LAUS Tracks 13,14, & 15 Almost Done

[trainman74]

That's good to hear; I'll note that making the station a run-through raises the possibility of doubling up trains on tracks NYP-style (i.e. trains going north on one side and south on the other) if we should ever be so lucky to have that much need for trains. I can't see Surfliners or commuter trains getting deep in the double digits in terms of train numbers.

Metrolink already does some doubling up -- of course, without the run-through, they have to do it as "train departing first on the north side, train departing second on the south side."

 

[rusty spike]

Amazing to see that diagram. Thanks for posting it. Some questions arise:

• What's the purpose of tracks C and D? They look lonely out there. Track 17 is called out as storage but not C and D, so C and D might have been used for something else… but what?
• It looks like the throat has seven tracks. Today it has five. Which two were removed? When? Why?
• Six platform tracks share three engine tracks. What of the other platform tracks? How did their planned use differ, not requiring an engine track?
• Non-passenger tracks are lettered (A1-E, engine tracks F-H) and passenger tracks are numbered 1-16. Why is the storage track identified as 17 and not I or J (to avoid confusing I with 1)?

Does the book offer any clues?

I don't have a lot more information, but can speculate somewhat from having read the book. The book is a great overview of LA passenger stations before LAUPT and the evolution and development of this "last of the great trains stations". However, the book does not detail much of the operations as to movement on trains, track usage and the like.

The Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (as it was known then) served a peek of 33 passenger trains (plus 2nd sections/specials) in 1948. At the very beginning of Amtrak, the number was down to 9 and most of those were the San Diegans.

Tracks A1, A, and B were for express and baggage loading and unloading. It is unclear what D thru E were used for, but I would guess it was storage for express cars. Engine tracks F, G and H were "escape" tracks so that the engine (almost all steam in 1939) could head to the roundhouse before (literally) running out of steam. I assume the tracks 6 thru 11 were used mostly for the LD trains and headed straight in to the terminal's bumping post. Track 17 was probably used for storage as indicated, although it could have been used as an overflow passenger track but it did not have the butterfly canopy or direct subway access. The platform tracks without engine track access were probably used for the San Diegans and other locals that might have been backed into the station, or at least, unloaded quickly and towed to the coach yard with power still attached.

I have no information on the removal of two throat tracks, but with many of the platforms tracks out of service (and some of them removed), there was no need for that many tracks in the throat. As of 1980, IINM, the 3 railroads serving LAUPT were "done" with that station and were "downsizing" to Amtrak's limited needs.

I don't think many envisioned what we see today at LAUS with over 90 trains from Amtrak and Metrolink serving the station.

Just for fun, here is the station timetable from March 1980…

 

[George Harris]

"last of the great trains stations".

The same has been said about New Orleans UPT. That sation was opened in 1953.

 

[sportbiker]

The same has been said about New Orleans UPT. That sation was opened in 1953.

I don't know who's selling that notion, but I'm not buying it.

NOUPT:

LAUS:

Any questions?

 

[MikefromCrete]

I agree, Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal is far superior to the New Orleans station. Speaking of newer stations, Milwaukee's train station was built in 1965 and remodeled a few years ago, and while it's nice, it can't hold a candle to LAUPT.

 

[sportbiker]

Just for fun, here is the station timetable from March 1980…

Amidst all the doom and gloom of life in the 21st century, I count it as a genuine victory that not only did LAUS, as a physical plant, escape the fate of so many other great train stations, but that it rose from the depths of that sad 1980 timetable to become busier now than it ever was in its first decades. Not only that, it's future is looking better than ever as it becomes one of the two main HSR stations in the state. For once, LA did something right with its heritage.

 

[rusty spike]

Just for fun, here is the station timetable from March 1980…

Amidst all the doom and gloom of life in the 21st century, I count it as a genuine victory that not only did LAUS, as a physical plant, escape the fate of so many other great train stations, but that it rose from the depths of that sad 1980 timetable to become busier now that it ever was in its first decades. Not only that, it's future is looking better than ever as it becomes one of the two main HSR stations in the state. For once, LA did something right with its heritage.

Indeed they did. I was concerned at the time that they would do like they did in St. Louis---vacate the grand old station and put an Amshack out along the platforms! :angry:

 

[Rob_C]

For what its worth, the movie business, is a major factor that kept the station from being replaced by an Amshack. We mutter and grumble now that we can't use the main ticketing room for what it was meant for, but it's that use in films, and special events that got the station through those dark years. We could get on the train a stop or two up the line, but there is something special about waiting and getting on a train at LAUPT.

Rob

 

[user 1215]

What movies have LAUPT played in?

I thought the main waiting area in LA was available for waiting. At least thats what I recall from 2005...

 

[johnny.menhennet]

What movies have LAUPT played in?

I thought the main waiting area in LA was available for waiting. At least thats what I recall from 2005...

The main ticketing area is closed, not the main waiting area, as Rob_C pointed out. Occasionally though, the waiting area can be used for films/shows, and they can pull extras from the crowd. I "starred" in the last season of Monk that way, as did about 100 other random people as they shut down the waiting area for about 3 minutes at a time to film the scene then let others walk through. It is used for EVERYTHING though. Lot sand lots of movies and shows use the station. It's really a big moneymaker for the station, I believe.

 

[George Harris]

It is also used as a stand in for other stations. In one of the Mentalist episodes sometime back it was used as a stand in for the Sacramento station. Sacramento? They are not in the same league.

As an aside, I have also seen LA metro stations used as stand ins for Washington Metro. Other than having put up signs that look more or less right nothing else is even close in appearance.

 

[George Harris]

The same has been said about New Orleans UPT. That sation was opened in 1953.

I don't know who's selling that notion, but I'm not buying it.

Said that it "has been said" not that I was believing it. NOUPT is/was nice and also built for the traffic as it existing in the early to mid 1950's when passenger train miles were declining, and primarily built for the purpose of consolidation of stations, lowering operating costs and grade crossing elimination. Given the climate, it was also built to be air conditioned at reasonable operating cost, hence the low ceiling to reduce the volume of air requiring cooling. I do not think they envisioned train miles dropping as far and fast as they did. AS opened, in handled ICRR: 4 trains, Southern: 2 trains, L&N: 4 long distance trains plus New Orlean's only commuter train, Southern Pacific: 2 trains, Texas and Pacific: 2 trains, KCS 2 or was it still 3 trains, MoPac's Gulf Coast Lines: 2 trains.

 

[user 1215]

KCS ran pax?

 

[zephyr17]

What movies have LAUPT played in?

I thought the main waiting area in LA was available for waiting. At least thats what I recall from 2005...

Main waiting room was never cut off, Rob_C said ticketing, and that has been closed off since they built the new Amtrak ticketing counter in the former Arrivals lobby.

As to movies, a few I can think of off the top of my head:

Dark Knight Rises (the courtroom)

Blade Runner (police station)

Pearl Harbor (doubling for GCT of all things. Guess Bruckheimer thinks a train station is a train station).

Blast from the Past ("Club 40s" - used Harvey House).

And many more, they just don't come immediately to mind. Plus a large variety of commercials.

 

[zephyr17]

KCS ran pax?

Yes, got out in 1967, IIRC.

 

[sportbiker]

What movies have LAUPT played in?

Regarding LAUS and Hollywood. Note that Metro now owns the station.

 

[Eric S]

KCS ran pax?

In the 1950s:

Southern Belle running Kansas City - New Orleans (plus a Kansas City - Port Arthur section)

Flying Crow running Kansas City - Port Arthur (plus a Kansas City - New Orleans section)

Probably/possibly some other locals

In the 1960s:

Southern Belle running Kansas City - New Orleans

Flying Crow running Kansas City - Port Arthur (plus a Kansas City - New Orleans section)

1967: Last run of the Flying Crow

1969: Last run of the Southern Belle

 

[johnny.menhennet]

What movies have LAUPT played in?

I thought the main waiting area in LA was available for waiting. At least thats what I recall from 2005...

Main waiting room was never cut off, Rob_C said ticketing, and that has been closed off since they built the new Amtrak ticketing counter in the former Arrivals lobby.

As to movies, a few I can think of off the top of my head:

Dark Knight Rises (the courtroom)

Blade Runner (police station)

Pearl Harbor (doubling for GCT of all things. Guess Bruckheimer thinks a train station is a train station).

Blast from the Past ("Club 40s" - used Harvey House).

And many more, they just don't come immediately to mind. Plus a large variety of commercials.

Garfield used the station extensively!

PS I saw Dark Knight Rises twice on the opening weekend and I never made the connection to LAUS but that is SO accurate once I really think about it. That's really exciting. I wonder if they just pulled pax from the station for the extras...