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Sobriety Checkpoints Tonight, Saturday Night
Rich Alossi of the downtown blog angelenic witnessed Angels Flight in operation on Friday (that's his video above). "According to one engineer on-site, 'the world’s shortest railway' may reopen in about a month if testing continues as planned."
Angels Flight is a funicular railway that connects Hill Street in the Historic Core below to the California Plaza atop Bunker Hill. Back in 2001, the two cars, Sinai and Olivet, crashed down into the street after a brake malfunction. A number of people were injured and one person died.
Since then, financing the repair has been slow, but in November, the cars made their way back on to the tracks.
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The squeaks and grinding noises are worrisome. It could be minor or it could be metal on metal...never a good thing. Hope they work it out soon.
So what's it going to cost; a quarter?
The squeaks and noises (and such sounds as the horn at the Arch on Hill Street) have been intentionally reproduced / preserved -- based on the soundtrack from the extraordinary documentary film, "Angels Flight Railway: A Landmark Remembered," that was produced by Edmund Penny and Associates in 1967, or thereabouts.
The Railway has always been -- and remains -- "steel wheels on steel rails."
By the way, financing the repair has not been slow, from our standpoint at the Angels Flight Railway Foundation. The restoration only got underway in earnest at the beginning of 2007. Since then, the design, manufacturing, and installation phases are almost complete.
The Foundation has NOT had a hard time securing the donations needed to complete the project. Most of the $3.5 Million Campaign Goal was raised (and much of it spent) by the end of last year.
Any LAist reader who would like to help close out the Campaign is invited to send a tax-deductible contribution to:
Angels Flight Railway Foundation
Post Office Box 712345
Los Angeles, CA 90071.
Thank you!
John H. Welborne, President
angels-flight@sbcglobal.net
And, "yes," the plan is to still charge a quarter.