Letters: Red Car redux

Re “Clear the tracks,” Opinion, Oct. 29

Jim Newton writes that some vociferous objectors in Cheviot Hills are launching another effort to block the Expo Line’s construction. This action is ironic.

The route of the Expo Line is not a new one; most of it follows the Pacific Electric Railway’s Santa Monica Air Line, last used for freight in the 1980s. The Red Cars that ran along that route until 1953 were noisier than the sleek cars planned for the new service. But the residents of this very same area were most vociferous in retaining the service and kept it running for nearly 30 years (since the early 1920s) in the face of repeated attempts at abandonment.

Those who are complaining so loudly today may just find, when the trains are actually running, that they are happy with what they got, like their predecessors of 70 years ago.

Bob Burket

Santa Monica

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