TIMEPOINTS The
Southern California Traction Review
April, 1953 VOL. VI, No. 4
Some casual facts about the Los Angeles Railway Lines
By the editor: L.R. Veysey
A close study
of the rail line histories for Los Angeles Railway as given in Interurbans’
Special 11, reveals a number of interesting facts about the particular portions
of trackage which have made up the system since 1920.
The segment
which has had its service altered more times since 9 May 1920 than any other
has been Spring St. from Court (near present-day Temple) to First. A total of seventeen revisions in the lines
using this track has occurred. In
order, theses changes have been as follows: (1) 5-9-20, A-E-G-L. (2) 5-17-20, A-E-G-L-Vermont Ave. Post Office Line. (4) 12-20-20, A-E-G-L-W.
(5) 12-3-24,
E-G-L-W-2-3. (6) 4-6-26, temporarily
abandoned. This was during the
reconstruction of the area preparing the way for the present Civic Center. (7) 7-4-26, L. (8) 9-0-37, no regular service.
(9) 0-0-28, L. (10) 6-12-32, N-8.
(11) 11-11-34, N-7-8. (12)
5-3-39, 7-8. (13) 9-24-39, L-7-8. (14) 5-26-40, 7-8. (15) 6-30-46, F-N-7. (16)
8-347, N-7. (17) 9-10-50, 7.
The following
other segments of track have had their service altered ten or more times: From
North Broadway and Pasadena Ave. via North Broadway to Sunset (11 times, the
last in 1939); from Main and Sunset via Main to old Spring St. (13 times, the last in 1948); from Spring
and Temple via Spring to Court (15 times, the last in 1950); from Hill and
First via Hill to Fifth (10 times); from Hill and Fifth via Hill to Eleventh
(also 10 times); from Main and old Spring St. via Main to Temple (13 times, the
last in 1948); from Main and Temple via Main to First ( 13 times); from Ninth
and Main via Main to Olympic ( 11 times ); from Main and Broadway Place via
Main to Eleventh (10 times); from Broadway and Temple via Broadway to First (
11 times); from Second and Spring via Spring to First (11 times); from Second
and Spring via Spring to Ninth (also 11 times); from Vermont and McClintock via
Vermont to 39th (10 times); from Vermont and 39th via Vermont to Santa Barbara(
10 times).
The trackage
unit which has had the largest number of lines using it at any one time is Main
from Broadway Pl. to Eleventh, and also south to 12th. Between 12 June 1932 and 11 November 1934,
this segment was served by lines B-F-G(except nights and Sundays)
-5-6-7-8-9. This is a total of 9 lines.
Broadway,
familiar as what is today the stronghold of LATL rail activity in downtown Los
Angeles, never had more than 6 lines running over it at one time, south of
First. From 21 May 1932 to 12 June
1932, lines G-M-P-W-5-6 used it between Second and Olympic; after the latter
date lines P-W-5-6-9-10 used it until 7 March 1937 when the line 6 was consolidated with line 5. In this same period seven lines were using
Broadway between Temple and First, since the Hill St. tunnel was then entirely
P.E. These were lines A-L-W-2-5-6-10.
Spring St.
between Second and Ninth has had as many as four lines serving it at various
times in the 1920s and early 1930s.
The four lines
B-F-G-O were all routed on Main St. from 1926 to 1932. Together with Pacific Electric local and
interurban trains they made Main Street the most heterogeneous of any in either
system, although less grandiose in purely LARY terms (this, however, wasn’t
what the noted travel expert Richard Halliburton had in mind when he termed Main
St. in Los Angeles “the most interesting street in the world”).
Since 1932 six
separate pieces of track one block or longer in length have been added to the
rail system. All but one have been
short extensions in connection with PCC loops.
This one was of course the Hill St. tunnel from Temple to First,
involving a third narrow gauge rail on former P.E. trackage, which lasted but
seven years, from 16 July 1939 to 30 June 1936.
A total of 262
separate stretches of track with distinctive histories of lines using them
since 1920 can be discerned throughout the LARY-LATL system.
This does not
include changes of a purely temporary nature, which would require a further
breakdown. LARY has had a more complex
history on its routes, probably, more than any other American city system.
MAP OF EXISTING TRACKAGE IN THE VICINITY OF MAIN STREET STATION, ABOUT 1915
(From Los Angeles Board of Public Utilities, Annual Report, VII, 142)
NEWS April, 1953 Timepoints
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PACIFIC
ELECTRIC PASSENGER SERVICE DEAL
By Chuck Thorpe
The Pacific
Electric has filed application for approval of the sale of its passenger
service to Haugh and syndicate with the city of Los Angeles and the Public
Utilities Commission. Details of the
sale are that all passenger franchises will be transferred to the new company,
while some of the property involved in the passenger service will be
transferred to Haugh with some of it remaining under PE ownership. The property to be transferred includes all
motor coaches, 735 fare boxes, many tools and the like. Ocean Park bus garage, bus storage lots in
Van Nuys, and Sunland will also be transferred. Several bus stations, the West
Hollywood Garage, Macy St. Shops, and Morgan Ave. Yard will also be transferred
to the new company.
All rail cars
and track will remain under PE ownership.
The new company will lease many stations now used by the PE.
The breakdown
on the cost of the passenger service to the new company is as follows:
Property and
Improvements $1,714,288
Motor coaches $4,957,490
Fare boxes(735)
$53,856
Tools $185,000
Franchise and
Operating rights $1,000
The terms of
the sale are $4,750,000
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PACIFIC
ELECTRIC INTERURBAN FARE RISE
By
Norman K. Johnson
The California
Public Utilities Commission has granted the Pacific Electric Railway a five
cent fare increase on all interurban fares.
The boost which affects 23 interurban lines goes into effect on April
27, 1953. The rise will bring an
increase of about one million dollars a year in revenue. The commissions experts figure that the company
will still loose about $500,000 a year.
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LATL RE-ROUTING
Hearings will
start on the petition of the Los Angeles Transit Lines for permission to
re-route its 5, 9 and F lines on Grand and Santa Barbara during the week of
April 20, 1953. The re-routing is
necessary because of the construction of the Harbor Freeway. The re-routing will entail building about
half a mile of new track on Santa Barbara and the abandonment of slightly more
than this on Grand Ave. The new
re-routing will enable the company to cut the running time on the 5 and 9
lines, and will allow the dropping of one run from the 9 line.
The company is
attempting to get the city to pay a large portion of the cost of re-routing the
lines. More details about all of this
will be presented as they become available
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EASTERN NEWS
By Robert L. Abrams
The high Public
Service executives have traveled to Minneapolis to investigate the possibility
of purchasing 25 Twin Cities PCC cars for use in the Newark subway. Funds have already been appropriated for
building a terminal loop at the end of the subway right-of-way.
On March 8th
Cleveland Transit System abandoned its Superior and East 55th St. lines,
freeing its PCC cars for sale to Toronto.
Illinois
Terminal Railroad abandoned nearly all of its Peoria-Decantur line on Feb. 22,
but trains are still temporarily operating from Decantur to Forsythe, a
distance of some six miles on the extreme southern end of the route. The St. Louis-Alton line is expected to be
abandoned in the month of March, but the Alton-Grafton railbus must remain in
operation owing to lack of suitable highways in the vicinity.
On Feb. 22 the
Kansas City Public Service Company cut back its Parallel-Jackson line, thus
bringing an end to all service within Kansas City, Kansas according to plans
publicized earlier.
Some good
news. Metropolitan Transit Authority in
Boston has made plans to equip its Harvard-Waverly line with PCC cars, and has
constructed a new loop at Waverly.
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5050's SOLD TO
PORTLAND TRACTION CO
Eight of
Pacific Electric’s 5050 Class cars have been sold to Portland Traction Co for
use on its lines between Portland, Oregon City, and Bellrose.
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TRAVEL
TOWN NEWS
Recent
additions to Travel Town in Griffith Park include two steam engines loaned to
Travel Town by the Harbor Dept. and Pacific Electric Box motor number 1498
which used to be passenger car Number 881.
The car was a passenger car prior to 1940, was rebuilt into a box motor
in 1940 and then was rebuilt back into a passenger car in 1942 and
re-numbered 881. After the war, the car was again made into a
box motor. During the time it was a
passenger car during the war, it was used on the Torrance Shop train.
There are
rumors that Electric Locomotive 1544 of the Pacific Electric might also go to
Travel Town. This locomotive has never
been painted back from its old PE red.
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BUS ATTACKS
STREETCAR ---LOSES
Two passengers
on a Van Nuys--North Hollywood bus were slightly injured when the bus hit a
Hollywood trolley at Maltman Ave. on Sunset Blvd. The streetcar was barely damaged and no one on it was
injured. The accident occurred during
the morning of April 12, 1953.
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PE ESTIMATES OF
1953 OPERATIONS
By Chuck Thorpe
The figures of
the Pacific Electric indicate that they expect the following deficits under the
present fares for the year 1953. (Fares
before April, 27, 1953 increase).
Interurban Rail
Passenger $523,924
Local Motor
Coach $313,269
Local Rail
Passenger $58,049
Interurban
Motor Coach $40,130
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WEST HOLLYWOOD
ABANDOMENT
No date has
been set as of yet for the abandonment of the Subway-Santa Monica Blvd.-West
Hollywood line of the Pacific Electric.
The company has asked the PUC for permission to abandon the line on 5
days notice to the public and the commission.
If this permission is granted, the line might be gone before the next
issue of “Timepoints”! General Motors
started construction of the new buses for the line on March 23, and delivered
the first of them during the week of April 12, 1953.
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COMING EXCURSIONS
May 3---
SC-ERA: PE South with 5100 class car.
July 26---SP
excursion to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Margarita Pacific RR Society
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EQUIPMENT COMMITTEE
REPORT
By Werner Meyer
After the
inspection trip with LATL car 1160 on April 19, 1953, it appears that the
committee is going to decide to buy the car.
Delivery is planned for some time in May.
It appears that
the third of the three Birneys in Ft. Collins owned by Los Angeles railfans has
been sold to Rocky Mountain Railroad Club.
The other two have been sold to a Chicago group.
Now the sad
part of this report. The committee has
decided that unless $1000 can be raised to ship our Fort Collins car by May 15,
1953 or unless sufficient capital can be raised to move it to a new storage
place by that date the car will be sold as soon thereafter as a buyer is found.
The city of Los
Angeles is being approached to see whether it would accept the car as a gift
from the club under the condition that the city pay all charges involved in
moving the car to Travel Town. If the
city will not accept the car on May 15, every effort will be made to sell the
car to a railfan group. Funds now
available to move the Birney are less than $100.