metro in possession of angels flight
Metro is in possession of the Angels Flight rail cars Sinai and Olivet.
The angelenic blog team managed to coordinate our busy schedules and got some shots of the cars today at Metro’s Red/Purple Line yards during the lunch hour. From the Fourth Street Bridge, the twin railcars appear to be fully cosmetically restored.
Angels Flight has been held up for years by a lack of funding, with promised opening dates continually pushed back.
Issues with the restoration arose with the braking system and funding measures to design and install a new one; the funicular railway was decommissioned after a fatal 2001 accident sent one car into the other, killing one and injuring seven.
Comments by Councilwoman Jan Perry last year caused rumors to circulate that Metro would seek eminent domain proceedings over the project, which is vehemently opposed by John Welborne, president of the nonprofit agency that owns the railway, the Angels Flight Railway Foundation.
Previously, Mr. Welborne stated that he would under no circumstances agree to work with Metro on the restoration project. It would seem that since Sinai and Olivet are on Metro property, the rail cars have been taken under eminent domain proceedings.
Considering that Downtown Los Angeles loft dwellers and workers have continually been let down by the Angels Flight Railway Foundation and because the railway is such a vital transportation link between Bunker Hill and the rest of Downtown, I am encouraged to see Metro’s involvement in the project.
I hope we see Sinai and Olivet climbing up and down Bunker Hill soon. This Angeleno is tired of climbing those stairs, good exercise be damned.
More photos on flickr here and here.
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7 comments
I sure hope that they get the cars up and running soon. I missed out on them before 2001 and now I have a three year old son who is a certified rail fanatic. He can’t wait to ride Angel’s Flight and cries whenever we have to go to California Plaza. Thanks for the news!!
Why not restore Angel’s Flight to its orginal funicular cable system? That would give historical accuracy as well as proven safety.
Well they fixed something that wasnt broken and had a perfect safety record for all the years it ran. Maybe this agency can restore the system back to a tried and proven system.
Hello, I’m putting together a book on Angels Flight for Arcadia Publishing, due out next spring. I’d love to run your photos in the book.
Nice pix, Mr. Quinn, et al.!
In fact, Olivet and Sinai have been generously stored by our friends at Metro for several YEARS (after we had to move the two cars from a warehouse at 1313 East Sixth Street because the warehouse was being converted to lofts!). Olivet and Sinai actually have been in that same outdoor location below the Fourth Street Bridge for most of 2007, having previously been inside the big, adjacent Metro building. Usually-astute observers probably did not notice the cars because they were wrapped in blue tarps. For the past several weeks, the tarps have been removed while the wheels were reattached to the cars and the new track brakes and cable attachments were added to the undercarriages.
Responding to a couple of others’ comments in this dialogue:
Metro has NO interest in taking over the always-privately-operated (since 1901) Angels Flight Railway. The issue WAS studied, but that approach was rejected.
In fact, the fund-raising for the Angels Flight restoration has been spectacularly SUCCESSFUL because of many, many generous Angelenos. Of the unexpected $3.3 million that the directors and supporters of the Angels Flight Railway Foundation suddenly had to raise after the tragic 2001 accident (a dollar figure that could not even be properly quantified until 2003), all but the last 10% (about $315,000 to go) HAS BEEN RAISED. Please send YOUR contributions to help close out the Campaign for Angels Flight to:
Angels Flight Railway Foundation
Bunker Hill Post Office Box 712345
Los Angeles, California 90071
Your contributions are tax-deductible and will be acknowledged. Donor benefits are available, and you may e-mail the Foundation, in care of me, John H. Welborne, President, at angels-flight@sbcglobal.net, with additional questions or offers to help in this community undertaking. Please be understanding if we are a bit slow in responding because we are very busy at the moment with the following:
1. Angels Flight IS being restored with a traditional (like its “original”) funicular cable system. The new Drive has been manufactured and will be installed shortly.
2. We agree that fixing something that is not broken and that had such a good safety record was not the best approach. That is why the private Angels Flight Railway Foundation INDEED IS restoring “the system back to a tried and proven system.” Unfortunately, the public rebuilders of 1994-1996 used a new system, and that’s what broke, tragically.
3. The completed new Drive, like the pre-1969 Angels Flight operating equipment, has a second, safety cable. Unlike the original, and unlike the 1995-1996 rebuilt version, each of the two cars now HAS a rail brake. Such a brake should not be necessary, however, because the new Drive also has WORKING emergency brakes on each of the two bullwheels. (Yes, the Drive being shipped to us has bullwheels and a cable connected to BOTH of the cars — just like traditional funiculars always have had. In fact, if you look inside the window of the Station House at California Plaza, you will see the pre-1969 Drive. The completed new Drive — that will sit in the Machine Room below the Station House — looks very much the same, just a LOT bigger.) Furthermore, in the unlikely case that the main motor fails, the new Drive has a completely separate and independent evacuation motor. Such evacuation motors are not unusual in traditional funiculars. (There was no such evacuation motor in the circa 1995-1996 rebuilt Angels Flight, however.)
Further information, including drawings and photographs, will be forthcoming in December. Our Foundation’s directors share the frustration of our neighbors and visitors who wish to see the Railway back in operation. However, we said we would not reopen the Railway until it is completely safe to do so.
As readers may (or may not) know, the litigation concerning the tragic 2001 accident was not finally ended until September 22, 2006 (just a bit over one year ago). As announced at our press conference in January of 2007, adequate funds to proceed had been secured, and designers and the manufacturer were under contract this January. Those vendors have been busy doing their jobs for the past ten months!
For example, the reason you readers see the freshly-painted Olivet and Sinai in Mr. Quinn’s, and others’ recent photographs is because we are nearly finished with the work on the two cars.
The reason there is so much progress on the cars and that the Drive has been designed and built is because generous DONORS have made that possible.
Therefore, if YOU are a reader who really wants (as do my fellow directors and I) to see Angels Flight back up in operation … WRITE. But better than writing a blog comment is to WRITE A CHECK. Hundreds of people who care, through individual, foundation, endowment, and corporate donations, are the people who are getting Angels Flight BACK ON TRACK. Join them! My fellow directors and I and all those working on the design, manufacture, and installation appreciate enthusiasts’ generous support!
Although funicular technology from the nineteenth century is simple, rebuilding an historic funicular in the middle of an urban area in the twenty-first century is quite complicated. Please trust me on that. And please tell your friends that:
A. Rumors about Metro or any other governmental agency involvement (except that of our strict and meticulous governmental regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission) are just that — RUMORS and UNTRUE.
B. Assertions that there are any issues with braking systems or funding also are INCORRECT (although we do, once again, solicit readers’ assistance in helping provide the final 10% of the funding to allow us to close out the Campaign for Angels Flight). Any loft dwellers or workers or others who feel they “continually have been let down” are invited to feel UPLIFTED instead — by donating to the cause! Be an Angel!
The little Railway (and the Railway’s current stewards) thank you, supporters, for your support.
— John
Just give us an escalator, man.
For a look at Hollywood on Bunker Hill, check out “Angels Flight Goes to the Movies” at http://www.electricearl.com/af.
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