Venice Miniature Railway

Venice Miniature Railway
Steam loco No 2 of the Venice Miniature Railway
Map of the track, 1909[2]
Line length:7,500 feet (2,300 m)
Track gauge:18 in (457 mm)
Maximum incline: Lion Canal Bridge: 11  %

The Venice Miniature Railway was a 42,069-foot (12,823 m) long miniature railway in the 1:3 scale with a gauge of 18 in (457 mm), which was in operation from 30 July 1905 to 13 February 1925 in Venice near Los Angeles in California.[3]

Location

The excursions on the dogbone loop started at the locomotive shed at the corner of Lake Avenue and El Camino Real (now Venice Boulevard and Abbot Kinney Boulevard) in clockwise direction along the Mildred Avenue towards the Business District. There the trains looped around the Post Office and followed then again the Mildred Avenue, until they crossed several Venecian canals on Riviera and Rialto. Finally, they turned via a sharp bend onto Washington Boulevard. They used El Camino Real to get back to the Lake Avenue Station at the locomotive shed.[4]

Cost

The cost of a trip around Venice was five cents. Regular users could buy a book of tickets for $1.00, which reduced the cost to only two cents per trip. At the same time, a one-way ride from Los Angeles to Venice on the Los Angeles Pacific Railway cost 15 cents.[5]

History

The small 3-Spot loco No 1903, which had previously been used on the ELPSR

Abbot Kinney, who had come-up with the plans for Venice of America, contracted John J. Coit, to build a miniature railway in Venice Beach near Los Angeles. The latter had worked as a master machinist at the Johnson Machine Works and had already built and operated the Eastlake Park Scenic Railway with a gauge of 18 in (457 mm) in Eastlake Park (now Lincoln Park).[4]

John J. Coit owned the oilfired steam locomotive No 1903 of the 2-6-0 type with an overall length above the couplings of 19 feet (5.8 m). This locomotive made use of some technical innovations, such as controlling the valves without an eccentric, which made it easier to adjust and maintain the valves. It had been successfully used on the Eastlake Park Scenic Railway, but it was with 8,000 lb (3,629 kg) a bit too light and not powerful enough for the planned activity at Venice. Therefore, Coit ordered a 9,260 lb (4,200 kg) oilfired steam locomotive of the 2-6-2 (“Prairie”) type at his former employer, the Johnson Machine Works, into which his innovations had to be integrated.[4]

Double traction with steam locos No 2 (front) and No 1 (behind)

The new, nearly identical steam locomotives No 1 and No 2 were called 1-Spot and 2-Spot. After Coit had issued the engineering drawings, he contracted the Johnson Machine Works for the manufacture. The boilers were made and supplied by the Pacific Coast Boiler Works in Los Angeles and were fit for a pressure of 175 psi (12 bar). The locos had a Walschaerts valve gear and cost $4,510 each. They were painted in black with polished brass bands and silver lettering. The only difference between them was the shape of the windows of their cabs: 1-Spot had rectangular windows with rounded corners at the top and the upper part of 2-Spot's windows was crescent-shaped. The maximum speed was 30 mph (48 km/h).[4]

The railway used ten passenger coaches in an elaborate Venecian style with lion head ornaments on their sides, which had been supplied by the J.G. McLain Company for $400 each. Five of them were painted in royal blue while the reminder was painted in cherry red. Each of them had twelve seats, and they were typically assemeled to unicoloured trains.[4]

Disagreements

Turn table, water tower and oil tank in front of the locomotive shed at the corner of Lake Avenue and El Camino Real

After a good start there was an increasing animosity between Kinney and Coit. Kinney insisted on his two very young sons being involved in the rail road. The 8 year old Carleton was nominated as VMR President and the twelwe year old Innes as Chief Engineer, which dishonored Coit's actual position. When Kinney wanted to get more control over the day-to-day business in Venice of America, he tried in 1906 to take-over the railway from Coit, although they had both signed a five-year contract. He forced the railway to close-down for six months during the summer, allegedly because one of the wooden bridges needed to be replaced by a concrete structure.[4]

Im November 1906 he tried to take-over the railway, while Coit was out of town. On his return, he removed some armatures and other parts from the locomotives, which were essential for their operation before he went on another trip away from Venice. As Kinney could not get these parts machined without drawings, he could not operate the railway for the reminder of that year. He sued Coit, and it came to a court case on 20. November 1906 at the Los Angeles County Court. Coit and his colleagues were deemed not guilty regaring the claims of vandalism and theft, but Kinney started civil proceedings against him, in which he convinced an artitrator to make a decision in his favour on 19 January 1907. Thus Coit had to re-install the missing pars and reimburse the cost. Subsequently, the railway was recommissioned. Coit left the company and did not get involved with its business anymore. It was regularly used for another 18 years until the early 1920, when it lost its attraction due to increasing car traffic. It was even seen as an annoyance by locals and visitors.[4]

Movies

Harold Lloyd: 'By the Sad Sea Waves'

In Harold Lloyd's movie 'By the Sad Sea Waves' of 1917 Harold pretends to be a beach life guard in order to be more attractive to the ladies. The movie concludes, when Harold Lloyd and his newest conquest Bebe Daniels ride off into the sunset aboard the Venice Miniature Railway. In his movie 'Number, Please?' of 1920 he is less lucky, as he loses the girl, and rides off on the train all by himself.[6]

The Century Comedy Kids deputise on running the train on behalf of their sick father in an silent movie 'Speed boys', which was released in Holland as 'The new engine driver' and is available on YouTube.[7]

Closure

2-Spot steam loco No. 2 of the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad

When Kinney died in November 1920, his adopted son Thornton Parillo continued to operate the railway. It was taken out of service on 23 February 1925, when an order had been issued, which prohibited its further use.[4]

The 1-Spot loco No 1 was acquired from a scrap heap in Vernon by Al Smith, who is not identical with his namesake of Orchard Supply Hardware, who supported the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad and Swanton Pacific. He reconditioned it and used it well into the 1950s in San Gabriel and Pico Rivera. After his death it was sold to Don McCoy who overhauled it together with his sons and used it from 1972 to 1978 at the Whittier Narrows Recreational Area. Since the closure of this railway, it is kept in the private collection of the McCoy family in southern California.[4]

The 2-Spot loco No 2 was coincidentally found and rescued at the last hour before its planned export for being scrapped in Japan by Billy Jones, who purchased it, recommissioned it and used it on Sundays to please the neighbour's children on his ranch. It is now regularly used at the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos, California.

Photographs

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arthur W. Line: Venice Miniature Railway, The Model Engineer and Electrician, Mai 1909.
  2. ↑ Arthur W. Line: Venice Miniature Railway, The Model Engineer and Electrician, Mai 1909.
  3. ↑ Jeffrey Stanton: Venice Miniature Railroad. Revised 6. April 1998.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Peter Panacy: Venice Miniature Railway. A Brief History and Its Influence on the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad.
  5. ↑ Water and Power Associates: Early Southern California Amusement Parks.
  6. ↑ John Bengtson: Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations: Harold Lloyd – By the Sad, Santa Monica Waves.
  7. ↑ The Century Comedy Kids: 'The new engine driver' - 'Speed boys' (YouTube video with Dutch and English subtitles).
  8. ↑ Arthur W. Line: Model Railways – XIX. – Eastlake Park Scenic Railway, Los Angeles, California. The Model Engineer and Electrician, 23 April 1908. Pages 395, 396, 397, 398 and 399.

Coordinates: 33°59′21″N 118°27′47″W / 33.989077°N 118.463186°W / 33.989077; -118.463186

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