Los Angeles Railways #733 & 860
Los Angeles, California
44 passenger, 1911 American Car Company, St. Louis
An “800” series car in its original configuration with wire mesh sides and no doors.
Old Pueblo Trolley owns two Huntington Standard car bodies, #733 from 1911 and #860 from 1913. These cars were part of a fleet of nearly 750 similar cars acquired after the type was standardized in 1902. Designed for Henry E. Huntington, who at that time controlled both Los Angeles Railway ("the yellow cars") and the Pacific Electric Railway ("the red cars"), the style became known as the Huntington Standard. It featured a five-window front, the two corner windows sporting elegant curved glass at Huntington’s insistence. It was a double-ended car with controls at both ends enabling operation in either direction without being turned around. It also had a “California” style body, characterized by an enclosed center section where one could sit when the weather was bad, and two end sections open to the balmy breezes more common to Los Angeles.
An “800” series car with steel side panels and folding doors added.
As first designed, there were no doors or gates, and the sides of the open sections were enclosed only by steel mesh. Canvas roller curtains provided the only shelter. Soon after Car 860 was delivered, a program was begun to refit the Huntington Standards with solid steel side panels on the open sections and add folding doors. This was typically done when the cars were in for overhaul or modification and the program was not finished until well into the 1920’s. Although LARY was famous for rebuilding cars at the drop of a hat, and many Huntington Standards went through several variations, Both cars 733 and 860 were little changed after this modification until their retirement, car 733 in 1940, and car 860 in 1945.
Douglas Street Railway Huntington Standard car #2 in Douglas in 1907.
The first three electric streetcars in Douglas, Arizona (which arrived in 1906) were of a style identical to that of the most modern cars in Los Angeles according to the Douglas Daily Dispatch. Since no original Douglas car bodies have been found, OPT, initially acquired car 860 with the intention of painting it for the Douglas Street Railway when restored.