The Santa Ana Line was an

interurban railway The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

route connecting Los Angeles and Santa Ana in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. It ran between 1905 and 1958 (with the southern end truncated to Bellflower in 1950) and was predominantly operated by the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

for its history.

History

The route began operation on November 6, 1905 under the

Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service (transportation), Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a ...

; 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. Santa Ana's status as the county seat and largest city in

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. Pacific Electric Railway car, Santa Ana Line, circa 1943

Pacific Electric Railway car, Santa Ana Line, circa 1943

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, becoming the Bellflower Line. (PE continued to serve the Bellflower to Santa Ana segment with motor coaches. ) 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 The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (sometimes referred to as LAMTA or MTA I) was a public agency formed in 1951. Originally tasked with planning for rapid transit in Los Angeles, California, the agency would come to operate the vestig ...

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

The

Los Angeles Metro Rail The Los Angeles Metro Rail is an urban rail transit system serving Los Angeles County, California, United States. It consists of seven lines, including five light rail lines (the A Line (Los Angeles Metro), A, C Line (Los Angeles Metro), C, E Li ...

operates a few light rail lines over the former route. The A Line runs over the former

Watts Line The Watts Line was a local line of the Pacific Electric Railway that operated between the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles and the Watts Station at 103rd Street in Watts. It was the primary local service for the Southern District, ...

as far as Watts, and the C Line and

Century Freeway A century is a period of 100 year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, ...

were built through Lynwood on the old Pacific Electric

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

. The

West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor The West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor is a planned light rail line, mostly following the Pacific Electric's historic West Santa Ana Branch, connecting Downtown Los Angeles to the City of Artesia and other cities in southeastern Los Angeles ...

is a plan to reactivate part of the line in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

for expanded light rail service. The section between

Bellflower station Bellflower is a planned light rail station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. It is part of the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor project. Measure M funds are programmed for a scheduled completion in 2041, though the station may b ...

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 The OC Streetcar is a modern streetcar ( LRT) line currently under construction in Orange County, California, running through the cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove. The electric-powered streetcar will be operated by the Orange County Tran ...

is expected to open in 2023 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 Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

via the

and

West Santa Ana Branch The West Santa Ana Branch is a rail right-of-way formerly used by the Pacific Electric's (PE) Santa Ana route in Los Angeles County and Orange County in Southern California. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) ...

. 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 Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

except at single-track bridges.

List of major stations

Ridership

References

External links

{{Pacific Electric Railway Pacific Electric routes History of Santa Ana, California Transportation in Santa Ana, California Railway services introduced in 1905 Railway services discontinued in 1958 1905 establishments in California 1958 disestablishments in California Closed railway lines in the United States