Red Cars Pacific Electric Railway Employee Safety Newsletter Los Angeles 1945

Description

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Estate sale find, original vintage copy of Pacific Electric Railway Company Safety News, Volume 4, Number 4, April 1945.
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 1920’s. 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.
The Pacific Electric Railway was created in 1901 by railroad executive Henry E. Huntington and banker Isaias W. Hellman. As a Vice President of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), operated by his uncle, Collis P. Huntington, Huntington had a background in electric trolley lines in San Francisco where he oversaw SP’s effort to consolidate many smaller street railroads into one organized network.
When uncle Collis died, Henry lost a boardroom battle for control of the Southern Pacific to Union Pacific President E. H. Harriman. Huntington then decided to focus his energies on Southern California.
When the freeway system was planned in the 1930’s the city planners planned to include interurban tracks in the center margin of each freeway but the plan was never implemented.
Aware that most new arrivals planned to stay in the region after WWII, local municipal governments, Los Angeles County and the state agreed that a massive infrastructure improvement program was necessary. At that time politicians agreed to construct a web of freeways across the region.
This was seen as a better solution than a new mass transit system or an upgrade of the PE.
Softcover, illustrated, 12 pages, Language: English, Product Dimensions: roughly 8.5″ X 11″, approximate shipping weight: 5 ounces.
PLEASE SEE PHOTOS FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS – The booklet is in overall Good used condition, signs of wear, surface scuffs, sunning, fading, age toning, soiling, creases, stains, no writing, no odors. Please see images.
(C1A10-002)