>>1561410>>1561512Here's a 1948 schedule. From downtown LA to Newport Beach it's an hour and a half. Right now checked on jewgle and it's just under an hour by car, and 2h45m by transit.
By car it's about a 45 mile distance, even with an optimistic commercial Metro speed of 20mph (more common is around 15) it would be over two hours of journey time. Thanks to the southern 4-track section PE achieved an absolutely impressive commercial speed of around 30mph, most present-day metros dream of that.
