Alhambra–San Gabriel Line Explained

Alhambra–San Gabriel Line
Type:	Interurban
System:	Pacific Electric
Locale:	Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley
Start:	Pacific Electric Building
End:	Temple City, California
Stations:	18
Ridership2:	1,063,529 (1938)^[1]
Owner:	Southern Pacific Railroad
Operator:	Pacific Electric
Stock:	1300 class (last used)
Linelength Mi:	14.67
Tracks:	1–4

The Alhambra–San Gabriel Line was a Pacific Electric interurban line which traveled between Los Angeles and Temple City.

History

The line was built by the Los Angeles & Pasadena Electric Railway starting in October 1901;^[2] it was the first standard gauge interurban railway in Southern California. It opened on June 21, 1902 running between Los Angeles General Hospital and the San Gabriel Mission, soon extended to the Masonic Home. The service became a part of the Pacific Electric system by 1911, terminating at the Pacific Electric Building. Tracks were extended to Temple City on July 29, 1924. Cars began bypassing the Mission in 1928.

The last trips occurred on November 30, 1941. After passenger service ended, tracks were retained for freight until removed in 1951.

Route

Between the 6th & Main Terminal and Sierra Vista Junction, the line followed the Northern District main line. At Sierra Vista Junction (where Huntington Drive and Main Street meet near the western border of Alhambra), the line diverged due east along the median of Main Street, continuing down Main through Alhambra (with a freight spur running south on Palm Avenue to the Southern Pacific's Alhambra depot on Mission Road), into San Gabriel (where Main Street becomes Las Tunas Drive) and finally into Temple City, where the line had an off-street terminal at the northeast corner of Las Tunas Drive and Kauffman Avenue. Additionally, there was a branch that turned south on Mission Drive in San Gabriel, passed along the southern edge of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, then turned north on Junipero Serra Drive before rejoining the main line at Junipero Serra and Las Tunas drives.^[3]

List of major stations

Station	Mile^[4]	Major connections	Date opened	Date closed	City
Temple City	14.67			1941	Temple City
East San Gabriel	12.07			1941	San Gabriel
San Gabriel		Southern Pacific Railroad	1901
San Gabriel Mission	10.91
Alhambra	9.45		1901	1941	Alhambra
Sierra Vista	7.39	Monrovia–Glendora, Mount Lowe, Pasadena Short Line, Pasadena via Oak Knoll, Shorb, Sierra Madre	1901	1951
Covina Junction	3.37	Monrovia–Glendora, Mount Lowe, Pasadena Short Line, Pasadena via Oak Knoll, Pomona, Riverside–Rialto, Sierra Madre, Upland–San Bernardino	1901	1951	Los Angeles
Echandia Junction		Annandale, Monrovia–Glendora, Mount Lowe, Pasadena Short Line, Pasadena via Oak Knoll, Pomona, Riverside–Rialto, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena Local, Upland–San Bernardino	1895	1951
Pacific Electric Building	0	Annandale, Balboa, Fullerton, Hawthorne–El Segundo, La Habra–Yorba Linda, Long Beach, Monrovia–Glendora, Mount Lowe, Pasadena Short Line, Pasadena via Oak Knoll, Pomona, Riverside–Rialto, San Pedro via Dominguez, San Pedro via Gardena, Santa Ana, Santa Monica Air Line, Sierra Madre, Soldiers' Home, South Pasadena Local, Whittier Los Angeles Railway B, H, J, R, 7, and 8	1905	1961

Notes and References

1. Web site: Alhambra-San Gabriel Line . Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California . 2020-09-16.
2. Book: Orozco, Michael Anthony . Alhambra . Alhambra Historical Society . Arcadia Publishing . 2012 . 9780738576077 . 41, 45–50.
3. Book: Lines of Pacific Electric: Northern & Eastern Districts . 1976 . Interurbans . 0-916374-21-1 . 48–51.
4. Web site: . 1934-09-01 . Pacific Electric Time Tables . 2021-09-01 . Pacific Electric . 13 . wx4's Dome of Foam.