As someone who's operated every segment of Alameda, the J yard hauler, almost never went up Alameda. And, that "hauler" may have just been me running late, on the City job, which wehad to occasionally do when somehting went really wrong, and wrecked morning rush hour traffic. The J yard hauler and other hauling jobs, via Alameda, like hauls to Tweedy, went from both Taylor and the Bullring complex via either Dayton, or Mission, via the East bank line on the UP, and through Redondo, because of that traffic congestion problems.

The Eastside connection and the UP operating rights, was one of SP's first attempts to deal with the disastrous traffic on Alameda from train movements. Even passenger movements to an from Central station went on Alameda to the depot at Fifth Street. And, the original "coach yard" located near Seventh. Next came LAUPT which got the trains off of the streets and relocated the "new" Coach Yard to the "Shops" across the LA River from Mission tower, via Pasadena Jct, via the "back way"...

The "street" jobs, by the late 60's and early seventies, were afternoon and (in the end only) night jobs, like the City job and the "Rathole". Day jobs did still go up the old UP main to 8th Street on the other "back way" across Olympic, where there was still a manned tower to control the crossing gates, when I worked those jobs firing, but those were forbidden from operating during daylight hours on the "street". All of the actual "street" jobs operated out of the Links, and later after the Bullruing complex was abandonned, and the connection at the north end severed, they operated out of J yard north on Alameda.

What Alameda has that is an advantages as a potential LRT route option is a nice width, which used to have a double track passenger main line in the middle, and lots of vacant former industrial space for all of those new condo's and apartments, they want to build.