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.
