The BNSF Harbor Subdivision is a historic single-track main line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe which stretches 26 miles/42km between the rail yards of downtown Los Angeles and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach across southwestern Los Angeles County. Mostly displaced with the 2002 opening of the more direct Alameda Corridor, the "Harbor Sub" takes a far more circuitous route from origin to destination, owing to its growth in segments over the decades. The subdivision was built in this fashion beginning in the early 1880s to serve the ports and the various businesses that developed along it. The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (AAR reporting mark BNSF) (NYSE: BNI), headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and established as a result of a 1995 merger between the parent companies of the Burlington Northern Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, is one of the largest... The Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles as seen from USC, which makes up most of Downtowns skyline. ... The Port of Los Angeles is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown. ... The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest seaport in the United States and the tenth busiest port in the world. ... Map of California showing Los Angeles County. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...

First built to serve Port Ballona, located at what is now Playa del Rey, the construction of a larger, better port at Redondo Beach brought an extension to that city in 1888. The early 1900s would see that project eclipsed with the coming of the San Pedro Outer Breakwater and the Port of Los Angeles. By the early 1920s, owing to the development of the area's oil fields, the Harbor Sub was extended through Torrance, Wilmington and on to Long Beach. Development of Watson Yard in Wilmington completed the line. In the City of Los Angeles, Playa del Rey is the section of beachfront just south of the Ballona Wetlands and Ballona Creek and Marina del Rey; thus, the beach population is divided here. ... The citys unusually shaped pier Redondo Beach is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Events and Trends Technology Lawrence Hargrave makes the first stable wing design for a heavier-than-air aircraft Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft Mass production of automobile Wide popularity of home phonograph Panama Canal is built by the United... San Pedro is a community within Los Angeles, California, annexed in 1909 and a major seaport of the area. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. // Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly... City of Torrance official logo Torrance is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. ... For other places called Wilmington, see Wilmington Wilmington, California is a small industrial town, incorporated into the city of Los Angeles. ... County Los Angeles County, California Area  - Total  - Water 170. ...

Early opeartions on the line meant one or more daily freight trains and, prior to the Second World War, an occasional passenger train. From the 1950s to the early 1990s, this line saw one or two through trains each way daily. A number of locals worked the line including the Wilmington Turn out of Hobart Yard in Vernon and the Hobart Turn out of the aforementioned Watson Yard. Other locals were assigned to Watson Yard and Vernon's Malabar Yard. Though operations on the Hobart Turn ceased in the early 1980s, the Watson and Malabar switch jobs remained to serve industries along the route. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945. ... Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the... Vernon is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

Rumors of the abandonment of the Harbor Subdivision abounded during the construction of the Alameda Corridor. BNSF has stated that the line will remain open to service businesses on the route and as an alternate route should the Alameda Corridor suffer an accident or derailment. Major customers include an ExxonMobil refinery and Alcoa processing plant, both in Torrance. Since the line is somewhat unusual insofar as it passes through residential as well as commercial districts, especially through Torrance and Redondo Beach, it is a popular destination for railfans and photographers despite reduced traffic. Exxon-branded gas station in California (actually operated by Valero) Greenpeace protest against Exxon Mobil Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil producer and distributor formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ... Alcoa (NYSE: AA) is an American company and one of the largest producers of aluminum. ... Railfans practicing their hobby at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. ...

External link and reference

• History and photo gallery dedicated to the Harbor Subdivision