Pacific Electric Red Car No. 1734
Car No. 1734 of the Pacific Electric Railway sits on the greenbelt near the Mary Wilson Library in Seal Beach on a few remaining tracks of the Newport-Balboa Line Right of Way. Local resident Virginia Hadley worked to rescue this Pacific Electric tower repair car, built in 1925, from being turned into a reef in the 1970s. Hadley then helped form the Seal Beach Historical Society that used the Red Car as a museum. It was chockful of pictures, artifacts and memorabilia of days gone by in Seal Beach. The car’s deterioration led to a public outcry that resulted in the City terminating the Society’s lease, removal of all the artifacts and the sale of the car to the local Lions Club. It has been repaired and repainted, but sits empty on the tracks to nowhere.
Seal Beach, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt