Venice Miniature Railway

The Venice Miniature Railway was a 42,069-foot (12,823 m) long miniature railway in the 1:3 scale with a gauge of 18 in (457 mm), which was in operation from 30 July 1905 to 13 February 1925 in Venice near Los Angeles in California.

The excursions on the dogbone loop started at the locomotive shed at the corner of Lake Avenue and El Camino Real (now Venice Boulevard and Abbot Kinney Boulevard) in clockwise direction along the Mildred Avenue towards the Business District. There the trains looped around the Post Office and followed then again the Mildred Avenue, until they crossed several Venecian canals on Riviera and Rialto. Finally, they turned via a sharp bend onto Washington Boulevard. They used El Camino Real to get back to the Lake Avenue Station at the locomotive shed.

The cost of a trip around Venice was five cents. Regular users could buy a book of tickets for $1.00, which reduced the cost to only two cents per trip. At the same time, a one-way ride from Los Angeles to Venice on the Los Angeles Pacific Railway cost 15 cents.

Abbot Kinney, who had come-up with the plans for Venice of America, contracted John J. Coit, to build a miniature railway in Venice Beach near Los Angeles. The latter had worked as a master machinist at the Johnson Machine Works and had already built and operated the Eastlake Park Scenic Railway with a gauge of 18 in (457 mm) in Eastlake Park (now Lincoln Park).

John J. Coit owned the oilfired steam locomotive No 1903 of the 2-6-0 type with an overall length above the couplings of 19 feet (5.8 m). This locomotive made use of some technical innovations, such as controlling the valves without an eccentric, which made it easier to adjust and maintain the valves. It had been successfully used on the Eastlake Park Scenic Railway, but it was with 8,000 lb (3,629 kg) a bit too light and not powerful enough for the planned activity at Venice. Therefore, Coit ordered a 9,260 lb (4,200 kg) oilfired steam locomotive of the 2-6-2 (“Prairie”) type at his former employer, the Johnson Machine Works, into which his innovations had to be integrated.

...
Wikipedia