B (Los Angeles Railway)

The B was a streetcar line in Los Angeles, California. It was operated by the Los Angeles Railway from 1920 to 1949, originally running from Ramona Boulevard and Miller Street in East Los Angeles to Ascot Avenue and 51st Street.

B
Overview
Locale	Los Angeles
Service
Type	Streetcar
System	Los Angeles Railway
Daily ridership	13,185 (1940)[1]
History
Opened	1920
Closed	January 30, 1949
Technical
Track gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Electrification	600 V DC overhead line
Route map  E  Evergreen and Wabash Evergreen and Blanchard Evergreen and Malabar Evergreen and Brooklyn  E  Brooklyn and Mott Brooklyn and Soto Brooklyn and St. Louis Brooklyn and State Brooklyn and Boyle Brooklyn and Echandia Brooklyn and Warren Brooklyn and Macy US 99 (Ramona Parkway) Pacific Electric Macy and Mission Union Pacific RR Los Angeles River Santa Fe RR Macy and Lyon Macy and Vignes Union Pacific RR Santa Fe RR Southern Pacific RR Union Station  F  Macy and Alameda Macy and Main Main and Sunset Main and Temple Main and 1st  P  Main and 2nd  8  Main and 3rd  9  Main and 4th Main and 5th Main and 6th Main and 7th  J   R   S   7  Main and 8th Main and 9th  7   8  Broadway Place  5  Main and 11th Main and 12th  F   5   7   8  12th and Los Angeles 12th and Maple 12th and San Pedro  S  12th and Stanford 12th and Central 12th and Hooper Hooper and 14th Hooper and 16th Hooper and Washington Hooper and 22nd Hooper and Adams Hooper and 32nd Ascot and 32nd Ascot and 34th Ascot and 38th Ascot and 41st Ascot and 42nd Ascot and Vernon  V  Ascot and 46th Ascot and 48th Ascot and 51st Los Angeles Railway lines other lines

History

Brooklyn and Ascot Lines (1895–1911)

The first Brooklyn line was built in 1895 by the Los Angeles Consolidated Railway as a horsecar road. It terminated at the intersection of Brooklyn Avenue and Evergreen Avenue. The line was electrified the following year and rerouted downtown. In 1902 the route was bought by the Pacific Electric Railway to be standard gauged, but never was.

Following the Great Merger of 1911, control of the route returned to the Los Angeles Railway. They extended the route north and east along Evergreen and Wabash Avenues to the city limits in 1915.[2]

Expansion and later removal (1911–1949)

The line was given the designation B and rerouted in 1920. Tracks on 9th Street were taken over by the N Line and the remaining service was merged with the Ascot Line, a previously unconnected route which ran by way of Main Street, 12th Street, Hooper Avenue, a private right-of-way alongside the Santa Monica Air Line, and Ascot Avenue.[3][2] (A section of this, between Adams Boulevard and 41st Street, has since been filled in.)

In 1922, the route was extended northeast along the newly built Harrison Street (later Ramona Boulevard, and later still City Terrace Drive) to Miller Street in East Los Angeles.[4] In 1949 the route was removed altogether, replaced by trolley bus service.[2]

Sources

1. Breivogel, Milton; Bate, Stuart (1942). Mass Transiit Facilities and Master Plan of Parkways (PDF) (Report). Los Angeles City Planning Commission. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
2. "'B'". Electric Rail Heritage Association. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
3. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Terrass, John (1922). Study and Plan of Relief of the Street Traffic Congestion in the City of Los Angeles, California (PDF) (Thesis). University of California. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
4. H.P. Noordwal (1938). "Route Map Los Angeles Railway Electric Car and Bus Routes" (Map). Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. Los Angeles Railway. "Alternate link" (Map). via Google.

External links

• "Los Angeles Railway". Electric Rail Heritage Association.