As time goes on, the gap between "revenue service" and "today's date" becomes longer and longer for our preserved cars and locomotives. 2013 marks the 100th year since what is now PE 418 joined the Southern Pacific/Interurban Electric Ry. east bay electrification serving Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley CA. After running for 28 years as SP/IER 344, it was requisitioned by the US Maritime Commission during World War II for service the the Calship shipyard on Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor. It had been "stored serviceable" after IER quit in 1941. After running for a few years as USMC 344 (some Southern Californians nicknamed them "Missions" after the C in USMC) PE bought many of the cars, and 344 became PE 4614. After the war, PE decided to remodel the ex-IER cars (and the similar-looking units from Northwestern Pacific), replacing the sliding doorway gates with real doors, installing modern lighting and seats, and adding field shunts to the motor circuits to improve top speed. After PE scrapped their own 1200-class cars, and dealt the 1100's off to a railway in Argentina, these "hand-me-downs" became the last "Big Red Cars." Because of their large size, these cars became known as "Blimps" although one old PE motorman said the the crews sometimes called them "bombers". By the time LAMTA (version 1.1) closed the Long Beach Line, 418 had been renumbered 1528, and it escaped the scrap yard when the late Walter Abbenseth bought it from MTA in 1961 and rode it in Santa Fe local freights from LA to Perris, where it joined the growing collection at what was then Orange Empire Trolley Museum. OVer the years, 418 has been renumbered, repainted, various mechanical work has been done, and it's as close to the 1948 version as practical.
So--after 28 years on IER and 18 years on PE, it's now been a museum piece for over 50.
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