The Long Beach Line was a major

interurban railway The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

operated by the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway syst ...

between

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

via

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People * Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' * Watts family, six cha ...

, and Compton. Service began in 1902 and lasted until 1961, the last line of the system to be replaced by buses. However, the

Southern Pacific Transportation Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

continued to operate

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

on the tracks, as the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

still does between Amoco and Dominguez Junction, and in 1990 the Southern California Rapid Transit District opened the Blue Line light rail along the same right-of-way. In addition to the Long Beach service, the line served as a trunk for a number of other interurban lines stretching to Whittier, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Santa Ana, Balboa, San Pedro, and Redondo Beach. It was four tracks wide north of the junction at Watts, with local service on the outer tracks and long-distance trains bypassing the local stations on the inner tracks.

Route

The line originated at the 6th and Main street station in Los Angeles and exited to the east via an elevated structure over downtown streets to reach San Pedro street at grade. The dual track line went south in the center lanes of the streets. The line then turned east on Olympic Boulevard (East 9th Street)

street running A street running train is a train which runs on a track built on public streets. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with other users, such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists, thus often being referred to as ru ...

to Hooper Street, then turned south and entered the private right of way west of Long Beach Avenue. Two additional tracks joined in the private way from Pacific Electric's 8th Street Yard. This was the start of the four track system to Watts. The line was within a private right of way from Olympic Boulevard to Willow Street in Long Beach. The four track system went to Watts Junction (103rd street). The remainder of the line was double tracked to Ocean Avenue in Long Beach. The four track line went south from Olympic Boulevard crossing Washington Boulevard where Long Beach Avenue becomes twin roadways on both side of the rail line. At Amoco Junction (25th Street), the

Santa Monica Air Line The Santa Monica Air Line was an interurban railroad operated by the Pacific Electric between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles. Electric passenger service operated over the line between 1908 and 1953. After abandonment as a freight railroad, ...

branched off to the west and a connection to the Butte Street Freight Yard (Southern Pacific J Yard) went to the east. Continuing to the south, the line crossed the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

Harbor District tracks at Slauson Boulevard at grade. The

Whittier Line The Whittier Line was a Pacific Electric interurban line which traveled between Los Angeles and Whittier via Huntington Park, Rivera, and Los Nietos. Due to its indirect route, the line was eventually replaced by bus service on Whittier Boulevar ...

branched to the east at Slauson Junction just south of Slauson Boulevard. A four track steel plate girder bridge carried the track over Firestone Boulevard where the Braham Freight Yard paralleled the line to 91st street. At Watts Junction (103rd Street) the four track system ended. Here the

Santa Ana Line The Santa Ana Line was an interurban railway route connecting Los Angeles and Santa Ana in Orange County. It ran between 1905 and 1958 (with the southern end truncated to Bellflower in 1950) and was predominantly operated by the Pacific Electri ...

branched to the east and the

Redondo Beach via Gardena Line Redondo via Gardena was a line of the Pacific Electric Railway. One of two routes to Redondo Beach, this one was faster than the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line as a result of its routing along the quadruple-tracked Watts main line. Hist ...

, Torrance Line, and

Hawthorne–El Segundo Line The Hawthorne–El Segundo Line was an interurban railway route of the Pacific Electric Railway. It was built to transport oil from the Standard Oil Refinery in El Segundo, California, El Segundo and also saw passenger service. Unlike most corri ...

branched to the west. The Long Beach Line (on dual tracks) turned southeasterly from Watts Junction and ran towards Compton between the twin roadways of Willowbrook Avenue. Crossing Rosecrans Boulevard, the line turned to the south. Reaching Greenleaf Boulevard, Willowbrook Boulevard ended and the line proceeded to the south crossing over Compton Creek on a two-track steel

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

bridge. The line then turned southeasterly towards Signal Hill. At Dominguez Junction the

San Pedro via Dominguez Line San Pedro via Dominguez was a interurban transport route, part of the Pacific Electric system in Greater Los Angeles. Its termini were the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles and San Pedro in the south. History Engineering stu ...

branched to the south on the west side of Alameda Street. The Long Beach Line crossed Alameda Street and the Southern Pacific San Pedro Branch at grade, and followed the west bank of

Compton Creek Compton Creek is a major tributary of the Los Angeles River in and surrounding Compton in Los Angeles County, California. The stream drains a watershed of . and is the last major tributary to enter the Los Angeles River before it reaches t ...

towards the

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

. After the construction of the

Long Beach Freeway Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...

, the line crossed over the freeway on a two track plate girder bridge then crossed the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

San Pedro Branch (Cota crossing) at grade. A long single track deck girder bridge carried the line over the Los Angeles River towards Willow Street (North Long Beach). This was the only single track section on the line. At Willow Street (North Long Beach) the

Balboa Line The Balboa Line was the southernmost route of the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the Balboa Peninsula in Orange County by way of North Long Beach, though the route was later cut back to the Newport Dock. It wa ...

branched to the southeast and the Long Beach Line ran south in the center lane of American Avenue ( Long Beach Boulevard) to Ocean Avenue in Long Beach. The line turned west onto Ocean Avenue and followed the same route as the American Avenue–North Long Beach Line to the terminus at the Pacific Electric station at the foot of Pacific Avenue.

Operations

For a number of years, the PE operated express "flyer" service along the Long Beach route. The flyer service only made a few stops between Downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, as compared with regular service that made all stops between Watts and Willowville, and most stops between Willowville and Long Beach. The right-of-way was also served by a pair of local lines: the

Watts Line The Watts Line was a local line of the Pacific Electric Railway that operated between the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles and the Watts Station at 103rd Street in Watts. It was the primary local service for the Southern District ...

between Downtown Los Angeles and Watts, and the American Avenue–North Long Beach Line between Willowville and Long Beach.

Southern Pacific Depot–Long Beach–Wilmington

Pacific Electric also provided service along the route to connect to long-distance passenger trains at Southern Pacific's

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. Cars ran from the downtown station to Long Beach and continued to San Pedro. It operated from 1924 to 1939 when Union Station opened and consolidated intercity trains at a different location.

History

Conceiving of the line earlier in the summer,

Henry E. Huntington Henry Edwards Huntington (February 27, 1850 – May 23, 1927) was an American railroad magnate and collector of art and rare books. Huntington settled in Los Angeles, where he owned the Pacific Electric Railway as well as substantial real estate ...

incorporated the Pacific Electric Railway in November 1901 and immediately began work on the Long Beach Line. Service began on July 4, 1902 (with a trial car run over the line the previous day), initially beginning at 9th and Main Streets in downtown Los Angeles (the trackage on 9th Street was acquired from Huntington's Los Angeles Railway in 1904). The terminal was moved to the

Pacific Electric Building The historic Pacific Electric Building (also known as the Huntington Building, after the railway’s founder, Henry Huntington, or simply “6th & Main”), opened in 1905 in the core of Los Angeles as the main train station for the Pacific Elec ...

in 1905, and trains were rerouted over the newly built elevated trackage west of San Pedro Street in 1917. The service was designated line 6. The Long Beach Line was transferred to Metropolitan Coach Lines in 1953. The service was further was commuted to the

Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (sometimes referred to as LAMTA or MTA I) was a public agency formed in 1951. Originally tasked with planning for rapid transit in Los Angeles, California, the agency would come to operate the vesti ...

on March 3, 1958; on April 17 it was renumbered to line 36. Passenger service ended on April 9, 1961, the last of the former Pacific Electric lines to do so. Trains were replaced by the 36 "Long Beach Freeway Flyer" bus, which followed the new

north of the Long Beach Boulevard interchange. Local replacement service north of this point was provided by the 33 "Los Angeles–Compton–Wilmington", which had replaced

trains in 1958. Southern Pacific continued to operate freight trains over the line. Their successor, Union Pacific, operates the remainder of the tracks as the

Wilmington Subdivision Wilmington may refer to: Places Australia * Wilmington, South Australia, a town and locality ** District Council of Wilmington, a former local government area ** Wilmington railway line, a former railway line United Kingdom * Wilmington, Devon ...

. A Southern Pacific depot of

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

design was built at Broadway and Pacific Avenue in downtown Long Beach in 1907. It was moved to a nearby Long Beach city maintenance yard alongside the

in 1936, and then moved again in 2015. It was destroyed by a fire in 2016.

Restoration

An early goal of the

Los Angeles County Transportation Commission The Southern California Rapid Transit District (almost always referred to as ''RTD'' or rarely as ''SCRTD'') was a public transportation agency established in 1964 to serve the Greater Los Angeles area. It was the successor to the original Los ...

was to reestablish rail service over the former PE right of way. Modern light rail was chosen as the preferred mode, and the line was largely rebuilt to accommodate the service. The Blue Line (later renamed to the A Line) opened in 1990 as the first of a new rail system in Los Angeles.

Station list

Rolling stock

By 1924 the line was utilizing 1200 class rolling stock.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

May 1956 Timetable
{{Pacific Electric Railway Pacific Electric routes Railway lines opened in 1902 Railway lines closed in 1961 1902 establishments in California 1961 disestablishments in California History of Long Beach, California Closed railway lines in the United States