because the railways underpowered locomotive frequently required assistance from its passengers for overcoming steeper sections of the route.
The Wilmington & Long Beach Rapid Transit Railroad after it was fitted with a steam engine.
Photo: University of Southern California Libraries / California Historical Society.
This town was to have 80-foot-wide streets running east and west, and 100-foot-wide streets running north and south.
Aside from residential lots, lots were to be set aside for parks, churches and schools.
Widney wanted to make the railroad his personal business.
Construction began on September 1882.
The iron wheels were cast by a foundry in Los Angeles.
Widney had set a date for an auction of the lots at the end of October.
With the help of a few extra workers, the line was completed just in time.
Thereafter, the American Colony Railroad was popularly called the Get Out and Push Railroad.
Widney managed to sell only 36 lots that day.
That November, nine houses were completed, but only six families arrived to live in the town.
During that winter, a few improvements were made to the railway.
The following winter was unusually wet, and floods washed out the railway line twice.
However, Widney retained possession of the railroad.
Eager to increase the capacity of the railway, Widney decided to upgrade the line to a steam locomotive.
In 1887 the line was taken over by the Southern Pacific Railroad.
The light rails were taken out and replaced with standard rails.
Passengers no longer had to get out and push.
References:# Franklyn Hoyt, The Get Out and Push Railroad,The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly
