The Puget Sound Electric Railway was an interurban railway that ran for 36 miles between downtown Tacoma and Pioneer Square in Seattle, where it interchanged with other interurbans in the area. The railroad ran from 1902-1928, when Highway 99 was opened to accommodate the rise in popularity of automobiles over trains and streetcars. Most of the rails were pulled up in 1930, although some still exist as multi-use trail.
This schedule for the Puget Sound Electric Railway (PSER), effective May 1, 1904, lists departure times from the Seattle, Tacoma, and Renton stations. The "limited" (express) trains were offered twice daily and made no stops between their termini at Occidental Avenue & Yesler Way in Seattle, and North Eighth Street & A Street in Tacoma. The limited trains made the journey in one hour and fifteen minutes, versus the one hour and thirty minutes needed for the local trains.
Caption information source: "Interurban Rail Transit in King County and the Puget Sound Region," by Walt Crowley, HistoryLink.org Essay 2667.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
