Los Angeles Railway 287: End of the Line – Almost

Los Angeles Railway 287 Huntington Standard trolley car at Vernon Yard, awaiting scrapping

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Ralph Cantos

Los Angeles Railway Huntington Standard no. 287 heads a long line of retired Standards at the Vernon Yard’s “scrap track.”

These unfortunate cars probably operated their last mile under their own power, as this track still has overhead. Notice that the 287 still sports a B Line slat in the roof sign box. This photo must have been taken in mid-1946.

The new Los Angeles Transit Lines is in the midst of a big “house cleaning,” sending to scrap hundreds of older, unneeded cars as hundreds of new GM Diesel buses arrive in preparation for the big 1947 rail abandonments.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/lary-287.jpg” image_size=”full”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1632427973844{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]By some miracle, the body of the 287 made it out of the Vernon Yard scrap track, in one piece, more or less. Some unknown private party purchased the “truck-less” body of 287 and had it delivered to a hill top on the outskirts of Palmdale, over looking Highway 14 and the Southern Pacific main line to Palmdale and Lancaster.

Perhaps, some unknown railfan had plans of of making the 287 into a train watchers paradise. But for reasons lost to history, what purpose the 287 was to have served, those plans never came to to be.

So for decades, the forlorn 287 would sit on that hill top, alone and abandoned, enduring endless acts of vandalization. I myself saw the 287 from Highway 14 and from occasional rail fan trips that operated along this stretch of Southern Pacific main.

As the years passed, each time I saw the 287, she looked worse than the time before, until one day, she was gone. The 287 must have been a key piece of a “dream that failed.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Pacific Electric 969 Fan Trip: A scene unrecognizable today

Pacific Electric no. 969 on the Inglewood Line

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Ralph Cantos

Pacific Electric car no. 969 is seen here on the PE Inglewood line heading east, as it nears the crossing of La Cienega Blvd.

This line was originally built by the Santa Fe Railway in 1887, as their entry into Santa Monica. Revenue on this line never amounted to anything approaching a profit from either passenger or freight service. It was sold to the Los Angeles Pacific in 1902 and was electrified. The line came into the Pacific Electric portfolio in 1911.

Today, this scene is completely changed. For one thing, the photographer would be standing in the northbound lanes of the 405 Freeway and would be mowed down by a “hit-and-run” driver in a matter of seconds.

The rail line and open fields seen here are gone, replaced by urban sprawl, houses, factories, and apartments. I would bet that if Metro Rail was operating along this long-gone rail line, it would be well patronized. No use crying over pulled spikes.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/pe-969-fan-trip-crosses-the-venice-short-line.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”PE 969 Fan Trip crosses the Venice Short Line” desc=”969 as it crosses the Venice Short Line rails on the Inglewood Line heading eastbound. ” caption_location=”outside-image”][/vc_column][/vc_row]