Hello Everyone: Here are some old photos of the Eastlake Park Scenic Railway which opened in Eastlake Park in 1903. It was a concession owned and operated by John Coit (Seen standing behind the Engineer in the first photo with his brother/partner on the other side of the locomotive.) Mr. Coit was a retired Southern Pacific engineer who took to designing his own locomotives. His first creation was used in Long Beach at a Swope Family park and the Eastlake Park Scenic railway was his second. The locomotives were designed by him and them built by the Johnson Machine works in Los Angeles. Shortly before the completion of the town of Venice, Abbot Kinney would persuade Coit to build him a railroad for the new city. Thus was born the Venice Railway or the Venice Miniature Railway which opened on July 30, 1905. After a 1906 battle for the Venice Railway with Kinney which resulted in three trials with three juries unable to reach a verdict, Coit lost in an arbitrary hearing which ruled in favor of Kinney, Coit removed his engine from the Venice Ry property where it had been used as a spare, and re installed it in Urbita Springs Park in San Bernardino where it operated for many years. It was recently acquired by the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos which hopes to restore it to full operating condition.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:02:14 +0000
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