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Old Posted Nov 21, 2010, 1:54 AM
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sopas ej sopas ej is offline
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Location: South Pasadena, California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire View Post
Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society
Google Street View

In the top shot is a Pacific Electric local-service car heading east toward downtown on Venice Boulevard in 1949. The scene is just west of Catalina Street, across from Rosedale Cemetery. The only thing that's left is Loyola High School. Question: While the streetcar's trolley pole indicates that it is traveling east toward downtown, why is it on the north side of the street? Even stranger is that appears not even be running on tracks!
I can't explain why it looks like it's not even running on tracks, but if it was headed east towards downtown on the north side of Venice, my guess is maybe because of track maintenance on a stretch of what would normally be the eastbound tracks? Even today, on the Metro Gold Line, sometimes they do track maintenance where both northbound and southbound trains use one track; it's a hassle when that happens, it usually adds a delay, it also confuses some first-time users, because they'll board the wrong side of the platform, or they'll be directed to the other side of the platform and be confused about which way the trains are running. But of course the Gold Line is in its own right of way, for the most part.

However, on a PE car line where they rails share street traffic, I don't know that a train would be allowed to go against traffic....
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