A fascinating snapshot in time of the full extent of the great Pacific Electric Railway Company’s operations in Los Angeles and southern California. The famous “Red Cars”, a combination of streetcars and interurban light rail spanned vast distances at a time before the car had truly entered the American way of life.

Within 30 years, most of this system – the “largest electric railway system in the world” – had been replaced by motorcoach services on gleaming new highways. Only now is it being gradually replaced – often along the same right-of-way – by Metro’s light rail.

The map itself is beautiful. Made long before Google Earth, or even practical aerial photography, I’m almost certain this this is actually a photograph of a model of southern California that has been printed – all the cartographic details have then been painstakingly added by hand, including the distinctive red tinting of the company’s lines.

Have we been there? Yes, but current rail transit makes it almost impossible to get to the city from the airport. I caught a cab.

What we like: The absolute attention to detail and craftsmanship that went into making this map. It’s a spectacular moment frozen in time – rail transit at its absolute zenith.

What we don’t like: Not actually useful for trip planning as no actual routes are called out in any detail. In a way, this is simply a propaganda piece, basically saying “look at how big our glorious rail system is”.

Our rating: An amazing piece of rail history, but not really a transit map for every day usage. Stunning, nonetheless. Four-and-a-half-stars.

Prints of this map are available in the Transit Maps online store.

Source: Jeremy Jozwik/Flickr