In 1891 alone, they accomplished the following: Sherman and Clark began work immediately. This would help Sherman immensely with his plans for LACE, but later would be used against him. In the autumn of 1890, the legislature passed the so-called 5-block law, which enabled a street railway company to use another company's rails for up to five city blocks. The firm was incorporated in Arizona because Arizona incorporation held certain advantages over incorporating in California. Future mayor Frederick Eaton was chosen as Chief Engineer. Sherman created an Arizona corporation called The Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway Company (LACE) on Novemwith Sherman as President and Clark as General Manager. He acquired the line in October, 1890 and renamed it The Belt Line Railroad Company. He joined the efforts of a group attempting to resurrect the Second Street Cable Railway, but persuaded them to electrify the line instead. Sherman became interested in opportunities in Los Angeles after vacationing there in early 1890. Clark, too, came from the Arizona territory, and was similarly involved in business and civic affairs. Sherman, originally a teacher from Vermont, had moved to the Arizona territory in 1874 where he was involved in business and civic affairs, real estate, and street railways. Clark and San Francisco investors late in 1890. Though the real estate venture was successful, after an explosion in the power station, the Pico Street electric line closed, seemingly for good.ĭevelopment of an effective electric transportation system based on the new Sprague-based technology began in earnest with the arrival in Los Angeles of Moses Sherman, his brother-in-law Eli P. The Los Angeles Electric Railway used the early Daft overhead system with a crude electric car and trailers. The first electric railway in Los Angeles was built in 1887 to facilitate the sales of a real estate tract on Pico Street. Though considered the latest word in cable railway technology, construction was expensive, legal and operating problems plagued the system, and a rising new electric railway technology threatened to make the system obsolete. The Los Angeles Cable Railway (later named the Pacific Cable Railway, and incorporated in Illinois) owned many exclusive franchises (agreements with the city to use public streets for transportation purposes) and by 1889 had constructed four major cable lines crisscrossing the growing downtown area, from Jefferson and Grand to East Los Angeles (Lincoln Heights), and from Westlake Park to Boyle Heights. Įach of these early railroads were built to further the sale of real estate that was considered too far away from the downtown area. Opened in 1885, it ran west from Second and Spring Streets out First Street to Texas Street (Belmont Avenue). The first cable car system to open in Los Angeles was the Second Street Cable Railway. Transportation technology progressed, and Los Angeles acquired significant investments in cable technology. A more ambitious horse-driven line was the Main Street and Agricultural Park Railroad, which ran from the Plaza area, south on Main Street, to Washington Gardens and then to Agricultural ( Exposition) Park. Widney, and ran from the Plaza area to Sixth and Pearl ( Figueroa) Street not much later, this line would be extended northeast to East Los Angeles (today’s Lincoln Park). The earliest horsecar railway, the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad was built in 1874 by Robert M. The earliest streetcars in Los Angeles were horse-propelled. The company carried many more passengers than the Red Cars, which served a larger and sparser area of Los Angeles.Ĭars operated on 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm) narrow gauge tracks, and shared dual gauge trackage with the 4 ft 8 + 1⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm) standard gauge Pacific Electric system on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles (directly in front of the 6th and Main terminal), on 4th Street, and along Hawthorne Boulevard south of Downtown Los Angeles toward the cities of Hawthorne, Gardena and Torrance. The system provided frequent local services which complemented the Pacific Electric "Red Car" system's largely commuter-based interurban routes. 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 and surrounding neighborhoods between 18. See also: Streetcars in Los Angeles Los Angeles Railway
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