Old Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge - Historic Route 66 - Rancho Cucamonga, CA - National Scenic Byways on Waymarking.com

The plaque says, "The Pacific Electric Railroad was once the world's largest interurban and street railway system. It stretched west to Santa Monica, south to Newport Beach, and east into Redland and Riverside. The system's hun was centered in the City of Los Angeles with lines radiating out into adjacent regions. The system's distinctive red rail car was responsible for its nickname, the Red Line.

The San Bernardino line, completed in 1914, was the Pacific Electric Railroad's longest line. Stations were located in Claremont, Upland, Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Fontana and Rialto. From Rialto, an adjoining line ran south via Bloomington into Riverside. And by the mid 1920s, the main San Bernardino line has been extended to Redlands.

The construction of the Alta Loma and Etiwanda depots in present day Rancho Cucamonga, in 1915, spurred the development of each community as businesses sprouted up around the depots. These communities, along with the Cucamonga community, would later combine to form the City of Rancho Cucamonga.

The San Bernardino line was crucial to the development of the Island Empire because it provided a dual service. During daytime hours, the Red Line transported passengers between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. A Red Lin passenger could travel from the corner of 6th and Main streets in downtown Los Angeles and San Bernardino station in less than 2 hours. Travel between these two regions was no longer an arduous trip requiring multiple days to complete.

During the evening hours, the movement of freight became the Red Lines' primary function. Trains would take local products, such as citrus, east to the major train shipping yards in San Bernardino. From there, products could be transported to the rest of the nation and/or the world. In its return trip, the freight train would bring much needed supplies like cement, oil and manufactures products to the towns along the way.

For more than 25 years, the Pacific Electric Railroad was a success. However, after the end of World War II, used of the Red Line began to decline. It could not compete against the rise of both the personal automobile and the trucking industry. Cars allowed people a level of flexibility in start times and travel destinations that the Red Line could not match. Likewise with freight trucks, growers could ship any amount of their product to any part of the United states at any time. The same was true for importing supplies. people were no longer dependent on rigid train schedules. By 1953, the Pacific Electric Railroad Company had ended its passenger service. As of 2010, only 2 miles of the once busy San Bernardino line was still being used to transport freight.

Today, only a few of the Pacific Electric rail cars remain-either in museums of in the possession of railroad enthusiasts. Most of the Pacific Electric Railroad system (rail cars, track, stations, etc.) has faded into history."

Program: America's Byways Website: [Web Link] Official Name: Historic Route 66

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