Angels Flight Railway

Angels Flight begins operation in 1901 as the Los Angeles Incline Railway, financed by J. W. Eddy, and receives its permanent name in 1912 when the Funding Company of California purchases it. Ownership passes to Continental Securities Company in 1914, to engineer Robert W. Moore in 1946, then to Lester B. Moreland and banker Byron Linville in 1952; a year later Moreland’s family buys out Linville and becomes sole stockholder. Condemnation proceedings in 1962 force the line’s sale to the city, and the railway closes on May 18 1969, after which the cars are stored for 27 years. The Angels Flight Railway Foundation rebuilds and reopens the funicular on February 24 1996, and the line is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 13 2000. A fatal accident in February 2001 leads to a shutdown that lasts until a safety‑upgraded reopening in August 2017, after interim resumptions in 2010, a brief closure in mid‑2011, and another suspension following a derailment in September 2013. The railway is frequently cited as the world’s shortest incorporated railway.