The Santa Ana Rail Road was formed by the Newport Wharf and Lumber Company on 23 August 1889 to build a railway connection from the lumber company wharf in Newport Beach, California to the national rail network in Santa Ana, California. The rail line was built in 1890 and operated as a freight line until passenger service was begun in 1891.

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

formed the Santa Ana and Newport Railway (SA&N) on 7 November 1892 to acquire the line from the lumber company on 11 February 1893. On 28 March 1899 SA&N purchased the unbuilt Santa and Westminster Railway incorporated on 5 August 1890, and built a station on 2nd Street in Santa Ana to hold the franchise for an line connecting Santa Ana and

Westminster, California Westminster is a city in northern Orange County, California, known for its many Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the city during the 1980s. They settled largely in Little Saigon, and the city is known as the "capital" of overseas Vietnam ...

. Construction of a branch from Newport to Smeltzer began in 1899, but was incomplete when Southern Pacific merged the SA&N on 23 November 1899, and did not begin operation until 1 January 1900.

Independent operations

Shipping in Newport Bay was on a small scale until McFadden's built the McFadden Wharf in 1889 to allow unloading larger ships. Railway construction materials arrived by ship, and grading commenced in the summer of 1890 to extend a railroad from the wharf. A trestle was built across the Santa Ana River where it entered Newport Bay; and track laying was completed in January 1891. The first locomotive arrived in December 1890 to assist construction activities and later served as the wharf switcher to become known as the ''cotton tail''. A second locomotive known as the ''tea kettle'' or ''jack rabbit'' and three passenger coaches arrived in the summer of 1891; and passenger service began with a picnic excursion to the beach. With connections with both the Southern Pacific and

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

s at Santa Ana, twelve-thousand passengers rode the line annually in a daily winter train and thrice daily summer service; but passengers accounted for less than five percent of railroad income. The railroad transported 70,000 tons of freight annually. The largest fraction of that freight was lumber unloaded from schooners for distribution throughout southern California. Incoming merchandise and outgoing agricultural produce were also important.

SA&N locomotives

Southern Pacific

The Santa Fe Railroad began sharing the Newport wharf after the Santa Fe wharf at

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...

washed out in the autumn of 1892. Southern Pacific's SA&N subsidiary purchased the Santa Ana Railroad in 1893 to deny Newport wharf access to its competitor. The SA&N was merged into Southern Pacific in 1899. The Smeltzer branch line took its name from the ranch at its terminus. The branch saw daily trains during the winter

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, ...

harvest, but twice weekly service for the remainder of the year. Freight traffic disappeared as agricultural land became residential, and larger freighters were unable to use Newport Bay. Southern Pacific sold of the track between Wiebling and Huntington Beach, California to Pacific Electric. The remaining line west of Dyer was abandoned in 1933.

References

{{reflist Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Transportation in Orange County, California Defunct California railroads History of Orange County, California Railway companies established in 1892 Railway companies disestablished in 1899