At it's peak, the Pacific Electric Railway system had approximately 1500 miles of track including some 4500 cars of mixed varieties on its equipment roster. This included the famous Subway, built in 1925. The portal in the Glendale district connected to the double-track line on Glendale Blvd. Immediately next to that tunnel portal was PE's Toluca Yard. It stored extra cars until they were needed at rush hour. When the Bunker Hill properties were developed, some engineer (who didn't have a clue) insisted that the Subway tunnel be destroyed and filled in immediately below Bunker Hill as a "safety measure". I have personally seen the demolition photos! They had to dig and dig and dig, through the dirt, and finally reach the top of the concrete tunnel shell--then they bashed the heck out of it until it gave way and fell in. Sad !! Then they covered everything all up again for the Bunker Hill project. I will categorically state, that there is NO WAY that tunnel would have ever collapsed had they just kept their fingers off it and left everything as it was, because of the way it was originally constructed. This way, they could have used it again as part of their system today !
Cheers to all.
Ken Shattock (KRK)
Member, Bay Area Electric RR Assn.
NRHS
OGR
