The Whittier Line was a Pacific Electric

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 ...

line which traveled between Los Angeles and Whittier via Huntington Park, Rivera, and Los Nietos. Due to its indirect route, the line was eventually replaced by bus service on

Whittier Boulevard Whittier Boulevard known as Stephenson Avenue (before 1920) is an arterial street that runs from the Los Angeles River (where it continues into Downtown Los Angeles as 6th Street) to Brea, California. The street is one of the main thoroughfares i ...

History

Construction of the route between Whittier and the

Long Beach Line The Long Beach Line was a major interurban railway operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Los Angeles and Long Beach, California via Florence, Watts, and Compton. Service began in 1902 and lasted until 1961, the last line of the syste ...

began in March 1902. The single track line opened to Whittier in November 1903. The route was graded wide enough to lay a second set of tracks in the future. Operations were undertaken by the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway in 1904 and they had double tracked the line by September 1904. Southern Pacific assumed operation in 1908, and it was acquired by the new Southern Pacific in the 1911 Great Merger. By September 1935, the number of departures was reduced to one round trip daily and service to Walker was regarded a its own local line. The final train left Whittier on January 22, 1938 and Walker service ceased March 6. Much of the route remains in service for freight trains. The line between Slauson and Los Nietos forms the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

La Habra Subdivision. The West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor light rail project is expected to use a section of the line between Slauson and the former

Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California), via Las Ve ...

right of way.

Route

The Whittier Line followed the

from Los Angeles south to Slauson Junction (south of Slauson Boulevard) where it branched off in an easterly direction to Whittier and Yorba Linda. Fromthere, the double track Whittier Line ran easterly, in private way between dual roadways of Randolph Street, through Huntington Park, Vernon, Bell, and Maywood to reach the

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

. Crossing the Rio Hondo south of Slauson Avenue. The line continued easterly, south and parallel to, Slauson Avenue. Across the Pico Rivera area and the San Gabriel River into Los Nietos, where the line crossed the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Third District main line (Los Nietos) at Norwalk Boulevard then turned northerly towards Whittier. The single track La Habra–Fullerton–Yorba Linda Line branched easterly in private way off the Whittier Line east of Norwalk Boulevard. The line in private way followed Allport Avenue and Lynalan Avenue then turned easterly crossing Whittier Boulevard into Philadelphia Street to the PE station at Comstock Avenue.

Stations

References

Bibliography

* * * Pacific Electric routes Railway lines opened in 1903 Railway lines closed in 1938 Bell, California Commerce, California Huntington Park, California Whittier, California 1903 establishments in California 1938 disestablishments in California Closed railway lines in the United States {{California-transport-stub