The Sierra Madre Line was a

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 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 which ran from the

Pacific Electric Building The historic Pacific Electric Building (also known as the Huntington Building, after the railway’s founder, Henry Huntington, or simply “6th & Main”), opened in 1905 in the core of Los Angeles as the main train station for the Pacific Elec ...

in Los Angeles to

Sierra Madre Sierra Madre (Spanish, 'mother mountain range') may refer to: Places and mountains Mexico *Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain range in northwestern Mexico and southern Arizona *Sierra Madre Oriental, a mountain range in northeastern Mexico *S ...

History

The line opened to

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

on March 1, 1904. Cars were run through on the

Lamanda Park Line The Lamanda Park Line, also known as the Colorado Street Line, was a local line of the Pacific Electric Railway serving Pasadena until 1941. History The original horsecar line was established by the Colorado Street Railway on November 9, ...

to Pasadena. The extension to Sierra Madre opened on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

1906. On December 3, 1916 the routing through

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

changed. Shuttle service for evening trips between Sierra Madre and San Marino began by March 1, 1928 with passengers changing to

Monrovia–Glendora Line The Monrovia–Glendora Line was a route on the Pacific Electric Railway serving the San Gabriel Valley. It operated from 1902 to 1951, supporting nearby real estate development. History The route was established in 1902. Passenger service at ...

trains to complete the trip. Starting March 1939 the rear car of some Glendora trains were disconnected to continue to Sierra Madre. This arrangement became the line's only direct Los Angeles service starting February 21, 1943, as all midday service became shuttles and only rush hour cars from Monrovia trains served the line. Weekend and midday service was discontinued on June 11, 1948 and all trips became shuttles. A single morning outbound trip from Los Angeles was added after November 25, 1949. On October 8, 1950 service was virtually abandoned with a single daily round trip running between Sierra Madre and San Marino; this ended on December 28, 1950. Pacific Electric continued to operate the route with motor coaches after abandonment.

Route

The Sierra Madre Line branched north from the

in San Marino and its two tracks ran between the dual roadways passing Lamanda Park Junction (Colorado Street and Sierra Madre Boulevard) where it met the local East Colorado Street Line. From this point, the line continued on single track in a northerly direction along a private right of way in the center of Sierra Madre Boulevard to Michillinda Avenue. There the tracks entered into the pavement of city streets and proceeded on Central Avenue (Sierra Madre Boulevard) to Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre where the station was located. It then continued north one and one-half blocks via Baldwin Avenue and turned easterly onto another private right of way (between Montecito Avenue and Highland Avenue) to the end of the line of Mountain Trail Avenue, where a small storage yard was located.

List of major stations

References

Pacific Electric routes San Gabriel Valley Sierra Madre, California San Marino, California History of Los Angeles County, California Railway lines opened in 1906 1906 establishments in California Railway lines closed in 1950 1950 disestablishments in California Closed railway lines in the United States {{California-transport-stub