The Trains that Built the Cities

This Museum Day post is about my visit to the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California. Tucked away in a remote part of the Inland Empire, the museum has one of the largest collections of interurban electric street cars that were used on the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles during the early 1900s. The museum collects and restores these beautiful vintage rail cars to preserve and share their historical significance in the development of transportation and communities in America. 

It was not too long ago in American history when the primary mode of intercity transportation was just walking.  So people shopped and worked close to their homes.  But this stationary lifestyle began to change in the late 1800s with the development of electric powered trains referred to as trolley or street cars.  As more and more trolley lines were built,  they evolved into expanded interurban railway systems that ran within and between cities. Developers began buying and selling large parcels of land near the trolley stations which lead to the development of new suburban communities.  Now people were able to move away from the city to suburban towns because they could use the trolley cars to travel to work and do their shopping. 

The Los Angeles Pacific Electric Railway in example of an interurban railway system that contributed to the development and expansion of Southern California. The street cars were endearingly nicknamed Red Cars due to their distinctive bright crimson red paint. By the 1920s, it was the largest interurban railway system in the world that connected cities between four large counties in Southern California: Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County. The railway system even boasted a 166-mile leisurely scenic route called the Kite Line or Balloon Route that was shaped like a double loop and passed through some of the most beautiful scenery.

Sadly, by the 1960s many electric cars, including the Pacific Electric Railway Red Cars, were discontinued and the rail lines were converted to roads to accommodate the automobile which became the primary form of transportation. However, in some cities like New York City and Chicago, the electric railway systems survived  and were modernized. But, sooner or later, everything old is new again and the electric rail systems are making a comeback as cities look for more sustainable transportation options to address social, economic, and environmental needs and impacts.