7 (Los Angeles Railway)

7
Overview
Type	Light rail
System	Los Angeles Railway
Locale	Los Angeles
Termini	Spring and 2nd Street Athens Way and 116th Street
Stations	26
Operation
Opened	1932
Closed	1955
Owner	Los Angeles Railway
Technical
Track gauge	narrow gauge
Electrification	Overhead lines
Route map edit 8 Spring and 2nd9 Spring and 3rd Spring and 4th Spring and 5th Spring and 6th Spring and 7thJ R S 7th and MainF 7th and Los Angeles 7th and Maple 7th and San PedroS 7th and Towne 7th and Gladys 7th and CentralJ R Central and 8th Central and Olympic Central and 12th Central and 14th Central and 16th Central and Washington Central and 22nd Central and Adams Central and 28th Central and 32nd Central and Jefferson Central and 41st Central and 42nd Central and 43rd Central and VernonV

Geographic map; 7 is in green

7 was a line operated by the Los Angeles Railway from 1932 to 1955. It ran from Spring and 2nd Streets to Athens and 116th Street, by way of Spring Street, Main Street, Broadway Place, Broadway, and Athens Way. During its Los Angeles Transit Lines days, around 1950–55, Line 7 was rerouted (or detoured) off S. Broadway to Central Ave., at least as far north as 7th St. across Olympic Bl. to possibly Vernon Avenue, covering trackage that was abandoned rail by line U, when that line was converted to trolleybus August 3, 1947.

7 at the intersection of Spring & 6th St.

South Broadway Line (1932-1934)

7 was formed from the South Broadway branch of the M-Grand and Moneta Avenue Line, and the Santa Fe Depot branch of the N-West 9th Street and Santa Fe Depot Line. Service began on June 12, 1932. The route that the line went from was W. 116th Street and Athens Avenue, north on Athens, South Broadway, S. Broadway Place, Main and Spring Street to W. 2nd Street, southeast on 2nd to Traction Avenue to E. 3rd Street, east on 3rd to Santa Fe Avenue, and north on Santa Fe to Depot at E. 2nd Street. On November 11, 1934, the line rerouted and renamed the 7-South Broadway and Civic Center Line.^[1]

South Broadway & Civic Center Line (1934-1955)

In 1934, the South Broadway & Civic Center Line service began on November 11. This line had multiple stops on 116th Street and Athens Avenue, north on Athens, South Broadway, South Broadway Place, Main and Spring Streets to Sunset Boulevard Line to the Santa Fe Depot transferred to the 9-line. On September 12, 1948 terminus cut back to Temple and Spring Streets due to the building of the Hollywood Freeway. On May 5, 1955, the rail service was abandoned primarily because of the boom of the California Highway system and the lack of popularity of rail cars.

Final Operations

The public saw the automobile and the newly expanding freeway system in Southern California as the preferred and more convenient method of travel. In 1958, LATL was sold to the young Los Angeles MTA, which instituted a program of implementing buses instead of rail cars. The remaining five streetcar routes were converted to buses in 1963, ending an era of more than 65 years of electric railway transportation within the city.^[2]

External links

• Los Angeles Railway Electric Rail Heritage Association
• Yellow Cars Final Operations

References

1. Walker, Jim. The Yellow Cars of Los Angeles: a Roster of Streetcars of Los Angeles Railway and Successors from the 1890s to 1963. Interurbans, 1977.

2. Walker, Jim. Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars. Arcadia Pub., 2007.

3. Pacific Railroad Society. Rail Transportation Salutes Los Angeles 200. The Society, 1981.

4. Swett, Ira L. Los Angeles Railway's Pre-Huntington Cars, 1890-1902. [Interurbans], 1962.

5. Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall, and Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority. Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority Rapid Transit Program. DMJM, 1960.