The Los Angeles 1947 Pacific Electric Railway in Cities: Skylines

I wanted to recreate the Los Angeles Pacific Electric Railway system based on the 1947 system map in Cities: Skylines. Los Angeles at the beginning of the 20th century had hundreds of miles of electric street cars connecting downtown LA with the surrounding cities.

I have found the high-definition PDF version of the Pacific Electric Railway system map at https://www.pacificelectric.org/pacific-electric/maps/1947-pacific-electric-system-map/

The website contains lots of great pictures, maps, and other information on the Pacific Electric and Los Angeles railway systems.

The links below contain the system map in PDF and PNG formats.

I have created a Cities: Skylines map based on the PDF file and shared it on the Steam Workshop:

NameURLNotes
Los Angeles 1947 v 07https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2858871489First published version

You can use the PNG file as an overlay to easily transfer the road and train layout to your city. For instructions see Transfer streets to your city in Cities: Skylines using a PNG image file

The map uses the 81 tiles mod by BloodyPenguin. The current version as of writing is “81 Tiles (Fixed for 1.2+)” at https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2858871489

You need this mod installed and activated to be able to work with the map. See Work with an 81-tile city in Cities: Skylines for instructions on how to use the mod.

The map also contains Santa Catalina Island in approximate position and shape. If you want to build Avalon, you need to do some terraforming to make room for the casino, the harbor, and the rest of the city. I have not added any sandy beaches on the main land and the island, it is a fun project to recreate them with the terraforming tool. The reservoirs and rivers don’t have water sources to avoid flooding if you block any of the rivers during construction. If you want to get water from them, use Boody Pinguin’s Extra Landscaping Tools mod to add water sources.

Historic Vehicles

Get historic vehicles

Subscribe to -Historic/Veteran Vehicles- No’s all in one at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=495877905

Disable the default (modern) vehicles

Follow the instructions at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=453245152

  • Install the Advanced Vehicle Options mod from
  • In the Content Manager activate the mod
  • Start the game
  • In the lower right corner click the Advanced Vehicle Options button
  • For each vehicle set the Allow this vehicle to spawn checkbox.
  • Export the vehicle configuration if you want to be able to import it into other cities. It will be saved at C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\AdvancedVehicleOptions_VehicleData.xml

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *