Pacific Electric (PE) was America’s largest interurban electric railway system at the time, blanketing the Los Angeles region with more than 1,000 miles of rail lines. The origins of the Red Car system, or "Big Red Cars" as they were affectionately known, date back to 1895 and the opening of the region’s first electric interurban line connecting Los Angeles with Pasadena. In 1901, real estate and utility tycoon Henry Huntington formed the Pacific Electric.
In 1910, Huntington sold out to Southern Pacific and by 1914, more than 1,600 PE trains entered or left Los Angeles daily over the system’s four operating districts. The system reached its peak in the mid-Twenties; after that, it began a slow decline, halted temporarily by the traffic boom brought on by World War II, and then declining precipitously in the postwar years.
The Santa Ana Line opened in 1905 and was celebrated with a parade. The Santa Ana Line diverged from the Long Beach Line at Watts and proceeded in a southeasterly direction straight as an arrow until reaching the city of Santa Ana which it entered on Fourth Street. Host service terminated at the PE Station, but a few continued on about 2/3 of a mile eastward to the Southern Pacific Station.
This line served the towns of Lynwood, Clearwater, Bellflower, Artesia, Cypress, Stanton and Garden Grove en route. In its original condition, the Santa Ana line was entirely double tracked except for certain bridges where single track was considered sufficient.
MILEAGES:
Los Angeles 0.00
Watts 7.45
Lynwood 9.70
Clearwater 13.06
Bellflower 15.40
Artesia 18.43
Cypress 21.02
Stanton 24.69
Garden Grove 28.51
Santa Ana PE 33.61
Santa Ana SP 34.00
In 1946, there were 2,231,655 Boardings in Santa Ana.
This series of caches roughly follow the original track path used by the Santa Ana Line. Derivations are used when necessary but are still close to the old track line. In using State Names for different geocaches along this track, it is a reminder of what it was like back then to go from downtown Santa Ana to downtown Los Angeles. No matter if it was for work, shopping, entertainment, visiting or sightseeing, it brought the same excitement that we experience today when we travel to different states. This is a small, log only cache so please bring your own writing instrument. Who knows, if you listen carefully, you might hear the wind of a BIG RED CAR ghost car moving past you!