The Western Railway Museum is asking for donations to get the first PCC street car of the Western United States. This is a car that came from both San Diego and El Paso. It has been stored in someones yard for the last decade. It's a complete car and good candidate for their expert shop team to restore someday. There is also a video that tells the history of the PCC car. CHECK IT OUT!

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campa ... ectric-502

Here is another photo of PCC 502 in service.

Hi Ryan,

Not being negative or argumentive, but by my count, there is one or two of these at Orange Empire (now Southern California Railroad Museum) a group in El Paso, and one at the Baltimore Street Car Museum and one or two in San Diego..

I understand that the El Paso cars are being made into something representing LRVs, as are the cars in San Diego, while the Baltimore car is being presented as a Baltimore car (built on the same order)... OET may be spending more time on their LARy cars than the San Diego cars....

With all that said... convince me that this car should be preserved in Northern CA...

Randy

Southern California has an on going project to return San Diego 508 to service. This car was the first standard gauge car preserved by the then Orange Empire Traction Co. (soon renamed Orange Empire Trolley Museum). In 1958 it was one of several PCC cars not sold to El Paso and still stored in San Diego.

So many operating pcc cars in San Francisco too. I’m all for saving history, but this doesn’t seem particularly noteworthy to me either.

Not San Francisco -- But as the initial post says the Western Railway Museum (Bay Area Electric Railroad Association) is raising funds for the preservation.

The appeal on its website home page.
Preservation at the Museum is much more secure than the politics of a municipal transit operator.

“Preservation at the Museum is much more secure than the politics of a municipal transit operator.“

That’s debatable. :)

Hi all,

To answer some concerns you may have. The Museum's goal is to preserve and one day if needed restore electric railway artifacts of the western United States. There are no takers in So-Cal for this car. San Diego Trolley is not interested in having any additional PCC cars for the silver line or an air electric PCC for that matter. The Western Railway Museum now has on hand four cars from San Diego. We this car will fill the gap for telling San Diego's street railway history.

We also have the first of the last PCC cars built in the US (muni 1016-1040) in our collection being Muni 1016. We can also tell the story of the of the PCC car having both at the museum. I am working on better interpretation signs for the museum's collection to tell these stories.

This is an official campaign by the museum and not a foamers wet dream.

The San Diego Electric 502 has finally arrived at the Western Railway Museum! Thanks to everyone who helped support us in this endeavor. Here is a link to a video of the 502s move to the Museum.

https://youtu.be/EMEkd3cCICU

Job well done. Congratulations.

Congratulations,

For all, noting Ryan is younger that most if not all of us, and this is not his first project. He is a shining of our next generation.

Thanks for pointing that out... wonderful to hear.