Pacific Railroad Society, Inc.

Our February Wheel Clicks is done and at the printer. The PDF version will be going out to members this weekend. Become a member at: http://www.PacificRailroadSociety.org

February 21: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 1902: The Pasadena and Mt. Lowe Railway Company is deeded to Pacific Electric Railway. Officially i...ncorporated as the Pasadena & Mount Wilson Railroad Company, the Mt. Lowe Railway opened on July 4, 1893. It ran from Rubio Canyon to the summit of Echo Mountain. During its short life, Mt. Lowe became one of Southern California’s primary tourist attractions, with more visitors than either Yosemite National Park or Catalina Island. 160,930 passengers were carried up the mountain in 1921, the railway’s busiest year. Thaddeus S.C. Lowe ran the rail line for seven years. It briefly passed through two other owners before being sold to Henry Huntington, who operated it as a very popular side venture to complement his extensive Red Car system for the next 35 years. While the Mt. Lowe Line would become one of Pacific Electric’s most popular tourist lines into the 1930s, it was beset by challenges. Fires damaged parts of the railway in 1900 and 1905. The final blow came on September 15, 1936, when the Alpine Tavern burned to the ground, destroying one of California’s most famous landmarks. On December 5, 1937, the incline railway made its last run. - Metro Primary Resources

February 13: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 2006: Express Service begins on Metro Gold Line. It stops at only five of 13 Gold Line Stations, sh...aving 5 minutes off the ride between Los Angeles Union Station and Sierra Madre Villa. At a morning press conference at Union Station four days earlier, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announces: Now, although we already have great service between the San Gabriel Valley and Downtown Los Angeles, we want to do something to make that service even better, [the express service] will zip passengers between the Sierra Madre Villa station and Pasadena and Union Station in less than 30 minutes. - Metro Primary Resource

February 7, 2007 : Today in LA Transit History The U.S. House of Representatives repeals a 20-year-old prohibition on federal funding for subway tunneling in th...e Wilshire Corridor. Citing safety concerns following a March 24, 1985 explosion and fire near 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, California Congressman Henry Waxman had sponsored legislative language in 1986 that prevented federal funding for further subway construction under Wilshire Boulevard. Following the incident, investigators found that methane gas seeping into an auxiliary room of a Ross Dress For Less store had caused the explosion. At least 21 people were injured in the blast, including two critically burned. Over time, safer tunneling technology evolved. Earth pressure balance boring machines were developed as more advantageous over traditional tunneling machinery. In 2005, Waxman worked with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to appoint a five-member peer review panel of independent tunneling experts to review a subway tunneling proposal using earth pressure balance technology. In November 2005, the panel reported that tunneling along Wilshire Boulevard and the operation of subway trains west of Western Avenue (where the project had been halted) could be done safely using new technology.

February 6: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 1874: Judge Robert M. Widney incorporates the Spring and West 6th Street Railroad, the first rail tr...ansit system in Los Angeles. The line originally ran from Temple & Spring Streets in a southwestward direction via Spring, 1st, Fort (now Broadway), 4th, Hill, 5th, Olive, and Sixth Streets to Figueroa Street. In September, D.V. Waldron forfeits his earlier franchise (the first granted in Los Angeles, on July 3, 1873), allowing Widney to assume that franchise and extend his horse-drawn street railway northeast via Main Street to Alameda. Eventually, the railway reaches the Southern Pacific rail station. The complex history of these earliest street railways is documented by the Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. It is interesting to note that Los Angeles’ earliest transit system across downtown from northeast to southwest roughly mirrors the Metro Red Line subway route from Union Station through Civic Center, Pershing Square to 7th/Metro Center which opens nearly 120 years later. - Metro Primary Resources

Our friends at the Fullerton Train Museum are trying to save former UP coach 5492. The car was built by St Louis Car in 1960.

Good news! Our museum in San Dimas will be open again soon! We are currently getting our volunteers ready for that day. Just a note we will be following the guidelines in place for safe operations. These will including limiting the number of visitors, social distancing when possible and face coverings will be required. Stay tuned for details on when we will be back open.

From our friends at the Western Railway Museum.

Check out the progress of the Pikes Peak Railway rebuilding. They are scheduled for completion in May 2021. https://www.rtands.com//look-images-show-big-progress-on/

October 19: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 1910: Los Angeles Railway is incorporated. Although in existence since 1895, the purpose of the inco...rporation is to bring all local Los Angeles street railway lines into one unified system, separate from inter-urban travel under Pacific Electric. The September, 1942 issue of Two Bells, the Los Angeles Railway employee newsmagazine, highlights the incredible growth in local streetcar service between its inception in 1874 and the Los Angeles Railway Corporation founding in 1910: In 1874, total mileage 1.33 miles of single track with only one horsecar in service; hours of operation: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., no Sunday service, fare 10 cents. In 1910, total mileage 150 miles of double track; electrical cars of the latest design, brilliantly lighted; 24-hour service; 5 cent fare with transfers permitting a passenger to reach any part of the city within a possible distance of 18 miles. - Metro Primary Resources See more

October 17: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 2014: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveils the first of 78 new light rai...l cars for its expanding Metro Rail system. The base order of 78 rail cars is augmented after Metro exercised an option to purchase an additional 97 vehicles for a total cost of $730 million, largely funded by Measure R. All cars in the base order of 78 are destined for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa, and to the Metro Expo line Phase II extension to Santa Monica. The option cars will be used on the Metro Crenshaw/LAX Line and the Metro Blue Line. The cars are tested on the Metro Green Line as well. El Segundo-based Kinkisharyo international, the U.S. arm of Kinki Sharyo Co. LTD of Osaka Japan, was awarded a contract by Metro in August 2012. The rail cars are partially constructed in Japan and shipped to Kinkisharyo’s facility in Palmdale for final assembly in compliance with Buy America contract provisions. - Metro Primary Resources See more

October 16: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 1904: The 32-mile rail connection between the city of Huntington Beach and Los Angeles is completed,... serving as the southern terminus of the Pacific Electric Railway network. Prior to the line opening, travelers from Los Angeles to Huntington Beach (population: 800) needed to head to North Long Beach and then along the Alamitos Extension, as shown in the map below. - Metro Primary Resources See more

October 14: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History 1885: The Second Street Cable Railroad Company begins operations one week after testing operations. ...It begins service with 80 trips per day, operating out of a power station and car house at Second and Boylston Streets.The line featured the steepest cable gradient in North America, a 27.7% slope between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue. The railroad conntected with a steam line, the Cahuenga Valley Railroad, which ran to Hollywood. - Metro Primary Resources See more