The Port of Los AngelesWaterfront Red Car Line is a currently non-operational heritage streetcar line for public transit along the waterfront in San Pedro, at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. It opened for service in July 2003, with a construction cost of $10 million. Service ended on 27 September 2015 due to major construction projects that would result in the demolition of a portion of the route. In March 2016 development plans for the port were announced which would include resumption of service on the Waterfront Red Car Line.
The Pacific Electric Railway Red Car system operated for over 60 years, with more than 1,600 kilometres of tramway routes throughout Greater Los Angeles and the surrounding cities and counties. Before the line closed, the Waterfront Red Cars comprised three tram cars in the style of the originals. Two of the three Red Cars—the replica cars, numbers 500 and 501 — were built from scratch by employees of the port of Los Angeles; the interiors are cooled using the same clerestory-style windows as the original 500-class Red Cars. The third car, No. #1058, was a vintage Pacific Electric 950-class car, having been assembled from two wrecked 950-class cars by Richard J. Fellows, restored for parades, movies, and the like, and then cleverly converted to be steered with the original throttle as a tiller and braked by the original brake handle; the original dead man pedal operated the gasoline engine throttle, which powered the rubber tires. The Port of Los Angeles bought the car and converted it back for rail operation as a charter service. The Waterfront Red Cars were supplemented by two shuttle bus lines. The Blue line serves downtown San Pedro and Ports O' Call village, whereas the Green line serves the harbor and marina. The replica cars will be reused again when the line reopens, but they must be modified to run on light rail tracks. Whether the original car will be brought back to service is unknown, though it will most probably be retired.
Shutdown and future
Future extensions to Cabrillo Beach, Harbour Park, the new cruise ship terminal at Berth 46, Pacific Avenue, and Warehouse 1 were initially under consideration. In April 2010, a new feasibility report was released, with the first priority to switch much of the existing line to street-runningtramway track on Sampson Way. In 2015 it was announced the Waterfront Red Car Line would be closed for 18 months, with service ceasing in late September 2015, to make way for the realignment of Sampson Way leading into Ports O’ Call Village. Because the street realignment cuts through the southern part of the line, it would require a new track and modified, street-level cars running parallel to the new Sampson Way, estimated to cost $40 million. Port officials eventually concluded that such reconstruction would be cost prohibitive. Waterfront Red Car Line service ended on 27 September 2015. However development plans for San Pedro's Ports O' Call were announced in March 2016 that included the resumption of Waterfront Red Car service; no date for the restoration of the Red Cars was included in the announcement.
