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Re: Street Running in Los Angeles-Lots of big steam and more.
Author: BOB2
Date: 04-23-2014 - 10:34
Since the SP Station between around 1910 and 1939 was at 4th and Alameda, all passenger movement from the west and east terminated here. So Cab forwards and Daylight 4400's were a regular site passing Old Chinatown (where LAUPT is today)and the brothels of north Alameda and Olvera Street to the SP-UP station.
New Chinatown (formerly little Italy before Breda's roamed the land), Olvera Street, and Union Station, the East Bank rail relocation projects, and even the LA City Hall, were all part of a major set of 30's projects, designed to get the trains off the streets, get the blight out of that part of town, and to restore/preserve our historic core (sound familiar?). After that, you could only operate on the street at night.
So yes, those rails in Alameda, could take and have seen many a UP and SP large steamy.
Most of this is now going, going, gone. I worked on a project a few years back to document the street rails, and that was used to successfully get a grant to get much of the remaining almost all now unused rails out, and to repave Alameda. Even the famous (infamous?) Atomic Café is now going to make way for yuppie condo's. Where else but the Atomic could you find grizzly old RR switchmen, cops, prostitutes, bums, and punk rockers eating pork noodles, at 3 in the morning?
New Chinatown (formerly little Italy before Breda's roamed the land), Olvera Street, and Union Station, the East Bank rail relocation projects, and even the LA City Hall, were all part of a major set of 30's projects, designed to get the trains off the streets, get the blight out of that part of town, and to restore/preserve our historic core (sound familiar?). After that, you could only operate on the street at night.
So yes, those rails in Alameda, could take and have seen many a UP and SP large steamy.
Most of this is now going, going, gone. I worked on a project a few years back to document the street rails, and that was used to successfully get a grant to get much of the remaining almost all now unused rails out, and to repave Alameda. Even the famous (infamous?) Atomic Café is now going to make way for yuppie condo's. Where else but the Atomic could you find grizzly old RR switchmen, cops, prostitutes, bums, and punk rockers eating pork noodles, at 3 in the morning?
