San Bernardino–Riverside Line

The San Bernardino–Riverside is a former Pacific Electric interurban railway line in the Inland Empire. Unlike most of the company's services, trains did not travel to Downtown Los Angeles and instead provided a suburban service between San Bernardino and Riverside.

San Bernardino–Riverside
Overview
Locale	Inland Empire
Termini	San Bernardino Riverside
Service
Type	Interurban
System	Pacific Electric
History
Opened	April 11, 1911
Closed	May 7, 1939
Technical
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	600 V DC Overhead lines
Route map Redlands San Bernardino Union Pacific & Santa Fe Upland–San Bernardino Bethune Colton Colton Southern Pacific Congress Stabric Vivienda Grand Terrace DeBerry Santa Fe West Highgrove Chappel Riverside–Rialto Riverside Riverside–Arlington

History

Construction on the line north from Riverside began in 1908, but was ceased due to a disagreement between Pacific Electric owner Henry E. Huntington and Union Pacific President E. H. Harriman.[1]

Service began in Riverside on April 7, 1911,[1] operating on Main Street, First Street, and La Cadena Drive as far north as Center Street in West Highgrove.[2] In 1913, work began to complete the line, with an extension north to Colton opening on October 4, 1913 and completing to San Bernardino station on December 13.[2]

By January 1916 through-routing with the Redlands Line had begun, forming the Redlands–Riverside Line. Between April and June 1928 through-routing was changed to the Riverside–Arlington Line as part of a scheme developed by the California Railroad Commission; it was reverted back to Redlands after proving unsuccessful. A major service reduction took place on July 20, 1936 as through-routing was discontinued entirely, and headways became sparse and irregular. By this time, service was primarily provided to interchange with transcontinental trains in Colton. Passenger cars were virtually discontinued after February 1, 1938 with a single round trip making runs at inconvenient times very early in the morning. This lasted until May 7, 1939 when the service was discontinued.[2]

References

1. "Riverside-Redlands Line". Electric Rail Heritage Association. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
2. 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). p. 68. Retrieved 16 January 2021.