Nostalgia & History > Amtrak's Southwest Chief #3 at Monrovia, CA 1991

On a dark, foggy July morning (around 7-8 am) in 1991, Amtrak 290 leads the westbound Southwest Chief #3 at Monrovia, CA on Santa Fe's Pasadena Subdivision. A long string of MHC's behind the power obscures the view of the rest of the train as it passes the boarded-up Monrovia depot on the left. Train #3 is following the path of the ATSF flagship Super Chief, which arrived westbound into LA around the same time day after day. I believe several T.O. Nostalgia board members who grew up in the San Gabriel valley frequented the Monrovia depot to watch the classic Santa Fe streamliners pass by in the days before Amtrak. These days, the Pasadena Sub is now truncated in Arcadia, and the furthest west that the occasional freight local goes is a customer just west of the Monrovia depot.

Rich

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Thanks for this interesting post. As a comparative newcomer to Southern CA. I did not realize the old mainline once passed through Monrovia. This reminds me of a visit to the Maryland - New Jersey area a decade ago when I discovered some remnants of mainline railroading there. The area was very scenic. Trains and track would have been a great addition to what I saw left behind.

The ATSF actually had a pair of lines from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. The Passenger main went through Monrovia and Pasadena. The freight main went through Riverside, Corona, and Fullerton.

The line through Pasadena was cut in '91, I believe. The line through Fullerton already handled the San Diego trains and was scheduled to handle the Metrolink trains to Orange County. The passenger traffic on the Pasadena line was limited (Southwest Chief and Desert Wind) with little freight traffic and there was little reason to maintain two lines under the circumstances. Cutting the Pasadena line didn't hurt the process at all, and the right of way was used by the new Gold light rail line.

The Pasadena Sub was closed to through traffic in January 1994. At that time the Southwest Chief was the only passenger train that was using the line. The Desert Wind was relocated to the San Bernardino Sub a few years back (1985-86 I believe).

The Pasadena Sub saw a short lived increase in passenger train traffic in 1993 due to an absolute work window on the San Bernardino Sub. Both 3&4, 35&36 and Metrolink were re-routed over the old second district.

Prior to the lines discontinuance as a through route, Amtrak had prematurely rerouted train 4, the Eastbound Southwest Chief to the San Bernardino Sub however, train 3 was still routed over the Pasadena sub.

On the night prior to the line's closure, Amtrak routed the last Eastbound Southwest Chief over the Pasadena Sub. I believe the date was Jan 14, 1994. This was the last passenger train to call at Pasadena ending 108 years of innercity rail service.

AMW Engr Wrote:
> The Desert Wind was relocated to the San
> Bernardino Sub a few years back (1985-86 I
> believe).

The last eastbound Desert Wind through Pasadena ran on Sat. April 26, 1986, led by #366. The first eastbound via Fullerton on April 27 was led by #230.
MP