is looking a lot better regardless. If I get another day or two of warm weather this fall, great; if not, then in the spring we'll apply the maroon pin-striping, black lettering, and grey roof paint. After this, I went along Bruneau Drive at Joel's request and used a paint marker to identify some of our spare air compressors. I believe the plan is to move these into indoor storage in the new Barn 4 addition.
The exciting news came after we returned from dinner, though. After cleaning up a couple of the antimacassars from the 451, I took one of the reupholstered seat backs over to the 460 for a test fitting. The lights didn't work because the batteries were dead - this darn modern technology! - but by flashlight, I was able to get the first redone seat back into place.
Success! It's hard to see below, but I got two of the three machine screws that go down through the tube frame into the seat back threaded in. The third is close but I couldn't get it to thread in; with leatherette and fabric in the way, it's almost impossible to see exactly what you're doing. But we'll get there. It will also be a simple job to install the three wood screws that go sideways into the bottom of the seat back, and then we install new cushions and voila! You can see in the above photo that some of the original seats in the 460 are pretty rough; the one I took out for this test-fitting had stuffing spilling out. This will be a big improvement.
In other news, the future car shop parking lot has been scraped down. I don't think they plan on paving it this week, but that may happen sometime later in November. Several of the Sunday regulars were off on a field trip, but Joel was buzzing around doing Joel things. Jimmy was in streetcar service all day, but after he put the 3142 away, he retrieved an air gauge from the 309 that had been acting up and repaired it. Thanks, Jimmy!
And finally, Joel sends along this photo taken inside the cab of the Electroliner, where I believe they have gotten a coat of finish paint on almost everything. So, that's coming along.

Monday, October 28, 2024

Monday, Monday

It's been a while since I happened to be in the car shop when all the 306 guys were there, so we have a lot of progress photos to share today.  But first, a relic from the distant past.

Back in 70's, we built a platform attached to the building posts along the south wall of Barn 4 for working on the roof of the 309.  The storage box seen below, which had been nailed to the walls inside the 321, was attached to the barn near the roof.  Later, when the platform was removed, the box was inaccessible.  But since that section of the barn is being rebuilt, it was possible for Tim to take the box down to get it out of the way.


Gee, I haven't seen these brushes and cans for about 40 years.  But into the trash they go.


However, the box has been preserved for future use.

I soldered together the third and last bearing.  It looks just like the others.  Now they go to the machinist.

So let's see what's happening on the 306.  Here Fritz is cutting some metal parts.


Gerry and Phil are installing the boards above the windows in the main compartment.



The new ceiling is being installed:



And Gerry is working on repairing the sandboxes for the car:


And among other things, John is preparing these covers for the light switches:


It's really going to look great.

Tim has finished another door for the 1808:


And the interior is coming along nicely.


The cab:



Steve Iversen is working on doors for the Kansas City PCC.  


I've never liked PCC doors.  I'm not sure Steve does either.  But them's the breaks.



He has also ordered new glass for the front windows, since the old glass was broken.


And of course there were other projects going on elsewhere, you just have to be there.

Finally, for some reason Track 52 was pulled and the train parked on Station 2.  Pretty spiffy.


Next stop, Washington Union Station!