La
Habra to Fullerton -
Pacific Electric
This
girder bridge is in the Sunny Hills area of Fullerton. The Pacific Electric
branch to Fullerton crossed over the Union Pacific Anaheim Branch at this location.
The UP line (barely visible to the left of the tree trunk) is little used and
has been cut back to Fullerton in recent years.Photo
February 2003 courtesy Mike Palmer.
This
is a former Pacific Electric line, originally built in 1917. Passenger
service ran until the late 1930s, and freight service continued until around
1962, when this line was abandoned. PE (and later SP) used the parallel
Union Pacific branch to serve Fullerton for a few more years.
Much
of the surviving right of way travels through a residential area, and much of
that segment is now the Juanita Cooke trail. It is not paved, and is used
by joggers, trail bikes riders, horseback riders, etc.
The
most distinctive feature still in existence is a short girder bridge over the
still (barely) active UP line. A short segment of the branch remains in
use at the north end, near the junction with the UP (SP-PE) La Habra branch.
This
view shows the "end of track" of the surviving remnant of the branch,
facing south. This is near Imperial Highway (Ca. Route 90) in La Habra.
A
lumber yard on the north side of the highway receives several freight cars at
a time. It has a trailing-point switch, and the trains need this segment
(at right) to pull forward before backing into the lumber yard spur.
Photo
from February 2003 courtesy Mike Palmer.