Santa Ana–Huntington Beach Line
The Santa Ana–Huntington Beach Line was an electric interurban railway in Orange County operated by Pacific Electric. It connected Santa Ana and Huntington Beach, and at times reached Balboa, but it did not run to downtown Los Angeles.
Origin and operation: The route was laid out by the Pacific Electric Land Company in 1907 to build lines for Pacific Electric to operate. Service began on July 5, 1909, with spur lines used to haul sugar beets. Pacific Electric took full ownership in 1911 after the Great Merger.
Service changes: In October 1912 the line was shortened to end at Huntington Beach. An evening car reached Orange in 1915. The 1918 flu pandemic reduced service to one daily round trip starting October 27, 1918. A second round trip was added in November 1921, but service ended by March 1922 after a bridge was damaged in a flood. The line was formally abandoned on January 30, 1931.
Freight era and later: In 1942 the Santa Ana Army Air Base created demand for direct rail service, so PE built a government-owned single-track line for freight (no passenger service), with freight exchanged at Greenville. By 1948 Pacific Electric had bought enough Southern Pacific lines to move freight to Newport and Huntington without going through Long Beach. By the 1990s, much of the Santa Ana route had become the Pacific Electric Bicycle Path.
Route overview: From the Santa Ana PE Depot, trains ran south on Maple Street to New Delhi, then turned southwest for about a mile before heading west along Alton Avenue, crossing the Santa Ana River, and continuing to Bushard Street into Huntington Beach. A section west of the former Dyer spur is now used as the Union Pacific Santa Ana Industrial Lead. The north–south segment near Rousselle and Maple was partly rebuilt as a rail trail.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:12 (CET).