The Hawthorne–El Segundo Line was an

interurban 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 ...

railway route of the

Pacific Electric Railway 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 ...

. It was built to transport oil from the

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

Refinery in El Segundo and also saw passenger service. Unlike most corridors which hosted Pacific Electric passengers, the line remains largely intact as the Union Pacific El Segundo Industrial Lead.

Route

The line was within private right of way for the entire route. The segment between Watts Junction and South Los Angeles (Broadway at 117th Street) was double track, though the double tracking has been reduced to a siding in modern times. The remainder of the line to El Segundo is single track. The line starts at Watts Junction on the former quadruple-track

Watts Line The Watts Line was a local line of the Pacific Electric Railway that operated between the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles and the Watts Station at 103rd Street in Watts. It was the primary local service for the Southern District, ...

(present

Los Angeles Metro The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

A Line and

Wilmington Subdivision Wilmington may refer to: Places Australia * Wilmington, South Australia, a town and locality **District Council of Wilmington, a former local government area ** Wilmington railway line, a former railway line United Kingdom *Wilmington, Devon * ...

) then went west with two tracks to South Los Angeles (

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at 117th Street) where the

Redondo Beach via Gardena Line Redondo via Gardena was a line of the Pacific Electric Railway. One of two routes to Redondo Beach, this one was faster than the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line as a result of its routing along the quadruple-tracked Watts main line. Hist ...

and the

San Pedro via Gardena Line San Pedro via Gardena (also known as San Pedro via Torrance) was an interurban line of the Pacific Electric Railway. This was the railway's original route to San Pedro. The line was essential in the establishment of light industry in Torrance. ...

branched off to the south between Broadway and Figueroa with two tracks. The single track Hawthorne–El Segundo Line went west between 116th Street and 117th Street past Figueroa Street where a transfer to the

Los Angeles Railway The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loca ...

F Line could be made to the north to Los Angeles. Then on west to Delta (Vermont Avenue) where the Delta–Strawberry Park Segment went south on Vermont to Gardena, Torrance and Redondo and a transfer could be made to the Los Angeles Railway Vermont Line to the north to Los Angeles. The line continues westerly passing under Western Avenue (Westbridge) then southwesterly to Crenshaw Boulevard (Cypave Station) where the line turns to the west again. The line continues to the west, north of and parallel to El Segundo Boulevard where it crosses Hawthorne Boulevard. At Hawthorne Boulevard (Hawthorne) the Hawthorne–El Nido segment and the El Segundo–El Nido–Redondo Line went to the south and a transfer to the Los Angeles Railway line could be made to travel north to Inglewood and west Los Angeles. The line turns to the southwest and crosses El Segundo Boulevard at

La Cienega Boulevard La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/ Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cien ...

continuing to Wise (Douglas Avenue at Utah Avenue) where the track crosses the

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes tha ...

(succenssor to the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

) Harbor Subdivision track at grade. Here also was Wise Transfer where a car exchange between the Pacific Electric and the ATSF could be made. The removed end of the line turned northwesterly at Wise and passed through the oil fields and turned westerly at Calvert (Pine Avenue and Center Street) and continued to the end of the line at the El Segundo Station (Eucalyptus Drive and Main Street). StandardOil1920

The "Standard Oil Spur", a lead extending westerly from Wise through the Standard Oil Refinery became the main line under Southern Pacific. The spur formerly ran to the Standard Oil Wharf and the

Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line The Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey was an interurban railway route of the Pacific Electric. It operated between the Hill Street Terminal and Cliffton, south of Redondo Beach, through the company's Western Division. History The route began as ...

south of Hyperion.

History

El Segundo was established as a company town for Standard Oil. When the company announced the location of their new refinery in 1911, Pacific Electric began planning of a spur line of the

east of

Delta Junction Delta Junction ( uk, Делта-Джанкшен, Delta Dzhankshen) is a city in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 958, up from 840 in 2000. The 2018 estimate was down to 931. ...

. The new line had been surveyed by 1913, and it was opened to downtown El Segundo with a

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

feast on August 9, 1914. Direct service from El Segundo to Los Angeles was offered from 1920 to 1924, but the route mainly operated as a shuttle with transfers at Hawthorne. Revenue service ended 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. ...

1930 due to low passenger usage, but freight service on the line continued to be a major revenue source for Pacific Electric. Tracks in downtown El Segundo had been removed by 1981, but Southern Pacific steam and

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whe ...

s continued to serve the length of the line from Watts to the

Refinery (later

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * ''Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock lay ...

). Southern Pacific was merged into the present

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

and the line continues to see freight service as the El Segundo Industrial Lead.

List of major stations

References

Pacific Electric routes History of Los Angeles History of Los Angeles County, California 1914 establishments in California Railway lines opened in 1914 Railway services discontinued in 1930 1930 disestablishments in California El Segundo, California {{California-transport-stub