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Santa Ana–Huntington Beach
Overview
Locale Orange County, California
Termini
  • Santa Ana
  • Huntington Beach
Service
Type Interurban
System Pacific Electric
Operator(s) Pacific Electric
History
OpenedJuly 5, 1909
ClosedMarch 1922 (1922-03)
Technical
Line length13.31 mi (21.42 km)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification600 V DC Overhead lines
Route map

Legend
 Santa Ana
Delhi Road
Central Ave.
S. California Sugar Plant
Dyer
New Delhi
Bristol
Greenville
Von Schriltz
Acelga
Santa Ana River
 Repollo
Apio
Planta
Nimock
Talbert
Cordero
Lambs
Remolacha
Bushard
Xalisco
Penn Ave.
Thompsonville
Southern Pacific
 Huntington Beach
terminus
after 1912
Balboa Line
 Gamewell
Surf Club
Pacific Gun Club
Nago
Santa Ana River
 El Moro
Melrose
Newport Beach
Southern Pacific
 East Newport
Balboa
This diagram:

The Santa Ana–Huntington Beach Line is a former Pacific Electric interurban railway line in Orange County, California. Unlike most of the company's services, trains did not travel to Downtown Los Angeles and instead provided a suburban service between Santa Ana and Huntington Beach, for a time running as far as Balboa.

History

The route was laid out by the Pacific Electric Land Company in 1907; [1] [2] the company existed solely to build and lease lines for Pacific Electric to operate. Service began on July 5, 1909. [3] Several spur lines were constructed to transport sugar beets from farms near the route. The line came under full ownership of PE in 1911, two weeks following the Great Merger. [4]

The service was truncated to terminate at Huntington Beach in the south starting on October 15, 1912. [5] An evening car ran as far north as Orange in 1915. [6] As a result of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, frequencies were reduced to a single daily round trip starting on October 27 of that year. [5] In November 1921, a second round trip was added, but this was short lived as service was discontinued outright by the following March due to a bridge on the route being damaged in a flood. [5] The line was formally abandoned on January 30, 1931. [4]

The establishment of the Santa Ana Army Air Base in 1942 brought about demand by the government for direct rail service. As a result, PE built a single-track line which was owned by the government. No passenger service was provided; freight was exchanged at Greenville. [1]

By mid-1948, Pacific Electric had purchased the requisite Southern Pacific Railroad lines to allow them to move freight to Newport and Huntington without the trip through Long Beach and Sunset Beach. [4]

By the 1990s, the route through Santa Ana had largely been converted to the Pacific Electric Bicycle Path.

Route

Leaving the Santa Ana Pacific Electric Depot, cars ran south on Maple Street to New Delhi, where a couple of branch lines met the main tracks and turned to the southwest for about a mile before continuing west, paralleling Alton Avenue. The line crossed the Santa Ana River, continuing until Bushard Street to turn south into Huntington Beach.

A segment of the right of way west from the former Dyer spur is used as the Union Pacific Santa Ana Industrial Lead. The north–south segment in Santa Ana paralleling Rousselle and Maple was partially rebuilt as a rail trail.

Stations

Station Mile [4] Major connections Opened Service discontinued
Santa Ana 0 Santa Ana, Santa Ana–Orange 1905 1922
New Delhi 2.69 1909 1922
Acelga 5.60 1909 1922
Talbert 8.16 1909 1922
Bushard 10.53 1909 1922
Huntington Beach 13.31 Balboa, Huntington Beach–La Bolsa 1904 1922
Newport Beach 1905 1912
Balboa 1906 1912

References

  1. ^ a b Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: California Department of Transportation. 1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes (PDF). pp. 139–141. {{ cite book}}: |website= ignored ( help)
  2. ^ "Pillsbury and committee meet". Santa Ana Register. August 13, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved December 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  3. ^ "Nation's natal day and opening of electric line jointly celebrated". Santa Ana Daily Register. July 6, 1909. p. 2. Retrieved December 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  4. ^ a b c d "Santa Ana-Huntington Beach Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Veysey, Laurence R. (June 1958). A History Of The Rail Passenger Service Operated By The Pacific Electric Railway Company Since 1911 And By Its Successors Since 1953 (PDF). LACMTA (Report). Los Angeles, California: Interurbans. pp. 74–75. ASIN  B0007F8D84. OCLC  6565577.
  6. ^ "Pacific Electric Time Table". Santa Ana Register. Santa Ana Register. January 6, 1916. p. 13. Retrieved February 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
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