1299 on a Fan Trip
Looking north on Van Nuys Boulevard from Gault Street, PE 1299, their official business car, is preforming duty on what appears to be a fan trip. This Fred V. DuBritz photo was taken on May 3rd 1952. Note the incorrect destination roller sign reading “San Bernardino”. Displaying incorrect destination signs was a favorite trick of railfans to confuse unsuspecting travelers.
Fred V. DuBritz Photo, Michael Patris Collection
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The boy in the left window of 1299 is me.
I have been curious about the date of this trip but this is the first photo that I have seen that pinpoints it as 5-3-52. My dad, a PE employee, took the family on the trip that began at 6th & Main in the morning and covered a lot of Western District trackage.
We traveled the Air Line and may have visited the Soldiers Home as well as toward Alla and Inglewood. A trip to the Subway Terminal was included and was either before or after this stop; North Hollywood, a photo stop on the median of the 101 freeway too.
I would very much like to see any other photos made by Fred DuBritz or others of this trip as well as an itinerary of the day.
Some more comments about Sherman Way.
North Sherman Way had been the turnaround point for passenger service on the San Fernando line since June 1, 1938 when the lines to Canoga Park (Owensmouth) as well as to San Fernando were converted to bus. In the background, leading off to the left can be seen the pole line following the original right of way alignment toward Canoga Park and behind the 1299 beyond where the trolley wire stops is the route to San Fernando and the isolated trackage where PE continued to serve citrus packing houses into the 1960’s. This four mile ‘island’ was dieselized in 1943.
Apparently PE dropped the “North” from Sherman Way sometime prior to final rail abandonment on December 28,1952 as evidenced in this photo made seven months earlier.
Notice the door on the passenger shelter leading to the train register room is unlocked and the telephone bells can be seen above the roof. I’ll wager the local residents took a dim view of late night calls from the dispatcher.