Santa Ana–Huntington Beach Line

Santa Ana–Huntington Beach
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
Opened	July 5, 1909
Closed	March 1922
Technical
Line length	13.31 mi (21.42 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 600 V DC
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	Santa Ana Line
	terminus
	after 1912
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

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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

^ ^a ^b 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)
^ "Pillsbury and committee meet". Santa Ana Register. August 13, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved December 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "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.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Santa Ana-Huntington Beach Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
^ ^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.
^ "Pacific Electric Time Table". Santa Ana Register. Santa Ana Register. January 6, 1916. p. 13. Retrieved February 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

[1981survey-1] 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.

[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.

[erha-4] "Santa Ana-Huntington Beach Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved January 14, 2021.

[1958History-5] 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.

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