Pacific Electric 1609, date, location and photographer unknown. Scanned from an 8x10 photographic print from M D McCarter. Based on the paint and lettering, this photograph was made sometime between 1927 and 1944.

Southern Pacific bought fifteen Baldwin Westinghouse Class D steeple cab locomotives in 1912: ten for the Pacific Electric (1601-1610), three to the Portland Eugene & Eastern in Oregon, one to the Southern Pacific for use in the Bay Area, and one for the Peninsular Railway at San Jose.

This order gave Pacific Electric a true freight engine, with a single unit capable of hauling up to sixty empty freight cars, 1200 tons. They had m.u. capabilities beyond that.

The SP engine, sublettered Central Pacific 200, became PE 1611 in 1914. PE 1612-1615 were bought new in 1916. PE 1616-1617 arrived from Baldwin in 1920. Finally, Peninsular Railway 4 became PE 1618 in 1922.

As delivered, the PE units were painted crimson red with yellow lettering and slate gray roofs. The trucks and underbody were black.

In 1927, the lettering was changed to white and numbers became the same size as the SP's steam locomotives.

In 1944, they were repainted in black with white stripes. The stripes were painted orange starting in 1949.