Venice–Inglewood Line

Venice–Inglewood
Venice–Inglewood
Overview
Locale	Los Angeles County, California
Termini	Ocean Park; Inglewood
Service
Type	Interurban
System	Pacific Electric
Operator(s)	Pacific Electric
Daily ridership	<1 (1927)
History
Opened	c. October 18, 1902 (under Los Angeles Pacific Railroad)
Closed	September 13, 1928
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	600 V DC Overhead lines
Route map
	Legend
	This diagram: view; talk; ;

The Venice–Inglewood Line is a former Pacific Electric interurban railway line in Los Angeles County, California. Service was very sparse, providing a suburban service between Venice and Inglewood.

History[]

The branch line was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway,^[1]^[2] opening in June 1887 from Inglewood to Playa del Rey. In 1892, the ocean side terminal was moved to Ocean Park.

The route was acquired by the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad on March 21, 1902, and was shortly after electrified for service by that October. Service was limited to a single daily car.^[3] After Pacific Electric absorbed the company in 1911, service consisted of a single round trip mixed train (combined passenger and freight) daily except Sunday, when additional trains were run. Passenger trips ended after September 13, 1928.^[4]

All tracks along the route had been removed by 1981.

Route[]

The Venice–Inglewood Line was a single-track line in a private right of way. The line originated at the Pacific Electric Inglewood station and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway junction at Ivy Avenue and Ballona Street in Inglewood.

From the station, the line ran westerly and northwesterly following intermittent sections of Ballona Street, Hyde Park Boulevard and Thorneburn Street while crossing La Cienega Boulevard at-grade and passing under La Tijera Boulevard.

Continuing northwesterly, the line ran approximately one-half mile (0.8 km) before paralleling Centinela Boulevard (on the south) and crossing Sepuiveda Boulevard at-grade. Following Centinela Boulevard, the single track line curved westerly and southwesterly to run between Centinela Boulevard and the Hughes Airport. The line ran southwesterly between the runaways and Centinela-Jefferson Boulevard. It then crossed Jefferson Boulevard to head northwesterly and cross Ballona Creek.

The Venice–Inglewood Line continued northwesterly from Ballona Creek crossing Culver Boulevard and the adjacent Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line at-grade. Next, the track crossed Lincoln Boulevard and ran northwesterly to follow intermittent sections of Oxford Avenue while crossing Washington Street and then Washington Boulevard.

The line then crossed Venice Boulevard (with the Venice Short Line) and continued northwesterly following the west side of Electic Avenue through Venice to cross Main Street and reach the terminus of the line at the Ocean Park Carhouse (west of Main Street between Paloma and Thornton Avenues in Venice).

Ridership[]

While the Santa Fe experienced strong initial ridership on the line, declining passenger loads contributed to the company's decision to sell the route.^[3] A survey by the California Railroad Commission for the week ending September 3, 1927 revealed that a single passenger had ridden the line in the time period; eight trips were made the entire month.^[4]

References[]

This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under the public domain as a work of the State of California. License statement/permission. Text taken from 1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes, California Department of Transportation, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.

^ Schwieterman, Joseph P. (2004). When the Railroad Leaves Town. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press. pp. 75–79. ISBN 9781931112130.
^ Hilton, George W.; Due, John F. (2000) [1960]. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 412. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3.
^ ^a ^b "Inglewood Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
^ ^a ^b Veysey, Laurence R. (June 1958). A History Of The Rail Passenger Service Operated By The Pacific Electric Railway Company Since 1911 And By Its Successors Since 1953 (PDF). LACMTA (Report). Los Angeles, California: Interurbans. pp. 22, 117. ASIN B0007F8D84.