San Fernando Line

Part of the Pacific Electric Railway system

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This article is about the defunct interurban line. For the modern transit projects, see East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project.

San Fernando

First car over Cahuenga Pass, December 16, 1911

Overview
Owner| Southern Pacific Railroad
Locale| Southern California
Termini|

* Downtown Los Angeles
* San Fernando, California

Stations| 36
Service
Type| Interurban
System| Pacific Electric
Operator(s)| Pacific Electric
Rolling stock| PE 5050 Class Hollywood Cars (last used)
History
Opened| March 22, 1913
Closed| June 1, 1938 (to San Fernando)
December 28, 1952 (to Van Nuys)
Technical
Line length| 27.5 mi (44.3 km)
Number of tracks| 1–2
Track gauge| 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification| Overhead line, 600 V DC

Route map

Legend

|  |  |

27.47

| San Fernando

|
|
|
|

|  |

|  |

Southern Pacific RR

|  |

|  | San Fernando Mission
|  |

|  | Wheeler
|  |

|  | Hickson
|  |

23.81

| Plummer
|  |

|  | Misslanco
|  |

22.81

| Mission Acres
|  |

|  |

Pacoima Wash

|  |

|  | Midway Park
|  |

|  | Wyondotte
|  |

|  | Whitsert
|  |

|  | Rosita

|  |

|  | Amherst
|  |

|  |

Owensmouth

|  |

19.89

| North Sherman Way |

| terminus

after 1938

|  |

|  |

Southern Pacific RR

|  |

19.11

| Van Nuys
|  |

17.72

| Circle Drive
|  |

|  | Castro
|  |

|  | Cortez
|  |

16.17

| Kester Junction
|  |

|  |

Tujunga Wash

|  |

|  | Garnsey
|  |

|  | Sadler
|  |

|  | Eucalyptus
|  |

14.17

| North Hollywood
|  |

|  |

Southern Pacific RR

|  |

|  | Hoffman
|  |

|  |

Los Angeles River

|  |

11.59

| Rio Vista (Los Nogales)
|  |

11.10

| Universal City
|  |

|  | Oak Crest
|  |

9.99

| Barham Boulevard
|  |

|  | Hollywood Park
|  |

|  |
|  |

|  | Dusky Glen
|  |

8.65

| Cahuenga Pass
|  |

|  |

US 101

|  |

7.84

| Highland & Hollywood
|  |

|  |

Hollywood

|  |

|  |

Sherman

|  |

7.09

| Highland & Santa Monica
|  |

|  | Colegrove
|  |

|  |

Western and Franklin

|  |

|  | Virgil Avenue

|  |

|  |

Hollywood

|  |

|  | Sunset Junction
|  |

|  |
|  |

|  |

Glendale–Burbank

|  |

|  |

Echo Park Avenue

|  |

|  |

Toluca Substation and Yard

|  |

|  |

Hollywood Subway

|  |

| Subway Terminal
|  |

|  |
|  |  |  |  |  |

This diagram:

* view
* talk
* edit

The San Fernando Line was a part of the Pacific Electric Railway system in Los Angeles County, California. It was designed to increase the reach of public transportation from the Downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood into the San Fernando Valley, to support land speculation and development expanding Los Angeles.

## History

[edit]

### Southern San Fernando Valley line

[edit]

See also: Owensmouth Line

Beginning in 1911, a 20-mile (32 km) interurban electric railway was built from Lankershim (present day North Hollywood), the terminus of an existing line from over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood, westward through the entire southern San Fernando Valley property of the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company syndicate, to promote and support small farm and residential property sales. The syndicate was led by Harry Chandler, with partners General Moses Sherman, Isaac Van Nuys, Hobart Johnstone Whitley, and James Boon Lankershim. The project was initiated in anticipation of the Los Angeles aqueduct opening in 1913, which would bring water for residential and irrigated agricultural development in the syndicate's San Fernando Valley holdings (and citywide). The syndicate is the Los Angeles land speculation group dramatized in the movie Chinatown.

The partner General Moses Sherman directed the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad electric railway line's construction. It ran from Lankershim to the three new towns the syndicate's partner Hobart Johnstone Whitley had planned for the valley, Van Nuys, Marion (present day Reseda), and Owensmouth (present day Canoga Park and West Hills). Tracks ran in the middle of Sherman Way, a broad, landscaped, and paved avenue to the Owensmouth terminus.

### Northern San Fernando Valley spur

[edit]

In addition, the San Fernando Mission Land Company of Charles Maclay and George K. Porter, which owned much of the northern San Fernando Valley (north of Roscoe Boulevard), began construction of an electric railway spur line north from Van Nuys, to connect their undeveloped land and the City of San Fernando with the Pacific Electric system. Pacific Electric would eventually take over and finish construction of this line.[1] Service began on March 22, 1913 as a shuttle between San Fernando and Van Nuys,[2] but through service to Los Angeles probably began by that July.[3] From San Fernando, the southbound route followed Brand Boulevard, Sepulveda Boulevard, Parthenia Place, and then Van Nuys Boulevard from present day Panorama City to Van Nuys. Remnants of the right of way include center medians on Brand Boulevard, and roundabouts at the Parthenia Place and Sherman Circle/Van Nuys Boulevard turns.

### Later development

[edit]

Cars were rerouted from the surface to the Hollywood Subway beginning on February 7, 1926.[3]

Postcard depicting the private right of way in the Hollywood Freeway median strip (right of center frame), c. 1940

The route originally navigated the Cahuenga Pass in its own right of way on the west side of the state highway. When the Hollywood Freeway was built, the line was relocated to the freeway's median strip.[4] Services were truncated to North Sherman Way on June 1, 1938,[5][6] and finally replaced by buses on December 28, 1952.[7]

A survey conducted by Caltrans in 1981 reported that almost all of the line had either been removed or paved over for street use.[4]

## Redevelopment

[edit]

Part of the planned East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project is expected to reactivate much of the Van Nuys Boulevard corridor for use as a light rail line. Trains will run between the Van Nuys G Line station at the former Southern Pacific right of way and continue north on Van Nuys past the curve where the San Fernando continued operation on Parthenia Street.

## Stations

[edit]

Station  | Mile[8] | Major connections  | Date opened  | Date closed  | City

|
|
|
|
|

San Fernando  | 27.47  |  | 1913  | 1938  | San Fernando
Plummer  | 23.81  |  |  | 1938  |
Mission Acres  | 22.81  |  |  | 1938  |
North Sherman Way | 19.89  | Owensmouth | 1911  | 1952  | Van Nuys
Van Nuys | 19.11  | Owensmouth | 1911  | 1952
Circle Drive  | 17.72  | Owensmouth |  |  |
Kester (Ethel Avenue)  | 16.17  | Owensmouth |  |  |
Lankershim
(later North Hollywood) | 14.17  | Owensmouth | 1902  | 1952  | North Hollywood
Rio Vista  | 11.59  | Owensmouth |  |  |
Universal City  | 11.10  | Owensmouth |  |  |
Barnham Boulevard  | 9.99  | Owensmouth |  |
Cahuenga Pass  | 8.65  | Owensmouth | 1902  | 1952  |
Highland & Hollywood  | 7.84  | Hollywood, Owensmouth, Venice via Hollywood | 1902  | 1955  | Los Angeles
Highland & Santa Monica  | 7.09  | Owensmouth, South Hollywood–Sherman |  |
Colegrove |  | Owensmouth, South Hollywood–Sherman | 1902  | 1955
Virgil Avenue  |  | Owensmouth, South Hollywood–Sherman, Western and Franklin Avenue | 1902  | 1955
Sunset Junction |  | Hollywood, Owensmouth, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue | 1902  | 1955
Subway Terminal Building | 0  | Echo Park Avenue, Glendale–Burbank, Hollywood, Owensmouth, Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, Sawtelle, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate | 1925  | 1955

## See also

[edit]

* Owensmouth Line
* History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915
* Streetcar suburb
* Streetcars in North America
* List of California railroads
* History of rail transportation in California

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "New line will be rushed". The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet. April 5, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved December 11, 2022 - via Newspapers.com.
2. ^ "Steel ribbons across valley". The Los Angeles Times. March 22, 1913. p. 17. Retrieved November 30, 2023 - via Newspapers.com.
3. ^ a b Veysey 1958, p. 43
4. ^ a b "1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes" (PDF). Caltrans. February 1982. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
5. ^ "Modernized Transportation Service in Valley About June 1". The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet. April 25, 1938. p. 1. Retrieved November 30, 2023 - via Newspapers.com.
6. ^ "Improved Cars Now in Service". The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet. June 2, 1938. p. 1. Retrieved November 30, 2023 - via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ "San Fernando Valley Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
8. ^ "Pacific Electric Time Tables" (PDF). wx4's Dome of Foam. Pacific Electric. September 1, 1934. p. 28. Retrieved September 1, 2021.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Veysey, Laurence R. (June 1958). A History Of The Rail Passenger Service Operated By The Pacific Electric Railway Company Since 1911 And By Its Successors Since 1953 (PDF). LACMTA (Report). Los Angeles, California: Interurbans. ASIN B0007F8D84. OCLC 6565577.

## External links

[edit]

KML file (edit • help)

Template:Attached KML/San Fernando Line

KML is not from Wikidata

* Map of the Pacific Electric Railway Routes in the San Fernando Valley (1919) — via Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc.

* v
* t
* e

Pacific Electric

Routes|

| Northern Division|

* Alhambra–San Gabriel
* Annandale
* Arlington–Corona
* Arrowhead
* Colton
* Covina
* East Washington
* El Monte–Baldwin Park
* Highland
* Lamanda Park
* Monrovia–Glendora
* Mount Lowe
* North Lake
* Pasadena Short Line
* Pasadena via Oak Knoll
* Pomona
* Pomona–Claremont
* Redlands
* Redlands local lines
* Riverside–Arlington
* Riverside–Rialto
* San Bernardino–Riverside
* San Dimas
* Shorb
* Sierra Madre
* Sierra Vista
* South Pasadena Local
* Upland–Ontario
* Upland–San Antonio Heights
* Upland–San Bernardino

|

Western Division|

* Brush Canyon
* Coldwater Canyon
* Echo Park Avenue
* Edendale Local
* Glendale–Burbank
* Hollywood
* Lankershim–Van Nuys
* Laurel Canyon
* Owensmouth
* Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey
* San Fernando
* Santa Monica Air Line
* Sawtelle
* Soldiers' Home
* South Hollywood–Sherman
* Venice Boulevard
* Venice–Inglewood
* Venice–Playa del Rey
* Venice Short Line
* Venice via Hollywood
* Western & Franklin Ave.
* Westgate

Southern Division|

* American Avenue
* Balboa
* Bellflower
* Catalina Dock
* Fullerton
* Hawthorne–El Nido
* Hawthorne–El Segundo
* Huntington Beach–La Bolsa
* La Habra–Fullerton–Yorba Linda
* Long Beach
* Long Beach local lines
* Long Beach–San Pedro
* Redondo Beach via Gardena
* San Pedro local lines
* San Pedro via Dominguez
* San Pedro via Gardena
* Santa Ana
* Santa Ana–Huntington Beach
* Santa Ana–Orange
* Seal Beach–Huntington Beach–Newport Beach
* Terminal Island
* Torrance
* Watts
* Whittier

History|

* Strike of 1903
* 1919 streetcar strike
* General Motors streetcar conspiracy

Infrastructure|

| Stations|

* Etiwanda
* Lynwood
* Pacific Electric Building
* Picover
* Subway Terminal Building
* Watts
* Yorba Linda

|

* Hill Street Tunnel
* Hollywood Subway
* Ivy Substation
* Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge
* Redlands Trolley Barn
* Substation No. 8
* Sub-Station No. 14
* West Santa Ana Branch

Predecessors|

* Mount Lowe Railway
* Ontario and San Antonio Heights Railroad Company
* Pasadena and Pacific
* Los Angeles and Independence Railroad
* Los Angeles Pacific Railroad

Connecting services|

* Glendale and Montrose Railway
* Los Angeles Railway

Successors|

* Los Angeles Metro
* MTA [1951–1964]
* RTD [1964–1993]
* LACTC [1976–1993]
* OCTA
* Omnitrans
* Waterfront Red Car [2003–2015]

Legacy|

* Culver Boulevard Median Bike Path
* Red Car Trolley (Disneyland Resort)
* Waterfront Red Car (San Pedro)
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit

*[c.]: circa
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