The Final Pacific Electric Timetable?
By Charles Wherry
This Pacific Electric public timetable on thick card stock suitable for tacking to wood poles went into effect on August 31, 1953. A mere 31 days later, PE’s passenger operation was turned over to Metropolitan Coach Lines. This timetable covered rail service from Long Beach to Los Angeles and motor coach service from Long Beach to various destinations including San Pedro, Compton, Huntington Park, Pasadena, Santa Ana and Redlands.
It is likely that this edition was probably the last issue prior to the sale date of October 1, 1953. Long-time Pacific Electric Passenger Traffic Manager H.O. Marler’s name appears at the bottom right. I wonder if Mr. Marler chose to follow the passenger business with MCL or did he complete his career in some other capacity with PE?
Charles Wherry Collection
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He retired a few days after the sale to MCL, although he maintained that he was planning to retire anyway, after 50 years of working for PE. (He was 65, expected retirement age back then.)
Mr. Marler passed away July 10, 1969.
See “PE Traffic Chief Ends Long Service: Southland Has Been Huge Network of Rail Lines to H. O. Marler for Half a Century.” _Los Angeles Times_, October 12, 1953.
Interesting how the artwork jumped around. Looking at 11 different timetables from 1946 to 1951…the wing logo first appears in April ’51 (#1 Long Beach/San Pedro), but not in March (#18 Hollywood). My first schedule with the bus, it sits next to a PCC car and the bus has a slightly changed front (7/25/49 TT12 San Fernando Valley). For the earlier car, an eclipse fender is still shown in the depiction (05/22/47 TT13 Arcadia-Glendora/Sierra Madre. By June 1949, the fender detail has changed and appears that way in August (TT5 Santa Ana & TT11 Pasadena). The wimpy-blimpy first shows it’s dilated-eye fish face in April ’51 (TT1 Long Beach/San Pedro). Lettering is clear enought to read “Los Angeles Limited”. What’s definitely consistent is Mr. Marler and the standard warning “subject to change without notice”…a premonition?
The motor coach lines survived into the 70s under SCRTD, as I recall: (I left LA in 71)
LB – San Pedro became a Terminal Island Transit line
LB – Compton-Lynwood-Hunt Pk became RTD 66
LB – Whit-El Monte-Pas discontinued
LB – Pas via Atlantic Ave became RTD 61.
LB – S Ana – Riv became RTD 59, but the part from Riv to S Bern to Redlands became part of RTD 60 (or maybe 60G).
The 5-digit phone no. in Long Beach looked rather strange. In 1956, in most if not all of the LA area, 7-digit numbers were used.