Angels Flight

FINISH CARPENTRY, 11/29/07 At Metro's Red Line shops and yards, the work continues on the exteriors of the cars.Legal NoticeThe name "Angels Flight" and the images of the Angels Flight® Railway and cars are copyrights and registered trademarks of the Angels Flight® Railway Company and are used with permission. The content of this website, www.picturetrail.com/afrp (this "Site"), including but not limited to the text and images displayed herein and their arrangement (collectively, the "Materials"), are copyrighted © by Leonard Auslender, whether or not they bear © notices and warnings. The Materials on this Site and any other World Wide Web site [...]

Back to the Rail Yards, 1/27/07 While there was a lot of activity in the Machine Room, things were not idle in the train yards. Emergency brake mechanisms had been installed under the cars, and the finish carpenters were working on both the interiors and exteriors of the cars. When the finish carpenters are at work, there's a totally different feel to it than the frenetic intense activity of the riggers. There's a sense of peace and calm. There were only two carpenters needed that day, and they were usually working in silence, each on his own project. Legal Notice The [...]

MORE MILESTONES, 11/19/07 Lots of important things happen today: First, all of the things that need to be transported into the Machine Room have been transported, and the huge louvers that ordinarily cover the loading door are finally replaced and battened down. The final piece of the Drive Assembly is wrestled into place, and we discover separate projects going on in the Station House: the old Drive Assembly has gone from jet black to orange with black trim, to match the color scheme that's already been applied to the new Drive Assembly as well as Olivet and Sinai, the Station House, [...]

Drive assembly work, cable spool, 11/15/07 Work continues on assembling the modules of the Drive Assembly into one functioning unit. Not only are the modules being brought together, but the two electric motors and gearbox are being installed as well. In addition, the spool of cable that will bring the cars up and down the track will be brought up into the Machine Room via fork lift. At this point it is still a long way from "powering up" the new Drive. Legal Notice The name "Angels Flight" and the images of the Angels Flight® Railway and cars are copyrights [...]

Drive Assembly Completion, 11/14/07 Today finishes an important milestone. All the parts of the Drive Assembly are moved into the Machine Room, including the motors that drive the Assembly, and the beginning of putting all the modules together into one machine. The Assembly still awaits the arrival and installation of the Electric Control Package, and the threading of the cables through the Assembly and down the tracks, ending in attaching to the cars (which are still in the rail yards being readied for transport back to the Angels Flight tracks). Legal Notice The name "Angels Flight" and the images of the [...]

Assembling the Drive Assembly, 11/13/07 Today (four months later than expected) begins one of the most important phases of the entire restoration project: bringing all the modules of the brand-new Drive machinery into the Machine Room and assembling them. This is just the "Erector Set" stage. Once the Drive components are all fit back together (previously having been assembled and tested at the Vancouver factory), the machine needs something to make it run, and that is electrical power! The power is controlled by electronic components consisting of multiple computers and relays and switches. Collectively, those components will comprise the Electric Control [...]

WHEELS, WHEELS AND MORE WHEELS! 11/3/07 Today the wheels go on! The wheels, like most of the parts installed on the undersides of the cars, were rehabilitated or built from scratch by the Murray-Latta Machine Company of Vancouver, B.C. You will see the wheels being taken fresh out of their wooden crates. The crates were shipped direct to the work site at the MTA Red Line rail yard. Legal Notice The name "Angels Flight" and the images of the Angels Flight® Railway and cars are copyrights and registered trademarks of the Angels Flight® Railway Company and are used with permission. The [...]

THE RAIL YARD WORK CONTINUES, 10/2/07 Legal Notice The name "Angels Flight" and the images of the Angels Flight® Railway and cars are copyrights and registered trademarks of the Angels Flight® Railway Company and are used with permission. The content of this website, www.picturetrail.com/afrp (this "Site"), including but not limited to the text and images displayed herein and their arrangement (collectively, the "Materials"), are copyrighted © by Leonard Auslender, whether or not they bear © notices and warnings. The Materials on this Site and any other World Wide Web site owned, operated, controlled or used by Leonard Auslender for the display [...]

WORK BEGINS ON OLIVET & SINAI, 9/25/07 Through the generosity of Metro (LACMTA), the cars, Olivet and Sinai, were stored Downtown, inside one of the huge buildings where the Red Line subway trains dwell. This is Metro's Division 20 Maintenance Facility, on Santa Fe Avenue, in the Arts District. Olivet and Sinai were moved there in 2004, after the two cars were evicted from the early 20th Century brick warehouse on Sixth Street where the cars had been repaired and restored after the 2001 accident. Metro was a generous landlord for the cars from 2004 to 2008. A couple of years [...]

WE BEGIN -- with fumigating the Station House, 8/30/07 By the end of the summer of 2007, Angels Flight management thought they would be going full tilt on setting up the Machine Room to receive the new equipment. But the vendors for the new Drive and Control System were running seriously behind in the design and manufacture of this new equipment. But there were other projects to be completed -- like rehabilitating the farebox. But then, to everyone's surprise, an observant worker discovered termite droppings next to the 100-year-old concrete (and wood!) Station House building. So my next assignment: Get [...]