Passenger Trains > LA Metro Gold Line celebrates ten years of service.

Today is the 10th Anniversary of opening day on the Los Angeles to Pasadena Gold Line light rail service. Saturday, July 26, 2003 saw the start of the free-ride weekend, then on July 28, revenue service started. This was the return of electric railway operations to Pasadena over 50 years after the Pacific Electric Pasadena Short Line closed on Sept. 30, 1951. A ceremony (with the usual speechifying) was held at Del Mar Station, with the former Santa Fe depot (now a set of restaurants) in the background.

1) A typical Gold Line train--two Breda LRVs. One thing I noticed was that as the trains passed behind the speakers' platform, every one of them had numerous passengers, and this was around 10 AM, not rush hour.

2) The official Gold Line celebration cake, which was later cut and served to the attending politicos, railfans, and members of the media.

3) The "before" photo--what this area looked like 15 years ago. I was always reminded of a Warren Zevon song, best know as a recording by Linda Ronstadt, "But the train don't run by here no more/Poor Poor Pitiful Me"

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4) The iconic Santa Fe depot, now home of "Le Grande Orange" and the "Luggage Room Pizzeria". Back in the olden days, movie stars would board and alight from the Super Chief here if they wanted to avoid the crowds at Union Station. The depot also had "cameo" roles in several movies and TV shows, where it was "dressed" to play a location far from Pasadena.

5) Representative Judy Chu, who did a lot of the political "heavy lifting" to make sure the Gold Line would continue eastward from the present terminal at Sierra Madre Villa. She's a Democrat, but she teamed up with Republican David Dreier and several other local members of Congress to keep the project "on track".

6) Photo op for the VIPs. We may make snide remarks about politicians, but whether we're talking about today's Gold Line or the Pacific Railway of 150 years ago, if you don't have support in the "corridors of power", getting anything done will be extremely difficult.

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