1261 in Fullerton with the Boosters
Jack Finn Collection
Pacific Electric interurban no. 1261 crosses the Union Pacific’s Fullerton Branch in this excursion shot from a Railroad Boosters outing in 1937.
Ralph Melching Photo
Donald Duke Collection
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[…] Road, now North Harbor Boulevard, taken from the Spadra Road viaduct. We all know the photo – the one where they parked a car on that nice bridge in Fullerton with the two oranges painted on each side and a sign that reads Fullerton – Come […]
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Could this photo view be where today North Berkeley Ave crosses over the storm drain just east of North Harbor Blvd.? If so this would be just east of the old Fullerton arch that was demolished in 1964.
This looks more like where PE crossed over the UP branch to Fullerton and Anaheim. When I visited this area in the 1980’s many of the nearby homes had large yards and “horsekeeping” facilities. I’ve forgotten whether the bridge was still there, but the right-of-way was still easy to follow, if you didn’t might the “horsey” smell. The PE line was abandoned some time in the 1950’s, but the UP branch lasted into the 1970’s. Note that both the PE and UP depots in Fullerton have survived by being converted into restaurants.
The street in the photograph is now Harbor Blvd (then called Spadra Road). The arched bridge and the Pacific Electric right-of-way later became Berkeley Ave. for a short distance. See http://www.pacificelectric.org/pacific-electric/southern-district/the-view-from-the-fullerton-spadra-road-bridge/ for what may well be the view from 1261 on that same excursion.
The PE crossing of the UP to which Mr. Davis refers was a steel plate girder bridge that is pictured on the cover of “Rails Through Orange County – Vol. 2). That location is about a mile north of this picture location. That girder is still in place on a portion of the PE that is currently used as a hiking/equestrian trail. http://www.davidstyffe.com/bastanchury.html
“Pacific Electric Extra 1261 was yhe first railroad train operated exclusively for Southern California railfans. The trip from Los Angeles to Whittier, Fullerton, and Stern – eighty miles and all day, complete with motorman, conductor, and traveling passenger agent – cost the club only forty bucks! May 2, 1937. Ralph Melching”
Source: PRS 40 Compendium from 1977 pg. 7.