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L.A. in the 1930’sSP’s Los Angeles General Shops

Southern Pacific facilities dominate threeviews of Los Angeles. Much in this 1934scene is gone, or greatly changed. SP’s LosAngeles General Shops, the most completerailroad maintenance facility the city hasever seen, was replaced by an intermodalyard in the 1960’s. Officially named LosAngeles Transportation Center, it’s stillcommonly called Shops Yard. Across theLos Angeles River (not yet lined with con-crete) is Mission Tower, crossing of SP’smain line to Yuma, Ariz., and Santa Fe’sline to Pasadena and San Bernardino. Thislocation would assume greater importanceand be modified with the 1939 construc-tion of L.A. Union Passenger Terminal.Nothing remains of so-called Taylor Yardbut some locomotive-servicing facilities.

1 Los Angeles Yard (official SP name; usually calledTaylor Yard after Taylor Brothers Feed Mill)

2 Southern part of “Taylor” Yard; now occupied byMetrolink commuter-rail shops and yard

3 SP Dayton Avenue Tower4 Los Angeles Railway Cypress Ave. streetcar shops5 SP Midway Yard6 ATSF L.A.-Pasadena-San Bernardino main line, now

route of MTA light-rail Gold Line (on new bridge) 7 N. Broadway viaduct8 N. Spring Street viaduct9 SP Bull Ring Yard [see following pages]

10 N. Main Street bridge11 SP “East Bank Line” (also used by UP to reach its

Glendale and Pasadena branches)12 SP East Bank Junction 13 SP Mission Tower 14 SP Taylor Junction 15 L.A. General Shops Tender Repair Shop16 L.A. General Shops Boiler/Blacksmith Shop17 L.A. General Shops Car Paint Shop18 L.A. General Shops Car Repair Shop19 L.A. General Shops Locomotive Erecting Shop20 L.A. General Shops Machine Shop21 L.A. Genl. Shops Roundhouse; 100-foot turntable22 L.A. General Shops oil tank car repair shop23 Stockyards (Mission Road Coach Yard after 1939)24 SP “West Line” to Colton

© 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.ClassicTrainsMag.com

c l a s s i c t r a i n smag . c om | C L A S S I C T R A I N S 4 3

SP’s Bull Ring and Cornfield yards

Fitting together like two pieces of a jigsawpuzzle, Bull Ring and Cornfield yardswere just north of downtown Los Angeles.This area was also the site of SP’s RiverStation, one of the earliest passengerfacilities, literally nothing more than astorefront, as well as one of the earliestSP freight yards. With the building of LosAngeles (“Taylor”) Yard, around the bendat the top of the photo, Bull Ring andCornfield became responsible for sortingand classifying local traffic radiating in alldirections, especially to and from thesouth, down Alameda Street, continuingall the way to San Pedro and the harbor,some 24 miles away. Switch engines werestill hauling cuts of freight cars from hereand walking them down the middle ofAlameda Street four and five decadeslater. Today there is little left of theseyards and if the camera panned to theleft, it would see Dodger Stadium, homeof baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers.

1 Bull Ring Yard2 Cornfield Yard3 N. Broadway (Los Angeles Railway streetcar route)4 Site of first SP roundhouse in Los Angeles (razed

early 1900’s)5 N. Spring Street (Pacific Electric car route)6 Freight House “A”7 Freight House “B” (inbound freight)8 Freight House “C” (outbound freight)9 Team tracks

10 Electric overhead crane11 To Mission Tower and Yuma, Ariz.12 N. Main Street (L.A. Ry. streetcar route)13 Footbridge across yards14 Dexter Transfer interchange with ATSF 15 Los Angeles River16 ATSF L.A.-Pasadena-San Bernardino main line, now

route of MTA light-rail Gold Line (on new bridge)

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L.A. Union Passenger Terminal

Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal,now called Union Station, was one of thelast major railroad stations built in theU.S. Behind its serene façade, however,was decades of political fighting amongL.A.’s three major railroads—SP, Santa Fe,and Union Pacific—and the city fathers,who were tired of trains running downAlameda Street on their way to and fromSP’s Central Station (shared with UP). TheSanta Fe didn’t have as much street run-ning, but its station near the L.A. Riverwas outdated and in poor condition. Amulti-day celebration preceded UnionStation’s May 7, 1939, official opening,and that’s what we see here in this photofrom May 3; note the crowds of pedestri-ans but absence of trains at the platformsand cars in the parking lots. Carefullyrestored, Union Station is today as beau-tiful as it was 65 years ago. There are 13tracks instead of the original 16, and thethree original railroads have been replacedby Amtrak (intercity and long-distance),Metrolink (commuter), and MTA’s GoldLine (light rail). A freeway now standswhere Aliso Street was, the big gasholdersare gone, and public and private renova-tion has changed the area around the sta-tion considerably over the years.

1 UP “East Bank Line”2 Southern California Gas Co. plant3 LAUPT tracks and platforms4 Macy Street (L.A. Ry.; renamed Cesar Chavez Ave.)5 Terminal Tower6 LAUPT private-car tracks 7 Post Office Terminal Annex under construction8 Vignes Avenue9 To Mission Tower

10 To Bull Ring and Cornfield yards11 Naud Junction tower12 N. Main Street (L.A. Ry. streetcar route)13 Alameda Street (SP tracks to Central Station)14 Los Angeles Railway LAUPT station and loop track15 LAUPT offices16 LAUPT baggage, mail, and express building17 Grandstand for LAUPT grand-opening pageant 18 LAUPT main concourse and waiting room19 LAUPT Harvey House restaurant20 Pacific Electric baggage, mail, and express tracks21 Aliso Street (Pacific Electric tracks)22 ATSF First Street Yard23 ATSF freight house24 First Street viaduct25 Los Angeles River

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