LARy history.
In 1886 the Temple Street Cable Railway was built. It started at Main St. in downtown and ran out to a recently created sub-division, our city's first suburb, Angeleno Heights. At that time Temple St. was just a dirt road and the underground cable would frequently get fouled, thus making the service unreliable. It was finally electrified in 1902 by its new owner, Henry Huntington.

Angeleno Heights shows up on route schedules by 1904, with the E. Edgeware Rd. to Douglas and Kensington section of the line. It allowed residents of this neighborhood convenient access to downtown.

After aggressive competion with Southern Pacific, each side buying out smaller companies and expanding their trolley networks, Huntington's interests in seven major streetcar lines were bought out by S.P. in 1911. The Huntington family was left with only the large Los Angeles city street railway system, the Los Angeles Railway.

The Los Angeles Railway (LARy) trolley & streetcar system was central to the development of the city. The LARy system was referred to as the “Yellow Car” for the color scheme it used on its fleet.

Birney Safety Car.
One man trolley operation was new to the larger double-truck cars in the 30s, but had been around since 1916, with the Birney Safety Car.

Created by car designer Charles 0. Birney, an engineer at the Stone & Webster Corporation, the majority of Birneys were built between 1918 and 1922. The American Car Company produced the first experimental model in 1915, and first saleable model in 1916, and along with J.G. Brill Company of Philadelphia handled most of the “Birney Safety Car” manufacturing. These small, lightweight cars were designed to serve as low-cost shuttles or trams on lightly traveled lines. Our trolley was manufactured by the St. Louis Car Co. in 1920.

The “Safety” design allowed for one-man operation rather then the usual two. The operator was both the motorman and conductor. If the operator stopped exerting downward pressure on the control handle or couldn't depresses the foot valve, the built-in mechanism called a “dead man safety pedal” was designed to stop the car and open the door. Also as a regular running feature the Birney's doors could not open while the car was in motion, because the doors and brakes were interconnected. And conversely the car could not move if the door was open.

The small size and streamlined design of the Birney (a single truck streetcar) meant that it was lighter and cheaper to operate. These cars saved companies money on the one-man operation, used less power and reduced track maintenance. Streetcar companies flocked to the model, in order to fill slots on struggling routes, as they could afford to buy more Birneys than regular cars. 69% of streetcar orders in 1919 were for Birneys. (The Pacific Electric company bought 69.) By 1930 there were over 6000 Birney cars across the globe.

In 1933 the Brill manufacturing company scrapped its entire line for salvage. Sales had dropped off as the market became saturated. As the 1940s arrived the only Birney cars still used were mostly in sparsely populated shuttle services (like the Angeleno Heights Line). Around this time all of the remaining Los Angeles Birneys were painted yellow with a silver roof. This is how the LARy Birney Car #1030, donated to the Angeleno Heights Trolley Line, Inc., looks today in its pre-restoration state.

Angeleno Heights Line.

The trolley routes fluctuated over time according to the volume of passengers and the financial situation of the company. The following will give you an idea of the changes made to Angeleno Heights service:
ANGELENO HEIGHTS AND CROWN HILL LINE (1910-1920)
The Angeleno Heights/Crown Hill Line was originally an extension off the main “L-Line” which included part of Temple street. The following route information is from “Transfer Rules, Names of Streets, Telephone Numbers” (Los Angeles Railway, 1917). The fare was 5 cents. This listing combines the shuttle “A” part of the line with the main “L” part: ANGELENO AND CROWN HILL LINE Route: From Douglas St. and Kensington Road via E. Edgeware, Bellevue, Beaudry, Alpine, Figueroa, Boston, Bunker Hill, California, Hill, Temple, North Broadway, First, Hill, Fifth, Olive, Sixth, Flower, Third, Boylston, Crown Hill (3rd), Columbia, Second, Loma Drive, Belmont, Temple, Echo Park Ave., Bellevue Ave. to Edgeware.

'C'-CROWN HILL AND ANGELENO HEIGHTS LINE (1920-1924)
'AH'-ANGELENO HEIGHTS LINE (1924-1926)
'G'- GRIFFITH AND ANGELENO HEIGHTS LINE (1926-1927)
'C'- CROWN HILL AND TEMPLE STREET LINE (1927-1932)
'A'-WEST ADAMS AND ANGELENO HEIGHTS LINE (1932-1938)
'32'-EDGEWARE ROAD SHUTTLE (1032-1939)(nights and weekends Temple & Edgeware to Douglas)
'10'-WEST VERNON AND EDGEWARE ROAD LINE (1939-1942)
'37'-EDGEWARE ROAD SHUTTLE (1942-1946)(nights and weekends Temple & Edgeware to Douglas)
June 30, 1946 abandonment of line

The car donated by the Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California to our non-profit organization is one of the original Birney cars that ran this route, Car #1030. The trolley had been kept in storage in Glassell Park since its decommission.

For more extensive information about this subject visit the website of the Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California at our LINKS page.