Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway

The above scene shows three interurban electric trolley cars of the Seattle-Everett Traction Company, shortly before these trolley cars initially went into service in 1910. When new, these interurban trolley cars were rather luxurious inside, having fine woodwork and high-back leather bench seats. Over the passenger windows were arched, leaded, opalescent glass panels (shown above).

I grew up in King County, in the area that later became the City of Shoreline. I lived about a mile from where the Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway used to cross on an overpass bridge over old US 99, at North 155th Street. By my time, the interurban railway had already been abandoned for 20 years, and only the grade was still partially evident, and used mainly as a power line corridor.

While stuck in traffic, waiting to cross Aurora Avenue North (US 99), at North 155th Street, I would sometimes look at an old landmark on the southwest corner of the intersection. The old landmark was a lone concrete bridge abutment, one of the only extant relics in the area from the old interurban railway, other than the grade itself. While looking at the old weathered bridge abutment, I would sometimes wonder about the history of the interurban railway. At that time, I never realized that the long gone interurban overpass bridge had been known as the Pershing Bridge.

The Pershing Bridge was a steel plate half-through-girder bridge, built in 1926, which spanned over US 99 between a pair of concrete bridge abutments. Prior to 1926, a shorter interurban bridge had spanned over the road there, when the road was narrower and was known as the North Trunk Road ^[1].

During the time of the interurban railway, there used to be a small rural interurban station that was also known as Pershing, located just north of where the Pershing Bridge used to be. The bridge and the station were named after General John J. Pershing, in honor of the World War I general. Prior to World War I, Pershing Station was named Henry Station, as is shown on the old fare receipt above. Pershing Station was located on the west side of the track, on the north bridge approach embankment. Old photographs reveal that Pershing Station was a wooden, rectangular, shed-sized station with a ridged roof, the gabled ends of which faced each way down the track. The station had no windows, just an open front that faced the track. A planked loading deck extended between the front of the station and the track and to the south along the track for about the length of a trolley car, nearly reaching the north end of the Pershing Bridge.

The trolleys shown at the top of this page are three of six trolley cars, numbered 50-55, built about 1910 for the Seattle-Everett Traction Company, by the Niles Car & Manufacturing Company, of Niles, Ohio. The front trolley car is Car 55, which has been rebuilt and is now on display at Heritage Park in Lynnwood, Washington. The only other Niles trolley car remaining from the Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway is Car 53 which has been converted into a diner in eastern Washington.

The Seattle-Everett Traction Company became the Pacific Northwest Traction Company in 1912, and then became the North Coast Transportation Company in 1930. As the interurban service changed names, from various mergers, the six trolleys built by the Niles Car & Manufacturing Co. continued to provide electric rail service from 1910 until the Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway was abandoned in 1939.

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