- Interurban Rail Transit in King County and the Puget Sound Region (historylink.org)
Electric interurban railways played a major part in defining early twentieth century transportation routes and growth patterns in King County. Early roads were primitive and before the development of the first inter-city rail service in 1899, most shippers and commuters on Puget Sound relied on water transport and “Mosquito Fleet” steamers for mobility. By 1912, private interurban lines connected Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett, but modern highways would soon offer fatal competition. Seattle-Tacoma service ended in 1928 with the opening of Highway 99, and Seattle-Everett service ended 11 years later (Seattle ripped up its streetcar lines in 1941). After the rejection of previous rail rapid transit proposals, regional voters approved a Sound Transit system in 1996. In September 2000, Sound Transit inaugurated commuter rail service between Seattle and Tacoma.
- The PSE [Puget Sound Electric Railway] began operations on September 25, 1902 with a line that started in downtown Tacoma, ran along Pacific and Puyallup Avenues, followed the course of present-day Pacific Highway through Fife and to Milton, turned southeast towards Puyallup and paralleled the path of today’s SR 167 through Pacific, Algona, Auburn, Kent, Orillia and Renton, then into Seattle on its own dedicated right-of-way, via South Park, from there running on surface streets to the area near Pioneer Square.
- Puget Sound Electric Railway (Wikipedia)
The Puget Sound Electric Railway was an interurban railway that ran for 38 miles (61 km) between Tacoma and Seattle, Washington in the first quarter of the 20th century. The railway’s reporting mark was “PSE”.
