The Catalina Dock Line is a former

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

interurban railway The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

line in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is th ...

. The service began primarily for holiday travel but was expanded to serve dock workers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It ran between Downtown Los Angeles and

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long Be ...

History

While the

San Pedro via Dominguez Line San Pedro via Dominguez was a interurban transport route, part of the Pacific Electric system in Greater Los Angeles. Its termini were the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles and San Pedro in the south. History Engineering studi ...

had previously served Catalina Island steamships, the establishment of a new terminal at Wilmington necessitated a new service. The Catalina Dock Line opened in March 1920 along with the dock. Service was largely seasonal, with a single daily round trip most of the year, increased to several Los Angeles departures in the summer months. A separate service to Long Beach began in February 1928. Direct independent service from

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

was provided during the 1930 and 1931 summer seasons. Catalina Dock Line service was discontinued on December 23, 1941. However the company soon found it necessary to transport shipbuilders to the

California Shipbuilding Corporation __NOTOC__ California Shipbuilding Corporation built 467 Liberty and Victory ships during World War II, including ''Haskell''-class attack transports. California Shipbuilding Corporation was often referred to as Calship. The ''Dictionary of A ...

yard on

. The Terminal Island Line began operating over the same route as the former Catalina Dock Line on February 4, 1942 along with a new service from Long Beach. The Terminal Island railway was hastily constructed later that year, opening the following March to eliminate the ferry transfer to the island. The service had ceased by September 13, 1945, having fulfilled its wartime role (the Long Beach trip lasted a few more days). The Terminal Island Railway was removed. Pre-war service was restored on March 6, 1946, returning to a single round trip to Catalina Dock with seasonal increases and a Long Beach trip. The Long Beach run was discontinued after April 29, 1949. The service was commuted to Metropolitan Coach Lines on October 1, 1953. Regular service was discontinued after

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. ...

1955, but the line continued to see use in the summer. The final season of 1958 would see the line operated by the

Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (sometimes referred to as LAMTA or MTA I) was a public agency formed in 1951. Originally tasked with planning for rapid transit in Los Angeles, California, the agency would come to operate the vestig ...

, with the last train running October 12.

References

Pacific Electric routes Light rail in California Railway lines opened in 1887 1887 establishments in California Railway lines closed in 1930 1930 disestablishments in California Closed railway lines in the United States {{California-transport-stub