PE 1218 Crossing the Santa Ana River
Pacific Electric 1218 crossing the Santa Ana River on April 7th, 1945.
Charles D. Savage Photo, Donald Duke Collection
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Shouldn’t this be under the Northern District? It’s a 1200 class car, and the Santa Ana River bridge on the Santa Ana Line is a steel truss bridge. This looks like it’s coming out of Riverside.
This appears to be the Santa Ana River bridge on the Redlands line, just north of San Bernardino Ave. It is still there!
Militant Angeleno… isnt the steel truss bridge in the photo behind the car? the structure up over the track?
DC, If the train number in the windshield is correct 248, then this picture is in Santa Ana. That number was for a Santa Ana – Los Angeles train. This view has changed a lot over the years. The Santa Ana River is now a concrete channel and the trestle has been filled in up to the bridge. If current plans pan out this stretch will again become part of a trolley line.
I find it mildly amusing that Billions of dollars are being spent to put trolley lines BACK in where there used to be – TROLLEY LINES!!!!
If only someone had the foresight years ago to keep the trolleys running and improved as time went on.
The trolley’s were taken out to sell the auto and a like. ALL OF THE FWYS ARE COPIED AFTER THE PACIFIC ELECTRIC RAILROAD LIINES. We sould not have to pay to redo what the oil, auto, etc removed.
Either way its a cool pic. Nice to see history pics so you can put your grandparents stories with pictures now.
I agree…it is a cool pic. And these cars look like a pair of Butterfly Twelves. The Butterfly Twelves are known for their colorful paint scheme. Even in this black & white pic, the cars are still magnificent to look at.
A rather fortunate photo opportunity on a very unfortunate day. For this was the date the last threat of WWII was eliminated when the Imperial Japanese Navy’s superbattleship Yamato was defeated along with several other ships in the Okinawa liberation. Paving the way toward the unconditional surrender, this meant the usefulness of maintaining the Pacific Electric system would be considered moot. The destruction could commence on a regular schedule with no further interruptions from our sponsors.
My guess would be the Santa Ana Line–note that 1218 has a “shoe” trolley pole; when it was used on the Newport line, it used a “wheel” trolley. Couldn’t be the San Bernardino-Redlands line because that was abandoned in 1936 (cut back to the north side of Redlands and became “freight only”)
Bob, it was the SP line to Redlands that was abandoned in 1936. If the line pictured is the PE line to Redlands, that bridge is intact as of at least a couple of years ago and I have visited it. I believe the tracks came out around 1976, but the bridge was left. PE cut back their line to Redlands at nearly the same time. It was cut back to the Sunkist citrus packing plant. The station name for this point is/was La Quinto, if this is indeed the Redlands line. I am aware that there was a very similar-looking crossing of the Santa Ana River on the Santa Ana line.
A couple of thoughts occurred to me after posting previously. There was no passenger service on the PE (or SP) to Redlands after 1936. All of the San Berdoo local lines were 600 V. This may be the Santa Ana line after all. Even San Bernardino passenger service was abandoned in 1940, although a limited version persisted through the war to serve the military needs in the area.
The new OC streetcar bridge is nearly complete. It is positioned to the left, next to the old P.E. bridge in this photo. Perhaps 1 day I can make a similar picture of “new” vs “old”
Santa Ana line is confirmed. This picture is on page 61 of L. Veysey”s treatise on PE.
Hello, doing research- What is the Bridge Number for the PE Truss Bridge over the Santa Ana River (5th St.), Santa Ana, Orange County? Cannot locate the Bridge Number itself, only the name and associated dates.