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A fantastic 7×9 inch vintage press photo from 1934 depicting LOs Angeles 13 persons injured, yellow street car accident near Gramercy and Third Streets.
The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy, and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in central Los Angeles, California, and the immediate surrounding neighborhoods between 1901 and 1963. Except for two short, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge[1][2] funicular railways named Angels Flight and Court Flight, it operated on 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge tracks. The company carried many more passengers than the Pacific Electric Railway’s ‘Red Cars’ which served a larger area of Los Angeles. The two companies shared some dual gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) / 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge track along Hawthorne Boulevard, on Main Street and on 4th Street.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Early years
1.2 Decline
1.3 Public ownership and finale
2 Proposed developments
2.1 Restoration
3 List of former routes
3.1 Funicular railways
4 Gallery
5 See also
6 References
7 Notes
8 Further reading
9 External links
History
Early years
The system was purchased by railroad and real estate tycoon Henry E. Huntington in 1898 and started operation in 1901. At its height, the system contained over 20 streetcar lines and 1,250 trolleys, most running through the core of Los Angeles and serving such nearby neighborhoods as Crenshaw, West Adams, Leimert Park, Exposition Park, Echo Park, Westlake, Hancock Park, Vernon, Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights.
Decline
The system was sold in 1945 by Huntington’s estate to National City Lines, a company that was purchasing transit systems across the country.[3] National City Lines, along with its investors that included Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Corporation) and General Motors, were later convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products to local transit companies controlled by National City Lines and other companies[n 1] in what became known as the General Motors streetcar conspiracy. National City Lines purchased Key System, which operated streetcars systems in Northern California, the following year.
The company was renamed as Los Angeles Transit Lines.[4] The new company introduced 40 new ACF-Brill trolley buses which had originally been intended for the Key System streetcar system in Oakland which was being converted by National City Lines to buses in late 1948.
Many lines were converted to buses in the late 1940s and early 1950s.[4]
Public ownership and finale
The last remaining lines were taken over by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (a predecessor to the current agency, The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)) along with the remains of the Pacific Electric Railway in 1958. The agency removed the remaining five streetcar lines (J, P, R, S and V) and two trolley bus lines (2 and 3), replacing electric service with diesel buses on March 31, 1963.[5]
Proposed developments
Restoration
Main article: Historic Downtown Los Angeles Streetcar
In May 2011, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city of Los Angeles, and several stakeholders began conducting studies and public meetings to identify the feasibility of restoring streetcar service downtown.[6] The streetcar restoration efforts will further support in revitalizing Downtown Los Angeles’s historic core and connect people to employment centers, shopping districts, civic resources, cultural institutions, historic landmarks and entertainment venues within the project study area. A restoration of the streetcar service is anticipated to underscore the overall renaissance occurring in the downtown area of Los Angeles.
List of former routes
Geographic map of the post-1921 numbered routes
2 Line Rampart area of Echo Park to Montecito Heights; by way of Belmont Avenue, Loma Drive, 3rd Street, Flower Street, 5th Street, Broadway, Pasadena Avenue, Avenue 26, and Griffin Avenue.
3 Line Skid Row to Hollywood; by way of 5th Street, 6th Street, private ROW, 3rd Street, and Larchmont Boulevard.
5 Line Hawthorne to Eagle Rock; by way of Hawthorne Boulevard, Market Street (Inglewood), private ROW paralleling Redondo Boulevard (later Florence Avenue), Crenshaw Boulevard, Leimert Boulevard (dedicated tracks in center divider), Santa Barbara Avenue, Grand Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Main Street, Broadway, Pasadena Avenue, Avenue 20, Figueroa Street, Cypress Avenue, Eagle Rock Boulevard, and Colorado Boulevard.
7 Line South Los Angeles to Los Angeles Plaza Historic District; by way of Broadway, Main Street, and Spring Street.
8 Line Leimert Park to Los Angeles Plaza Historic District; by way of 54th Street, Broadway, Main Street, and Spring Street.
9 Line Leimert Park to the Wholesale District, by way of 48th Street, Hoover Street, Grand Avenue, Pico Boulevard, Broadway, and 2nd Street.
10 Line Leimert Park to Lincoln Heights; by way of Vernon Avenue, Dalton Avenue, Martin Luther King Boulevard, Grand, Pico Boulevard, Broadway, and Lincoln Park Avenue.
A Line Mid City to Echo Park; by way of Adams Boulevard, Kensington Street, Venice Boulevard, Broadway, Temple Street, Edgeware Road, and Douglas Street.
B Line Nevin to City Terrace; by way of Ascot Avenue, Hooper Avenue, 12th Street, Main Street, Brooklyn Avenue, Evergreen Avenue, Wabash Avenue, and City Terrace Drive.
D Line Westlake to Skid Row; by way of Bonnie Brae Street, 3rd Street, Alvarado Street, 6th Street, and 5th Street.
F Line Athens to Boyle Heights; by way of Vermont Avenue, Hoover Street, Santa Barbara Avenue, Grand Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Main Street, 3rd Street, 4th Place, 4th Street, and Fresno Street.
G Line Nevin to South Park; by way of McKinley Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Griffith Avenue, Washington Boulevard, and Main Street.
H Line South Los Angeles to East Hollywood; by way of San Pedro Street, 7th Street, Broadway, 6th Street, Rampart Boulevard, Beverly Boulevard, Heliotrope Drive, and Melrose Avenue.
I Line – enlarge
J Line Jefferson Park to Huntington Park; by way of Jefferson Boulevard, Central Avenue, Vernon Avenue, and Pacific Boulevard.
K Line – enlarge Nevin to South Park; by way of Naomi Avenue and Olympic Boulevard.
L Line East Hollywood to Mid-City; by way of Lexington Avenue, Madison Avenue, Temple Street, Broadway, and Olympic Boulevard.
N Line Koreatown to South Park; by way of 8th Street and 9th Street.
O Line South Los Angeles to Lincoln Heights; by way of Main Street.
P Line Mid-City to City Terrace; by way of Pico Boulevard, Main Street, 1st Street, Gage Avenue, Hammel Street, and Record Avenue.
R Line Hancock Park to East Los Angeles; by way of 3rd Street, Vermont Avenue, 7th Street, Boyle Avenue, and Whittier Boulevard.
S Line Watts to East Hollywood; by way of Central Avenue, Florence Avenue, Avalon Boulevard, Vernon Avenue, Vermont Street, 3rd Street, and Western Avenue.
U Line Nevin to West Adams; by way of Central Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Vermont Street, and 27th Street.
V Line Nevin to East Hollywood; by way of Santa Fe Avenue, 7th Street, and Vermont Street.
W Line Mid-City to Highland Park; by way of Washington Boulevard, Figueroa Street, 6th Street, Broadway, Avenue 20, Figueroa Street, and York Boulevard.
Funicular railways
See also: Angels Flight
The Los Angeles Railway also operated two short, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge funicular railways: Angels Flight at 3rd Street between Hill and Olive (19011969; reopened in 1996 in new location), and the lesser-known Court Flight at Court Street between Broadway and Hill in the Bunker Hill neighorhood.
Court Flight opened in 1905 as part of a business venture by R. E. Blackburn and Samuel G. Vandegrift. It was unusual for funiculars in that it was doubled-tracked for its entire length. The Court Flight Incline Railway ran for a distance of 180 feet up a 42 per cent grade between Broadway and Hill Streets, in the middle of the block between Temple and First Streets.[7] A hotel was planned for the incline, but was never built. After a serious fire, Court Flight was abandoned in 1943.[8] Its site is now part of Grand Park.
TROLLEY ACCIDENT BRINGS BLOOD IN L.A. CAR STRIKE
Shock Floors Passengers, Causes Over Score Of Injuries
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 25 {A l ). Violence and bloodshed broke the Sunday quiet today as the Los Angeles Railway strike went into the second day. Although the day began peacefully, a spectacular collision of three street cars and outbreaks in various parts of the city brought injuries to more than a score of passengers, some critically, and five motormen and conductors. Treat Injured Thirteen of the passengers injured in the crash were treated at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, and approximately ten others taken to the hospital in ambulances were permitfed to go home after emergency care. The crash occurred at Vermont and Florence Avenues In the southern part of the city when a southbound car smashed into the rear of another car, which was stalled by a third car halted by strike sympathizers. Most of those injured were on the last car. Mob Attacks Crew The car was stalled when the trolley was jerked from the power cable. A second street car was forced to stop. The members of the mob then attacked the crew of an approaching third street car, the conductor was pulled off and beaten, the motorman, apparently in his excitement, police said, turned on thfe power, speeding his car into the other two. Passengers in two cars were hurled to the floors and into seats as the front end of the third car and the rear end of the second one were telescoped.
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Category: Collectibles:Transportation:Railroadiana and Trains:Other Railroadiana
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan