The Last A Car Southbound at 7th and Hill
Roy Finley Photo, Chard Walker Collection, Pacific Railroad Society Collection
This amazing Roy Finley photo captures the railfan riders of the final Los Angeles Railway A Line car (no. 90) on June 30th, 1946, at 4AM at the intersection of 7th and Hill streets in downtown Los Angeles.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Ray Younghans, Jack Ferrier, Sotdust O’Reilly (L.T. Gotchy) Wayne Melching, Ralphs Shears, Phil Goldman, Jim Spencer, Robert Slocom, Carl Blaubach, Fred Hust, Jack Hedden, Chard Walker, (and motorman D.F. Hutton). Photo by Roy Finley
This image is from the Chard Walker collection housed at the Pacific Railroad Society in San Dimas, California, and is presented here with their permission and gracious cooperation.
Roy Finley Photo, Chard Walker Collection, Pacific Railroad Society Collection
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An all-star lineup of pioneering railfans! One of the interesting feature of LARy and successors was how the line designations usually matched at least one of the streets the line ran on: P on Pico, V on Vernon & Vermont, H on Heliotrope, etc. Just a few years ago, San Francisco got into the act with the T line running on Third St. (the older lines are in alphabetical order from their opening dates.)
There is also a photo in this collection of the last run of the “U” line. Coincidentally, car 90 has the (dis)honor of doing the last run for both the A line and the U line. Car 90 had painted messages painted on its sides noting this was the last run of the U line and that it was the last sowbelly – perhaps the painted signs were why car 90 was selected for both last runs – or – perhaps it was mere coincidence.