Long Beach (Pacific Electric)

Long Beach
Overview
Type	Interurban rail
System	Pacific Electric Railway
Locale	Los Angeles, and Long Beach
Termini	Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Long Beach, California
Stations	8
Daily ridership	1,603,476 (last count)
Operation
Opened	1902
Closed	1961
Operator(s)	Pacific Electric Railway
Rolling stock	PE 1200 Class (last used)
Technical
Line length	20.37 miles
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead lines
Route map Legend Pacific Electric Building J R S J S Amoco Vernon Avenue V Slauson Junction Fleming Florencito Park Florence Nadeau Graham Latin Wattsend local service Abila Springdale Willowbrook Sativa Winona Compton Dominguez Dominguez Junction Del Amo Cota Los Angeles River Los Cerritos Vista del Mar Willow Long Beach

The Long Beach Line was a major interurban railway operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Los Angeles and Long Beach, California via Florence, Watts, 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 continued to operate freight on the tracks, as the Union Pacific Railroad still does north of 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.

Operations

Trains left the Pacific Electric Building on an elevated structure that extended east to San Pedro Street south of 6th Street. They turned south on San Pedro, then east on 9th Street to Hooper Avenue, where private right-of-way began, initially paralleling Long Beach Avenue to the west (the current Blue Line enters this right-of-way at Washington Boulevard). The line re-entered the public streets in Long Beach, where it followed Long Beach Boulevard south and Ocean Boulevard west to the Morgan Avenue Yard (Morgan Avenue was approximately in the center of the Los Angeles River Flood Control Channel). Private right-of-way continued across Long Beach Boulevard all the way to Balboa.

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

History

Henry E. Huntington incorporated the Pacific Electric Railway in November 1901 and immediately began work on the Long Beach Line. Service began on July 4, 1902, 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 in 1905, and trains were rerouted over the newly built elevated trackage west of San Pedro Street in 1917.^[1]

Train service ended in April 1961, replaced by the 36 "Long Beach Freeway Flyer" bus, which followed the new Long Beach Freeway north of the Long Beach Boulevard interchange. Local replacement service north of this point was provided by the 33 "Los Angeles-Compton-Wilmington",^[2] which had replaced San Pedro via Dominguez Line trains in 1958. There is no longer an express bus to Long Beach, but the Blue Line light rail, opened in 1990, serves the same purpose.

Station list

City	Station	Opened	Closed	Notes
Los Angeles	Pacific Electric Building	1905	1961
	Amoco	1902	1961	Junction with Santa Monica Air Line
	Vernon Avenue
	Slauson Avenue
	Slauson Junction	1902	1961	Junction with Whittier Line (to Yorba Linda and Fullerton)
	Fleming
	Florencito Park
	Florence Avenue
	Nadeau
	Graham
Los Angeles	Latin
	Watts	1902	1961	Junction with Santa Ana Line and Redondo via Gardena Line
	Abila
	Springdale
	Willowbrook
	Sativa
Compton	Winona
	Compton	1902	1961
	Dominguez
	Dominguez Junction	1902	1961	Junction with San Pedro via Dominguez Line
Carson	Del Amo
Long Beach	Cota
	Los Cerritos
	Vista del Mar
	Willowville	1902	1961	Junction with Newport-Balboa Line
	Morgan Avenue	1902	1961

References

1. Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California, Pacific Electric Los Angeles Terminal District, accessed December 2014
2. Southern California Rapid Transit District, A Guide for Going Places, June 1970 (side 1, side 2)

• Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California, Pacific Electric Long Beach Line, accessed December 2014