Monterey Train Station - Monterey, California
Posted by: 
Touchstone
N 36° 36.072 W 121° 53.478
10S E 599162 N 4051205
The Monterey Train Station was a bustling hub of activity while the famous Del Monte Express made its three times a day run.
Waymark Code: WM48M5
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2008
Views: 151
Nowadays, the Train Station is used for storage, and there is talk of restoring it.
Pacific Grove began as a Methodist retreat in the 1880s, on land donated by an early settler of the Monterey Peninsula. Later, the Grove and much of the surrounding Peninsula were sold to the Pacific Improvement Company, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad, with the proviso that the church would continue to use the property as a retreat.
The trains came in 1889. Weekend trips to the Peninsula from the San Francisco Bay area became so popular that by the 1890s, three passenger trains per day, including the fabled Del Monte Express, brought retreaters and tourists to Pacific Grove, and the quiet retreat became a full-time year-round city.
World War II put an end to rail passenger service, and the roadbed was used mostly for carrying high-silica sand out of a sand mine around the shoreline to the south until the mid-1970s, when the railroad stopped running for good.
Currently the Train Station sits idle beside the Monterey Coastal Bike Trail as a reminder of days gone by.
Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: No
Is the station/depot open to the public?: No
If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?:
Storage
What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: Del Monte Express
Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
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