Santa Ana Line

The Santa Ana Line was an interurban railway route of the Pacific Electric Railway, connecting Los Angeles and Santa Ana in Orange County.

Santa Ana
A PE train on San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, en route to Santa Ana in the 1940s
Overview
Owner	Los Angeles Interurban Railway (1909–1911) Pacific Electric (1911–1953) Metropolitan Coach Lines (1953–1958) Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (1958)
Line number	11 (to 1958) 34 (1958)
Locale	Los Angeles, and Orange County, California
Termini	Downtown Los Angeles Santa Ana, California Bellflower, California (after 1950)
Stations	30
Service
Type	Interurban
System	Pacific Electric
Operator(s)	Pacific Electric
Rolling stock	PE 300-400 Class (last used)
History
Opened	November 6, 1905
Closed	May 24, 1958
Technical
Line length	34 mi (55 km)
Number of tracks	1–4[1]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	600 V DC Overhead lines
Route map Pacific Electric Building to Northern Division  J   R   S   J   S  to Sierra Vista–Watts & South Pasadena Local Amoco Vernon Avenue  V  Slauson Junction to Whittier, Fullerton Fleming Florencito Park Florence Nadeau Graham Latin Watts end of local service to Long Beach & San Pedro Palomar Modjeska Park Lynwood Lugo Morton Los Angeles River Michigan Avenue Paramount New York Avenue Crutcher Rendalia Bellflower terminus after 1950 Woodruff Avenue Palo Verde San Gabriel River Gallina Dolley Artesia Thornton Crescenta Coyote Creek Bingham Moody Cypress Halcon Shirley Hanson Lobo Stanton Vignolo Cordoniz Harperville Mesto Metate Garden Grove Dueno Buaro Willowick Golf Course Santa Ana River West Santa Ana Santa Ana Santa Ana SP Depot

History

The route began operation on November 6, 1905[2] under the Los Angeles Interurban Railway; Pacific Electric leased the line starting in 1908 and purchased it in 1911 under terms of the Great Merger. The Santa Ana Line was designated as route number 11 during most of its operational life.[3] Santa Ana's status as the county seat and largest city in Orange County at the time allowed for high ridership. The railway built a new station in the city in late 1927, and cars were rerouted to serve it.[3]

Car 4508 in service on the line, c. 1943

By 1950, service had halved from its peak only five years earlier and the line was cut back to a minor station in Bellflower on July 2.[3] The service was then disposed of by Pacific Electric, being taken over first by Metropolitan Coach Lines in 1953 before being commuted to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1958, the same year it was discontinued; the last train ran on May 24, 1958.[3] Santa Ana Line service was briefly designated as line 34 for just over a month prior to discontinuance.[3]

Modern services

The Los Angeles Metro Rail operates a few light rail lines over the former route. The A Line runs over the former Watts Line as far as Watts, and the C Line and Century Freeway were built through Lynwood on the old Pacific Electric right of way.

The West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor is a plan to reactivate part of the corridor in Los Angeles County for expanded service. The section between Bellflower station and former Paramount station will be rehabilitated and connected to a new service eventually terminating downtown, though via a different routing than the former Santa Ana Line.

The Orange County Streetcar is expected to open in 2022 and run on the southern section of the former Santa Ana Line between Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

Route

The Santa Ana Line ran from the Pacific Electric Building in Los Angeles to the Southern Pacific depot in Santa Ana, California via the West Santa Ana Branch.[2]

List of major stations

Station	Mile [2][3]	Major connections	Date opened	Date discontinued	City
Pacific Electric Building	0.00	Alhambra–San Gabriel, Annandale, Balboa, Fullerton, Hawthorne–El Segundo, La Habra–Yorba Linda, Long Beach, Monrovia–Glendora, Mount Lowe, Pasadena Short Line, Pasadena via Oak Knoll, Pomona, Redlands, Redondo Beach via Gardena, Riverside–Rialto, San Pedro via Dominguez, San Pedro via Gardena, Santa Monica Air Line, Sierra Madre, Soldiers' Home, South Pasadena Local, Upland–San Bernardino, Watts, Whittier Los Angeles Railway B, H, J, R, 7, and 8	1905	1958	Los Angeles
Amoco		Balboa, Fullerton, Hawthorne–El Segundo, La Habra–Yorba Linda, Long Beach, Redondo Beach via Gardena, San Pedro via Dominguez, San Pedro via Gardena, Santa Monica Air Line, Soldiers' Home, Watts, Whittier	1902	1958
Slauson Junction	4.27	Balboa, Fullerton, Hawthorne–El Segundo, La Habra–Yorba Linda, Long Beach, Redondo Beach via Gardena, San Pedro via Dominguez, San Pedro via Gardena, Watts, Whittier	1902	1958
Watts	7.45	Balboa, Hawthorne–El Segundo, Long Beach, Redondo Beach via Gardena, San Pedro via Dominguez, San Pedro via Gardena, Watts	1902	1958
Lynwood	9.70			1958	Lynwood
Morton	11.55			1958
Paramount (Clearwater)	13.06			1958	Paramount
Bellflower	15.40			1958	Bellflower
Artesia	18.43		1911	1950	Artesia
Cypress	21.70			1950
Stanton	24.82			1950
Garden Grove	28.56			1950	Garden Grove
Santa Ana–Pacific Electric	33.61	Santa Ana–Huntington Beach, Santa Ana–Orange	1927	1950	Santa Ana
Santa Ana–Southern Pacific	34.00	Southern Pacific		1950

Ridership

Passengers (Fare and Transfer)[2]

Year	Passengers	Car Miles	Revenue
1914	1,143,675	856,229	$291,282
1916	936,257	578,574	$225,501
1918	1,193,306	735,322	$243,536
1920	1,090,490	638,275	$268,927
1922	888,531	548,292	$297,578
1924	881,931	566,542	$313,478
1926	734,529	536.202	$255,610
1928	751,032	502,058	$230,200
1930	852,268	583,690	$219,719
1932	446,876	460,756	$132,140
1934	367,159	404,580	$104,190
1936	369,230	360,656	$106,812
1938	315,603	339,949	$95,354
1940	343,984	348,885	$81,612
1942	750,758	440,797	$199,061
1944	2,270,201	1,001,143	$590,800
1945	2,479,246	1,030,924	$635,905
1946	2,231,655	894,937	$501,139
1947	2,064,688	795,527	$492,843
1950	1,046,974	398,694	$277,422
1952	884,177	258,293	$235,566
1954	704,078	223,732	$222,140
1956	651,181	221,658	$240,198
1958	181,167	80,499	$71,681

References

1. "1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes" (PDF). Caltrans. February 1982. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
2. "Santa Ana Line". The Electric Railway Historical Society of Southern California. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
3. 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). Retrieved 19 September 2020.