Re: West LA Train Station - Depot without tracks for 70 years
Author: Ken Scott
Date: 10-15-2009 - 19:39
Freericks asks about where the freight shed was located. However, when I looked at Ira L. Swett's Interurban Special 60, the map in the publication shows the Soldiers Home line coming off the Santa Monica AirLine going north to the Soldiers Home. The line crosses Santa Monica Blvd and Santa Monica Line and then crosses Wilshire Blvd. This line was parallel on the west side the Sepulveda Blvd. It was on Private Right of Way. Interurban Special 60 shows that the line entered the Solder's Home as I described and then looped back on itself; however, it does appear that a connection with the Sawtelle/Brentwood/Santa Monica line was made near Barrington Ave. off Sawtelle Blvd. Now, when I saw the line, the track entered the Soldier Home on private right of way about 1 or 2 blocks north of Wilshire Bvd and continue about 100 to 200 yards north to a raised loading dock containing a metal shed. The shed was opposite the National Cemetary(it being of the eastside of Sepulveda Blvd. The shed and track at this point were within the Soldiers Home compound, and the compound was fensed off by a wire fence. It was easly view from the street as I drove by.
At the time, I tried to locate any evidence of the track entering from Sawtelle Bvd into the Soldiers Home, but all had been remove.