North By Northeast Field Trip
Saturday the 11th of September, is LARHF’s next exciting Field Trip with Ralph Cantos leading its Urban Archeology explorations of the Pacific Electric Northern District. Make your reservation by downloading the Reservation Flyer or calling LARHF (626) 458-4449 to request a Reservation Flyer.
The Field Trip will leave promptly from the MTA METRO bus plaza at 8:30 AM. Make plans to board the coach no later than 8:15 AM. The Field Trip includes free validated parking in the MTA garage. Our planned return time is 4:30 PM.
MTA METRO bus plaza where our Fast Deer bus will be waiting.
Photo from the LARHF Collection
Boarding the bus we will proceed to the beginning of the PE Northern District at the Pacific Electric 6th and Main Street Headquarters.
The Pacific Electric Headquarters was built in 1905. At that time it was Los Angeles’ first skyscraper and the largest building in the city.
Photo from the Bison Archives
We’ll follow Main Street to where the line turned east at Aliso Street. Today only a block or two remain of Aliso Street because the Hollywood Freeway chewed it all up.
Aliso Street from Alameda Street looking east past the Los Angeles Union Station. Philippe’s French Dip Restaurant was originally located on Aliso Street directly across from the Union Station.
Photo from the LARHF Archives
From here, we will have to use our imagination as only lingering vestiges of the line remain. Today the San Bernardino Freeway borders what was the Macy Street Yard. In its time it was a major repair facility for the Northern District. Today, MTA METRO uses it for its bus maintenance shops.
The Macy Street Yard in 1951 from bordering road.
Photo from the LARHF Archives
Our bus will next take the Soto Street exit and head north to a little street, Charlotte Street. From a bridge crossing the abandoned PE right-of-way we can see where the once busy Valley Junction was located.
The Valley Junction rails head east to El Monte, Covina and Pomona and the northern rails to the Pasadena Short Line, Sierra Vista Line and points east.
Photo from the LARHF Archives
Making a loop around from Charlotte Street, we’ll make a stop to look at the old right-of-way (ROW) still preserved and very much in evidence. The trackage is still only double rails at this point on the Northern Line.
This area of the PE right-of-way hasn’t been disturbed for over fifty years. It is possible to hike along this abandoned ROW.
Photo from LARHF
Back on Soto Street and heading north, we think that the ROW near what was called Indian Village, can today best be seen in a paved parking area in front of a series of large buildings that was once the warehouses for the Broadway Department Stores. At this point in the line the double track went to four tracks, which can be seen in the parking area. The four-track system was built in 1910.
The four-track system of the Northern District began at what was called Indian Village and is seen here in a paved parking lot parallel to Soto Street.
Photo from LARHF
Continuing north on Soto Street, in about a mile, Mission Road and Soto Street come together and Huntington Drive begins, continuing through to Arcadia and Monrovia.
This is the original Pacific Electric viaduct built in 1934. The viaduct crosses over several streets and the trackage continues on a dedicated ROW along Huntington Drive.
Photo from LARHF
The El Sereno area four-track ROW, from approximately Eastern Avenue to Van Horne Avenue, featured steel catenary supporting bridges obtained from the Visalia Electric Railroad. This section of the Northern District was known as the “dream track.”
Steel catenary supporting brides for catenary system along ROW in El Sereno.
Photo from the LARHF Archive Collection
The next important stop along the way was Sierra Vista. Here the Alhambra-San Gabriel Line diverged and it was here that the Sierra Vista Local Line terminated. (Exploring the Alhambra Line will have to wait for another day.)
The Sierra Vista Line was through-routed with the Watts Line of the Southern District from 1938 to 1950.
Photo from the Bison Archives on loan to LARHF
New Years Day 1948 crowds the Northern District line at Sierra Vista taking visitors attending the Rose Parade back to Los Angeles.
Photo from the Bison Archives on loan to LARHF
About a mile further along as the four-track system curved due east, we will pass the impressive Oneonta Park junction which is actually in South Pasadena. The name derives from the town Oneonta, New York where Henry E. Huntington was born in 1850 and lived as a child.
Oneonta Junction was always busy even one year before the end of passenger service on the Northern District when this photograph was taken. The end of service came on September 30, 1951 and today it is only a little landscaped triangle of land dividing the streets heading north.
Photo from the LARHF Archive Collection
From Huntington Drive there were three PE lines that headed north. Each of the lines ran up to Colorado Blvd., and each of the lines had its own picturesque route. From Oneonta Junction, the Pasadena Short Line operated up to the North Fair Oaks Carhouse.
Located on south Fair Oaks adjacent to the site of the Pasadena electric generating plant and Pasadena Sub/Station was a Pacific Electric holding yard. Out of service Short Line and local cars would be held here until needed. This was also the site of the old Pasadena & Los Angeles Railroad carhouse and yard.
Photo from the Bison Archives on loan to LARHF
The Pasadena “Barn” was built in 1903. This view of the carhouse was from Raymond Street at the opposite end from Fair Oaks. The carhouse had six tracks, two with service pits, and all together a capacity of forty-two fifty-foot cars. A hotel occupies this site today.
Photo from the LARHF Archive Collection
The next line east of the Short Line was the Oak Knoll Line that ran to Colorado Street and than west to the Fair Oaks Carhouse. After it left Huntington Drive, it ran on a section of private right-of-way, then on Oak Knoll Avenue, another piece of private ROW and finally on Lake Street up to Colorado Street where it turned west.
At the El Molino Junction on Huntington Drive, the Oak Knoll Line heads north at this junction.
Photo from the LARHF Archive Collection
It was beautiful countryside in 1906 when the Oak Knoll line was inaugurated and it still is today except that homes occupy all of the land along the line. The world famous Huntington Hotel is now called The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa located at the top of the knoll. It was originally called the Wentworth after its owner, General Wentworth. At that time the Oak Knoll Line was known as the Wentworth Line.
Photo from the LARHF Archive Collection
The third line, the Sierra Madre Line ran from Huntington Drive continuing north of Colorado Street to Central Avenue in Sierra Madre and ending at Baldwin Avenue. We’ll explore all three routes and work up an appetite for lunch. As we make our way south on Fair Oaks we’ll stop at the Barn Burner BBQ for some brisket, chicken, pulled pork beans and corn-on-the-cob.
A typical Texas type BBQ joint with delicious barbeque awaits LARHF’s Field Trip guests. The Barn Burner houses LARHF’S recently installed “satellite” exhibit featuring photographs and models of the historical trolley’s of Pasadena including a scale model of the MTA METRO Gold Line cars.
Photo from LARHF
After lunch we have a date with the Pasadena Model Railroad Club and its marvelous HO Sierra Pacific Lines railroad layout. We’ll be able to view and photograph it from the operating floor, a special privilege for our group.
This colorful and exciting 70 x 72 foot HO layout of the Pasadena Model Railroad Club is a prototypical wonder! It requires, to be fully operational, over thirty operators, including a trainmaster, two dispatchers, ten mainline cab operators, a towerman, eight main yard operators, three engine service operators and several branch line operators.
Photos from LARHF
Our final stop on the tour will be a visit to LARHF’s headquarters, for some refreshment and an opportunity to see its offices, archives and library. This is definitely a full day’s experience and adventure with historical, contemporary and railroad fun. We plan to return to the MTA METRO bus plaza no later than 4:00 PM. Don’t wait to make your reservation or you may be left behind.
Call LARHF today at (626) 458-4449 and sign up.
Download the Reservation Flyer
LARHF Boy Scout Merit Badge Classes
Left – Boy Scouts in front of LARHF
Below
Photo 1 – Mark Wille showing a Merit Badge class an actual piece of railroad equipment.
Photo 2 – J Keeley explaining to the class the features of a streamliner passenger car.
Photo 3 – Gary McClain, a Union Pacific employee, demonstrating railroad hand signals for a carman to communicate with the train engineer.
Photo 4 – J Keeley showing the class, examples if different track gauges in model railroading.
 
 
Earn your Boy Scout Railroading Merit Badge with the assistance of the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation. Beginning at 8:30 AM on a Saturday and ending by 3:30 PM, each Scout attending the class and field trip will have completed his Railroading Merit Badge requirements in accordance with the Railroading Merit Badge Work Book and certified by a Merit Badge Counselor.
The Foundation’s superb learning center gives each Scout the opportunity of seeing multiple railroad displays and miniature models complement the Merit Badge Booklet. The teaching staff consists of an Eagle Scout who has taught and been involved in railroading for over thirty years. Another staff member is presently an employee of the Union Pacific Railroad and the team leader has been involved with all facets of railroading his entire life.
A series of written learning aids called “Spikes” are distributed to the attending groups for each of their Scouts signed up for the class, to provide a solid background prior to their class experience. The Field Trip part of the day begins with lunch at a 100-year-old Los Angeles icon restaurant and is followed by a ride on the MTA METRO Gold Line to Pasadena and back.
Contact LARHF at (626) 458-4449 or jlatsf@gmail.com for more details.
LARHF Opens 6th “Satellite”
LARHF's Number One Mission is public outreach. That is, to bring to the attention of the public, casual interested parties both children and adults, the importance of the railroad in shaping the history of the greater Los Angeles basin! An idea over ten years ago has shown that LARHF’s “satellite” displays are attention getters in all kinds of places other than traditional museums and locomotive equipment displays. The satellite’s are installed where lots of people gather on a daily basis and where else could be better than a busy restaurant?
The Barn Burner BBQ located at 1000 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena is just such a place. LARHF opened its newest satellite with an exhibit entitled Passenger Trains in Pasadena.
The Barn Burner BBQ just a few blocks north of the Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway) and south of Colorado Avenue in Pasadena.
Photo from LARHF
Each satellite is located in the close proximity of railroad activity, either today or in the past. The Pacific Electric ran down the center of Fair Oaks Avenue and the Santa Fe and Union Pacific closely paralleled the street. Today the MTA METRO Gold Line runs directly behind the Barn Burner building.
Fair Oaks Avenue began right here at the Oneonta Junction on Huntington Drive. This is a view looking north up Fair Oaks Avenue photographed by Ralph Melching on New Years Day 1937.
Photo from the Ralph Melching Collection of LARHF
The archive photographs in the exhibit concentrate on the Santa Fe Pasadena Depot operation: a photo of the earlier depot used up to 1936 and a photo of the first Santa Fe Super Chief train arriving at the depot. The model miniatures display a Southern Pacific locomotive, the now famous “3751” steamer and an early example of an Amtrak Southwest Chief.
The first LARHF satellite display at the Barn Burner BBQ in Pasadena location offers some miniature model examples of the passenger trains and their locomotives that pulled in and out of the Santa Fe Depot in Pasadena.
Photo from LARHF
The exhibit Passenger Trains in Pasadena will change on the first of September 2010 to a new display, Trolleys in Pasadena.
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