The Redlands Line is a former

Pacific Electric 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 ...

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 ...

line in the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...

. The route provided suburban service between San Bernardino and Redlands.

History

Constructed by the San Bernardino Valley Traction Company starting in 1902, the line began regular service on March 10, 1903. Cars initially operated into San Bernardino under trackage rights via the

Redlands Street Railway Redland or Redlands may refer to: Places Australia * Redland City, a local government area in South East Queensland **Electoral district of Redlands *SCECGS Redlands, an independent school in Cremorne, New South Wales Canada * Redland, Albe ...

until the two merged in June after opening. Cars initially terminated at Urbita Springs. The San Bernardino Valley Traction Company was absorbed into Pacific Electric under the Great Merger in 1911. By March 1913 the inbound terminus was changed from Urbita Springs to the San Bernardino station. By January 1916 through-routing with the

San Bernardino–Riverside Line The San Bernardino–Riverside is a former Pacific Electric (PE) 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 ...

had begun, forming the Redlands–Riverside Line. The line also supported heavy usage by freight trains transporting fruit. On November 1, 1920, through service was provided to Los Angeles for the first time, with Redlands cars appended to

Upland–San Bernardino Line The Upland–San Bernardino Line was an interurban line operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Downtown Los Angeles and San Bernardino, California. This line also had shorter service that terminated before the end of the line at Baldwi ...

trains. The 2 hour 50 minute journey was the longest single service ever offered by the Pacific Electric. Between April and June 1928 through-routing was discontinued with the

as part of a scheme developed by the

California Railroad Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition ...

; this was reverted after proving unsuccessful. Service ended after July 19, 1936, leaving Redlands as the largest city in the Pacific Electric system served exclusively by buses.

References

Bibliography

External links

Pacific Electric Ry. Co. Redlands 1911 Map
Pacific Electric routes Light rail in California Railway lines opened in 1903 1903 establishments in California Railway lines closed in 1936 1936 disestablishments in California Redlands, California Closed railway lines in the United States {{California-transport-stub