Venice Miniature Railway

Venice Miniature Railway
Steam locomotive No. 2 of the Venice Miniature Railway
Route
Route length:	2.3 km
Gauge :	457 mm
Maximum slope :	Lion Canal Bridge 110 ‰

The Venice Miniature Railway was a 2.3km Park railroad in scale 1: 3 with the track width of 18 inches , which until 13 February 1925 in (457 mm) from July 30, 1905 Venice in Los Angeles in California was in operation .

location

The loop-shaped railroad line ran from a roundhouse on the corner of Lake Avenue and El Camino Real (now Venice Boulevard and Abbot Kinney Boulevard) in a clockwise direction along Mildred Avenue to the business district. There the trains looped around the post office and then followed Mildred Avenue again until they crossed several Venetian canals on Riviera and Rialto that had already been installed. Eventually they made a U-turn to head back along Washington Boulevard and El Camino Real to Lake Avenue Station by the engine shed.

history

The steam locomotive no. 1903, called "3-Spot", was previously used on the ELPSR

Abbot Kinney , who developed Venice of America , hired John J. Coit to build a park railroad on the new Venice Beach property near Los Angeles. The latter had earlier than mechanics - Master at the Johnson Machine Works worked and already a miniature railway with a track width of 18 inches (457 mm) at the nearby East Lake Park (today's Lincoln Park built) and operated.

John J. Coit already owned the oil-fired steam locomotive No. 1903 with a 2-6-0 (1'C, "Mogul") wheel arrangement with a length over the coupling of 19 feet (5.80 m). This locomotive had some technical innovations, such as valve adjustment without an eccentric, which made the adjustment and maintenance of the valves much easier. Although it had previously been used successfully on the East Lake Park Scenic Railway , it was a bit too light and too weak for the planned use in Venice with 3.6 t. So he ordered a new 4.2 t oil-fired steam locomotive with a 2-6-2 wheel arrangement (1'C1 ', "Prairie") from his former employer, Johnson Machine Works , in which the innovations that had been tried and tested by the smaller locomotive again were installed.

Double traction with the steam locomotives No. 2 (in front) and No. 1 (behind)

The new almost identical steam locomotives No. 1 and No. 2 were called "1-Spot" and "2-Spot". John J. Coit had created the technical drawings for it, but outsourced the manufacture to Johnson Machine Works. The boilers for this were supplied by the Pacific Coast Boiler Works in Los Angeles and had a maximum pressure of 12 bar (175 psi). The locomotives had a Walschaerts - control and cost each 4.510 $. They were painted black with polished brass bands and silver lettering. They differed only in the number plates and the driver's cab windows: "1-Spot" had a square window cutout with rounded corners and "2-Spot" had a crescent-shaped window cutout at the top. The top speed was 48 km / h (30 mph).

There were ten ornately decorated Venetian-style, lion-headed passenger cars supplied by the JG McLain Company for $ 400 each. Five of them were painted royal blue and the others were painted cherry red . They each had twelve seats and were usually put together to form trains of one color.

Disputes

The turntable, water tower and oil tank in front of the engine shed on the corner of Lake Avenue and El Camino Real

After the business relationship initially worked well, there were disputes between Kinney and Coit. Kinney insisted that his very young sons be involved in running the railroad. Eight-year-old Carleton was then named VMR President and twelve-year-old Innes was named Chief Engineer , which demeaned Coit's actual position. Kinney wanted to take over a greater influence on the day-to-day management of Venice of America despite an existing five-year contract in 1906 and tried to take over the railroad from Coit. He put the railway out of service for six months in the summer months with the ostensible reason that a wooden canal bridge had to be replaced by a concrete bridge.

In November 1906 he tried to gain control of the railroad when Coit was away. After his return, he removed some of the fittings required for operation from the locomotives and traveled again. Since Kinney could not have these components manufactured himself, he could not operate the railway for the rest of the year. He sued Coit, and there was a trial in Los Angeles County Court on November 20, 1906. Coit and his colleagues were acquitted of allegations of vandalism and theft, and Kinney filed a civil lawsuit which was approved by an arbitrator on January 19, 1907 Kinney's favor was decided, so Coit had to reinstall the stolen parts and pay the costs. Shortly afterwards the railway was put back into operation. Coit then left the railway and no longer had any influence on it. It was operated for another 18 years until the early 1920s, when it lost its importance due to increasing car traffic and was increasingly perceived as a nuisance.

Movies

In Harold Lloyd's 1917 silent film By the Sad Sea Waves , Lloyd pretends to be a lifeguard because it will make him more successful with the ladies. In the final scene, he and his latest conquest, Bebe Daniels, ride the Venice Miniature Railway towards the sunset. In his silent film Number, Please? from 1920 he is less fortunate and ends up boarding the train alone after losing his girl to someone else.

The Century Comedy Kids take over the operation of the railway on behalf of her sick father. The American silent film Speed boys was released in Holland as The new engine driver and is available on YouTube with a new soundtrack.

closure

The "2-Spot" called steam locomotive No. 2 of the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad

When Abbot Kinney died in November 1920, his adopted son Thornton Parillo tried to keep the railway running. It was shut down on February 23, 1925 after an order was issued prohibiting further use.

The "1-Spot" named steam locomotive No. 1 was purchased from Al Smith at a scrap yard in Vernon. After a major overhaul, he used them in San Gabriel and Pico Rivera until long after World War II . After his death Don McCoy bought it and renovated it together with his sons so that it could be operated from 1972 to 1978 in the Whittier Narrows Recreational. Since the railway was closed, it has been in a private collection of the McCoy family in Southern California.

The steam locomotive No. 2 called "2-Spot" was discovered shortly before it was about to be exported for scrapping in Japan in a scrap yard by the train driver Billy Jones , who bought it, restored it and put it into operation on Sundays at his ranch for the neighboring children. It still exists today and runs on schedule on the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos , California .