Santa Ana Line
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox rail line
|name = Santa Ana
|image = Pacific Electric "Red Car" 1216 to Santa Ana, 1940s.jpg
|caption = A PE train on San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, en route to Santa Ana in the 1940s
|image_width = 300px
|color = {{rcr|Pacific Electric|Santa Ana}}
|type = Interurban
|system = Pacific Electric
|locale = Los Angeles and Orange County, California
|start = Downtown Los Angeles
|end = Santa Ana, California
Bellflower, California (after 1950)
|stations = 30
|routes =
|open = November 6, 1905
|close = July 2, 1950 (to Santa Ana)
May 24, 1958
|owner = Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway (1905–1911)
Pacific Electric (1911–1953)
Metropolitan Coach Lines (1953–1958)
Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (1958)
|operator = Pacific Electric
|character =
|stock = PE 300–400 Class (last used)
|linelength_mi = 34
|tracklength =
|gauge = {{RailGauge|sg|allk=on}}
|linenumber = 11 (to 1958)
34 (1958)
|electrification = {{600 V DC|conductor=overhead}}
|speed =
|elevation =
|map = {{PE S Santa Ana}}
|map_state = collapsed
}}
The Santa Ana Line was an interurban route connecting Los Angeles and Santa Ana in Orange County. It ran between 1905 and 1958 (with the southern end truncated to Bellflower in 1950) and was predominantly operated by the Pacific Electric Railway for its history.
History
The route began operation on November 6, 1905{{cite news |title=First electric car runs to Santa Ana |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114389996/ |access-date=10 December 2022 |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |via=Newspapers.com |date=6 November 1905 |page=3}} {{free access}} under the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway;{{cite book |last1=Crise |first1=Steve |last2=Patris |first2=Michael A. |title=Pacific Electric Railway |date=2011 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738575865 |page=47}} Pacific Electric leased the line starting in 1908 and fully acquired 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.{{Veysey-PE-1958 |pages=75–77}} Santa Ana's status as the county seat and largest city in Orange County at the time allowed for high ridership.{{cn|date=September 2020}} The railway built a new station in the city in late 1927, and cars were rerouted to serve it.
File:Pacific Electric Railway car, Santa Ana Line, circa 1943.jpg
Cars ceased running to the Santa Ana Southern Pacific Depot in November 1945. 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,{{cite news |last1=Brightwell |first1=Eric |title=Reimagining Garden Grove with Orange County's First Open Streets Event |url=https://www.kcet.org/history-society/reimagining-garden-grove-with-orange-countys-first-open-streets-event |access-date=28 July 2021 |agency=KCET |date=27 August 2014}} becoming the Bellflower Line. (PE continued to serve the Bellflower to Santa Ana segment with motor coaches.{{cite news |title=Buses Replace 2 PE Lines' Trolleys |newspaper=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94171906/ |page=9 |access-date=4 February 2022 |agency=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |via=Newspapers.com |date=July 3, 1950}} {{free access}}) 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. Bellflower Line service was briefly designated as line 34 for just over a month prior to discontinuance.
=Modern services=
{{Main|Southeast Gateway Line|OC Streetcar}}
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 Southeast Gateway Line is a plan to reactivate part of the line in Los Angeles County for expanded light rail service.{{cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Laura J. |title=Metro narrows the options for a light-rail line from downtown L.A. to Artesia |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-artesia-rail-line-20180524-story.html |access-date=8 September 2021 |agency=Los Angeles Times |date=May 24, 2018}} 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 OC Streetcar is expected to open in 2025 and run on the southern section of the former Santa Ana Line between Santa Ana and Garden Grove.
Route
{{main|West Santa Ana Branch}}
The Santa Ana Line ran from the Pacific Electric Building in Los Angeles to the Southern Pacific depot in Santa Ana, California via the Watts Line and West Santa Ana Branch.{{cite web |title=Santa Ana Line |url=http://www.erha.org/pessa.htm |publisher=The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California |accessdate=6 September 2020}} The latter segment's diagonal running was a stark contrast to the cardinally-aligned road grid of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
The route was quadruple-tracked through the Watts trunk line, while the Santa Ana Branch was double-tracked except at single-track bridges.
List of major stations
File:Modjeska Park station (cropped).jpg
File:Lynwood Pacific Electric Railway Depot (cropped).png ]]
File:Bellflower Pacific Electric.jpg
File:Pacific Electric Railway station, Garden Grove, circa 1909.jpg
Ridership
References
External links
{{Attached KML |display=title,inline}}
{{Pacific Electric Railway}}
Category:Pacific Electric routes
Category:History of Santa Ana, California
Category:Transportation in Santa Ana, California
Category:Railway services introduced in 1905
Category:Railway services discontinued in 1958
Category:1905 establishments in California