Towards the end of the 19th Century, electric railway technology was introduced and it spread like lightning. Soon there was interest in establishing electric interurban railways in even far-flung places such as Tacoma and Seattle. Specifically, enterprising individuals saw an opportunity to provide commuter service between Tacoma, Seattle and points in between, a distance of about 35 miles. Support for such a service grew quickly and developed in part from feelings of antipathy towards the Northern
Pacific Railway, a steam railroad with costly fares and unfavorable schedules. Yet getting it built was still a significant undertaking filled with risk.
Meanwhile,
a second interurban company was formed in December 1900. Headed by Northern Bank President Jacob
Furth, it was also backed by Tacoma promoters Henry Bucey and John
Collins. There was
some minor controversy as the interurban line’s precise route was decided, but
during its early phase of construction the enterprise was purchased by Stoneand Webster, a Boston-based company that
owned street cars, interurbans and electric utilities all across the country,
and who the year prior created Seattle Electric Company with the merger of
Seattle’s street railways. A few months
later, Stone and Webster also purchased the Snoqualmie Falls power station.
Shortly
after service to Tacoma began, the Seattle Tacoma Interurban was renamed the
Puget Sound Electric Railway.
Incorporated as a subsidiary of Puget Sound Power, Light and Traction,
the entire operation was owned by Stone and Webster of Boston who had designs
on an electric interurban network that would stretch from Portland, Oregon to
Vancouver, British Columbia.
Completed
in 1902, the PSER operated between Seattle and Tacoma on a 38-mile main line.
Using the conventional overhead of municipal streetcar lines in the urban areas of
Seattle and Tacoma, and third rail on its own track in the country, the PSER
provided service between downtown Seattle and downtown Tacoma at speeds up to
60 miles per hour.
The
PSER advertised a ride full of, “Pleasure, Safety, Economy and
Reliability.” The trains were
electrically-powered so the trip was free of smoke and cinders, and was smooth
and quiet. The 75-minute "Limited"
trip between Pioneer Square at the intersection of Occidental and Yesler in
downtown Seattle and downtown Tacoma’s car barn at 7th and A streets featured
just two stops. However, all trains -
including those that stopped at all 22 stations and took considerably longer
than 75 minutes - featured the excitement of traveling at more than one mile per
minute down the Kent Valley.
Initially,
the PSER had 22 stops between Seattle and Tacoma. Communities known today included Fife,
Milton, and Kent, but also many no longer remembered included Orillia, Farrow
and O’Brien. The PSER enabled these
communities to thrive by allowing residents to commute to work in Seattle or
Tacoma. Kent, for example, instantly
became a commute to downtown Seattle comparable in duration to one from North
Seattle. Larger communities such as
Auburn had a station building while smaller villages had just a platform.
Initially,
trains operated with three cars. Later,
when cars such as the 523 were added, shorter trains of just two cars were able
to handle as many passengers as the original three car trains, and also offer
parlor car service. By the teens, there
were single car trains operating too.
As
the PSER increased in popularity and ridership grew the company added branch
lines. For instance, a short branch
between the mainline and Renton soon saw 33 trains per day. Puyallup was connected to the mainline with a
new 6-mile branch added in 1908.
Operation
of the PSER was at the forefront of modern practice. From the beginning, a dispatching office in
Kent controlled trains using timetable and train order. Instructions were issued by the dispatcher
via telegraph and operators at each station wrote out the instruction on a form
called a train order. Train orders could
be given to the motorman (train driver) in person or handed off with a train
order hoop, which occurred while the train was moving. The instructions on the train order were the
authority to occupy the main track, and could allow the train to proceed, take
a siding, or even hold the train for a period of time. A typical station stop was just as long as it
took for passengers to get on and off, not unlike a Sounder light rail train.
In
August 1913 PSER announced it would spend more than $60,000 to purchase and
install a new automatic block system.
This signal system was cutting-edge technology for the era and was
designed to allow trains to safely and efficiently operate at high speed (60 miles per hour) with
frequent departures.
Changes
in ridership and revenue began appearing after WW I. Construction of highway 99 combined with
increasing rates of ownership of private automobiles resulted in a rapid
decline in patronage. By the late 1920s,
revenues were no longer sufficient to pay the cost of capital, and this
resulted in a default on bond payments.
Competition from highway buses and steam railroads proved insurmountable
and parent company Puget Sound Power and Light refused to bail the railway out. The last train operated on December 30, 1928;
tracks were removed beginning in 1930.
Portions
of the PSER right of way survive as the Interurban Trail, a 14-mile trail
corridor developed and maintained by King County Parks, but they remain under
ownership of successor company Puget Sound Energy. Several substations have been adaptively reused and survive to this day. And the sole remaining electric car - the 523 - has now been preserved at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. So the legacy of the Puget Sound Electric Railway will live on in a museum exhibit and in local recreational trails.
