Western Railroad Discussion > Questions about the history of the ATSF Surf Line

The track between Atwood and Olive Junction is the Olive Subdivision. The track between Fullerton Junction and Olive Junction is the Orange Subdivision.

Both lines connect to the main line at the north end and the San Diego Subdivision at Olive Junction.

When was the Orange Subdivision built? Did it come after the Olive Subdivision?

Did the ATSF reach Orange before they reached Fullerton?

When did ATSF sell these lines to Metrolink?

When was the Escondido Branch built?

Thanks.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/20 22:46 by Sp1110.

The years of completion that I found are as follows:

Orange- 1886
Olive and Escondido- 1887
Fullerton- 1888
Sale to Metrolink- 1992

Hope the above helps-

Former resident of Fullerton

Jeff Geldner
Sequoia National Park, CA
 

jeffgeldner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The years of completion that I found are as
> follows:
>
> Orange- 1886
> Olive and Escondido- 1887
> Fullerton- 1888
> Sale to Metrolink- 1992
>
> Hope the above helps-
>
> Former resident of Fullerton
>
> Jeff Geldner
> Sequoia National Park, CA
>  

Thanks Jeff. I wonder if BNSF still owns the main line between Fullerton Junction and Atwood.

Posted from iPhone

The BNSF owns the main line (San Bernardino Subdivision) all the way.  They sold trackage rights, but not ownership, to Metrolink.
The Surf Line was Santa Fe's second route to San Diego, following attempts to get through and maintain the rough, flood-prone country between Perris and Oceanside.

The trackage Atwood to Orange is now Metrolink.

The Santa Fe line from Fullerton to San Diego was their Fourth Distric.

At one point, SP built a line off their Santa Ana Branch to connect with the ATSF Olive Subdivision at Marlboro. Does anybody remember when that was? 19th century or 20th century?

You can still see UP GP50s operating on that line from time to time.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/20 12:22 by Sp1110.

The section between Fullerton Jct and San Onofre is owned by Metrolink.  The section from San Onofre to San Diego belongs to NCTD.  BNSF has trackage rights.  BNSF owns the section also from Santa Fe Depot south to the National City area to access their yard.  

Sp1110 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> At one point, SP built a line off their Santa Ana
> Branch to connect with the ATSF Olive Subdivision
> at Marlboro. Does anybody remember when that was?
> 19th century or 20th century?

1888

Charlie

I doubt UP still has any GP50s.

It should be noted that when the original mainline from San Bernardino to San Diego, thru Perris, Temecula and Fallbrook was replaced, the new line ran from Highgrove thru Riverside and Corona to Atwood, turned south and run thru Orange, Santa Ana, Irvine and beyond.  The line from Los Angeles going east turned south at Fullerton towards Anaheim only because local business people convinced the Santa Fe to pass thru their property instead of making a straight line from Norwalk to Anahiem.  Fullerton was named after a railroad official in order to convince the railroad to do this.  This line met the line from Riverside at Olive Junction.  It was many, many years later that the Santa Fe built the "short cut" between Fullerton and Atwood.  Before this shortcut, trains actually ran Fullerton-Olive Jct-Atwood.

A circle passenger local ran Los Angeles east to San Bernardino on the 2nd District (via Pasadena), make a trip around the loop thru Redlands and Highland, went thru Riverside, Corona and Atwood, turned south to Orange, then turned around and went back to Los Angeles via Anahiem and Fullerton.  This trains route changed oftern, but when it was on this particular route, it was possible to make the Jack Benny "Azusa, Cucamonga and Anahiem" train trip.  However, Jack Benny didn't know this as the names where simply chosen because they sounded funny.

BNSF6400 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It should be noted that when the original mainline
> from San Bernardino to San Diego, thru Perris,
> Temecula and Fallbrook was replaced, the new line
> ran from Highgrove thru Riverside and Corona to
> Atwood, turned south and run thru Orange, Santa
> Ana, Irvine and beyond.  The line from Los
> Angeles going east turned south at Fullerton
> towards Anaheim only because local business people
> convinced the Santa Fe to pass thru their property
> instead of making a straight line from Norwalk to
> Anahiem.  Fullerton was named after a railroad
> official in order to convince the railroad to do
> this.  This line met the line from Riverside at
> Olive Junction.  It was many, many years later
> that the Santa Fe built the "short cut" between
> Fullerton and Atwood.  Before this shortcut,
> trains actually ran Fullerton-Olive Jct-Atwood.

Very interesting. Thanks for explaining that.

Question, the short section of track that makes up the "north" leg at Olive Junction that exists today, is that then the original connector? If so, that had to be hell for any length of train to have to negotiate that at what max 5 or 10 MPH?

Both the lines from LA and Riverside were completed in 1887.  I assume that there was a wye at olive Jct., however all train called at the Orange depot which required trains to back to or from the Orange depot which was a short distance south of the junction and this was noted in the employee timetables. The track between Fullerton and Atwood (originally Richfield) was not built until 1910. Until the Placentia cut-off was built the Santa Fe's Third District ran between LA and San Diego/National City and the Fourth District was between San Berdoo and Orange (note the MP numbers from LA to San Diego even today). After the cut-off the Third was San Berdoo-LA; Fourth District was Fullerton-San Diego/National City and Atwood-Orange was the Olive Dist.

The Escondido District was built in 1887

Fullerton Jct to County Line and Atwood to Orange was sold to the Orange County Transportation Authority with Metrolink managing the track and providing passenger service. BNSF provides freight service. The SP line that crossed the Olive Dist. was the Tustin Branch built in 1887-88.


















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