Glendale–Burbank Line

Glendale–Burbank
A Downtown Los Angeles-bound Red Car near the intersection of Fletcher Drive and Riverside Drive, c. 1950s
Overview
LocaleSouthern California
Termini
Stations21
Service
TypeInterurban
SystemPacific Electric
Operator(s)
Rolling stockPE 5000 Class PCC cars (last used)
History
OpenedApril 6, 1904 (April 6, 1904)
ClosedJune 19, 1955 (1955-06-19)
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
ElectrificationOverhead line600 V DC
Route map

Benmar Hills
discontinued
1940
Cypress
Palm Avenue
Burbank
Provencia
Alameda Avenue
Western Avenue
Señorita
Grandview Avenue
Highland Avenue
Pacific Avenue
North Glendale
La Ramada
Arden Junction
Burchett Street
Doran Street
Lexington
Wilson
East Glendale
Glendale Avenue
(Glendale and Montrose Railway
1909
–1930
)
Glendale
cut back 1946
Harvard
Colorado (6th)
Lomita
Maple
Chevy Chase
Tropico
old depot spur
San Fernando Road
Richardson
Atwater
Glenhurst
Monte Sano
Fletcher Drive
India Street
Lakeview
Edendale Siding
removed
1946
Edendale
Whitmore Avenue
Baxter
Fargo Street
Effie Street
Sunset Boulevard
Park Junction
 A 
Beverly & Glendale
 I 
Subway Terminal
6th/Main Terminal
until
1925

Glendale–Burbank is a defunct Pacific Electric railway line that was operational from 1904 to 1955 in Southern California, running from Downtown Los Angeles to Burbank via Glendale. Short lines terminated Downtown and in North Glendale, including the popular Edendale Local.

Route

[edit]
Brand Street in Glendale – a Glendale Line train stops to pick-up and drop off passengers in 1915.

The route started at the Subway Terminal Building. Once out of the Hollywood Subway, dual tracks traversed the Toluca yard, crossed under the Beverly Boulevard Viaduct into the center of Glendale Boulevard where they ran northerly across Temple Street, and in the 1950s under the Hollywood Freeway. Following in the pavement of Glendale Boulevard, the tracks ran directly to the west of Park Junction at intersection Park Avenue (one block south of Sunset Boulevard). There was a connection up Park Avenue to the Hollywood Line on Sunset Boulevard.

The Glendale Line, crossed under the Sunset Boulevard Bridge where it entered a three-track private way which allowed passing of the Glendale and Edendale cars. The three-track private way extended north, in the center of Glendale Boulevard, past Montana Street, Alvarado Street, and Berkeley Street as far as Effie Street.

Double-track street operation was then resumed and ran to Allesandro Street. Here, the dual tracks left Glendale Boulevard to enter a private way through the Ivanhoe Hills, past Lakeview Avenue and India Street to eventually run parallel to Riverside Drive. A high wooden trestle and steel deck girder bridge carried the dual tracks over Fletcher Drive with a clearance of 40 feet (12 m). The line continued northwesterly, still along the edge of the Hills, to Monte Santo (Glendale Boulevard and Riverside Drive).

From Monte Santo, a series of three bridges carried the tracks northeasterly over Riverside Drive and Los Angeles River. The line then traversed the Atwater district in a private right of way in the center of Glendale Boulevard to the Glendale city limit where the line crossed Southern Pacific's Coast Line at-grade (where Glendale Boulevard becomes Brand Boulevard).

The dual rails then crossed San Fernando Road where the private way ended and the line continued northerly in the pavement of Brand Boulevard, crossing Los Feliz Boulevard, Chevy Chase Boulevard, Colorado Boulevard, Broadway and Lexington Drive. The main line continued north to Verdugo Wash where the line became a single track.

At Arden Junction at Glenoaks Boulevard, the line branched. The old main line continued north in the pavement of Brand Boulevard to a terminus in North Glendale at Mountain Avenue. The Burbank Line diverged westerly as a single-track line on private way in the center of Glenoaks Boulevard, then continued westerly past Central, Pacific, Highland, western, and Alameda Avenues to a terminus in Burbank at Cypress Avenue. From 1925 to 1940 the Burbank Line continued west, following Glenoaks Boulevard, on private way to Ben Mar Hills (Eton Drive).

List of major stations

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Station Mile[1] Service Major connections Service began Service ended City
B NG
Benmar Hills 13.32 1925 1940 Burbank
Burbank 12.09 1911 1955
North Glendale 8.92 1904 1955 Glendale
La Ramada North Glendale 1904 1955
Glendale 7.48 East Glendale 1904 1955
Tropico 1904 1955
Atwater 5.46 1904 1955
Subway Terminal Building 0 Echo Park Avenue, Hollywood, Owensmouth, Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, San Fernando, Sawtelle, Sherman, Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate 1925 1955 Los Angeles
6th & Main Street Terminal 1904 1925

History

[edit]
A Glendale Line train crosses Broadway on 6th Street in the 1920s. Increased congestion downtown at this time led the California Railroad Commission to force Pacific Electric to construct a subway tunnel to bypass surface streets.

Construction of the Brand Boulevard segment between Arcade Depot and Glendale was begun by the Los Angeles & Glendale Electric Railway in 1903,[2] but the new company sold the rights to the line to the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway by the following year.[3] Through service between Glendale and Downtown Los Angeles commenced on April 10, 1904.[4] The line initially terminated at Brand and Broadway, but was quickly extended down Broadway to Glendale Avenue. LAIU acquired Casa Verdugo that year and the line was further extended up Broadway, which became the main terminal.[5]

Los Angeles Inter-Urban went on to be leased then acquired by the Pacific Electric, with the latter assuming service in July 1908. PE suddenly tore up the tracks along Broadway one night in June 1907 and demanded a large subsidy to resume service.[6][5] Eventually, the Broadway branch would be reopened under a shared trackage agreement with the Glendale and Montrose Railway, with service beginning on May 1, 1914.[5][7] Service to Burbank began on September 5, 1911, initially originating at Main Street.[8]

Pacific Electric briefly established a joint-service with the Glendale and Montrose Railway between 1916 and 1917 — cars ran from the Pacific Electric Building to Glendale Avenue on the East Glendale branch and turned north on the G&M tracks to La Crescenta. The route and partnership were discontinued in less than a year due to low ridership.[9] The extension to Eton Drive, subsidized by local real estate developers, started carrying passengers July 20, 1925.[10] Beginning on December 1 that same year, trains were routed through the Belmont Tunnel ("Hollywood Subway") between the Subway Terminal Building and Glendale Boulevard in Westlake.[11]

Many trips were replaced with buses starting in 1936,[12] but community feedback from Burbank and Glendale was so great that the California State Railroad Commission pressured the railway to re-expand the service.[13] A full rail schedule was restored in 1940 along with discontinuation of the Eton Drive extension.[10]

The last car on the Broadway section ran on Christmas Eve 1946.[9] On October 1, 1953, the route came under the purview of Metropolitan Coach Lines, who proceeded a series of service reductions.[14][15] Rail service to North Glendale was discontinued on June 18, 1955, with Burbank runs also ending at the end of the service day.[16] The route was converted to bus operation.[17] A condition of rail abandonment was the sale of 1.8 miles (2.9 km) of the former right of way along Glendale Boulevard and Allesandro Street to the city for $1 — a property which was valued at $100,000 at the time.[18][14]

All tracks along the route had been removed by 1981. Supports for the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge over the Los Angeles River were reused for a cycling and pedestrian path in Atwater Village which opened in 2020; the Atwater Red Car Pedestrian Bridge is named in honor of the Red Cars which once used the route.[19]

Rolling stock

[edit]

When PE took over service in 1908, the line was operated by 300 class cars made into trains. 800 class cars were used in 1911 until the great merger and the line was assigned 400 class cars.[5]

To expand service after 1936, Pacific Electric purchased unique double-ended PCC streetcars to run on the line. Cars were formed into trains up to three long. These cars were retired in 1955 along with the service.[13][14]

Edendale Local

[edit]
An Edendale Local on 6th Street, c. 1900–1920

Local services also operated over the line, starting at Whitmore Avenue in Edendale and running south — bypassing the Hollywood Subway on surface tracks to terminate at the Southern Pacific Railroad's Arcade Depot (later Central Station). These trips were extended north to Monte Sano in 1936.[20][21] With the opening of Union Station, tracks leading to the former Southern Pacific depot were removed and Locals were rerouted into the Hollywood Subway starting in September 1940. By that November, Glendale–Burbank trains took over most local duties, with Edendale Local runs relegated to rush hours and going as far as Richardson. The Line saw a resurgence in World War II, but dedicated service was gradually withdrawn.[20] Metropolitan Coach Lines finally dropped the last vestiges of the Edendale Local in June 1955.[22][23]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

 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.

  1. ^ "Pacific Electric Time Tables" (PDF). wx4's Dome of Foam. Pacific Electric. September 1, 1934. p. 30. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  2. ^ "Contract let for railway". The Los Angeles Times. September 12, 1903. p. 13. Retrieved December 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  3. ^ "Millions to Invest". Press-Telegram. Long Beach, California. January 15, 1904. p. 1. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  4. ^ "First Cars to Glendale". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. April 11, 1904. p. 4. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  5. ^ a b c d Swett & Walker 1975, p. 98
  6. ^ "Say Spite Work Prompted Action". Los Angeles Herald. Los Angeles, California. June 10, 1907. p. 7. Retrieved December 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  7. ^ Veysey 1958, p. 16
  8. ^ "Forty-five minutes from our Broadway". The Los Angeles Times. September 5, 1911. p. 5. Retrieved December 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  9. ^ a b Veysey 1958, p. 17
  10. ^ a b Veysey 1958, p. 14
  11. ^ "P. E. Subway Is Now Opened for Service". The Van Nuys News. December 1, 1925. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  12. ^ Veysey 1958, p. 18
  13. ^ a b "No.1061 Pacific Electric". Market Street Railway. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  14. ^ a b c Swett & Walker 1975, p. 102
  15. ^ Veysey 1958, pp. 15–16
  16. ^ Veysey 1958, p. 19
  17. ^ "L.A. Subway Closes After Special Trolley Car Trip" (PDF). Los Angeles Times. June 20, 1955. p. 8. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  18. ^ "Glendale-Burbank Rail Line End Authorized". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. April 27, 1955. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Sharp, Steven (January 28, 2020). "Red Car Pedestrian Bridge Opens in Atwater Village". Urbanize. Los Angeles. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Veysey 1958, p. 11
  21. ^ "Glendale-Burbank bus service starts Sunday". The Los Angeles Times. July 10, 1936. p. 22. Retrieved December 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  22. ^ Veysey 1958, p. 12
  23. ^ "Edendale Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved September 20, 2020.

Bibliography

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