Orange (Metrolink station)

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Orange
Address	100 N. Atchison Street Orange, California 92866
Routes	N/A
Other service	Metrolink: Inland Empire-Orange County Line, Orange County Line
Code	ORG
Owned by	City of Orange

The Orange Metrolink Station is a railroad station located in Orange, California on a site at one time occupied by two former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway combination depots. The present depot structure was dedicated on May 1, 1938 and was closed with the Santa Fe's discontinuation of passenger service in 1971. The building was granted historic landmark status by the City on November 15, 1990.^[1]

[edit] History

The town's first rail service, the Santa Ana, Orange & Tustin Street Railway, was a 4.04 mile (6.5 km) long horsecar line that ran between Santa Ana and Orange, beginning in 1886. One year later the Santa Ana & Orange Motor Road Company purchased the line, using a steam "dummy" car and a single gasoline motorcar as its means of conveyance. In 1906 Henry E. Huntington acquired the company under the auspices of the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway and electrified the line. Passenger service over the new line operated by Huntington's Pacific Electric Railway began on June 8, 1914, originating at the PE's depot on Lemon Street. The route provided freight service to the local citrus growers in direct competition with the Santa Fe. Pacific Electric sold out to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1961, who ultimately abandoned the line in 1964.

The Santa Fe, under its affiliate the Southern California Railway, laid its first tracks through Orange in 1886 and established its first depot the following year. The route would become part of the railroad's famous "Surf Line" and by 1925 sixteen daily passenger trains (the Santa Fe's San Diegan) made stops in Orange. During peak growing seasons, as many as 48 carloads of citrus fruits, olives, and walnuts were shipped daily from the Orange depot as well. Rail connections to Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and Northern San Diego County by the Metrolink regional commuter rail network. The Metrolink platform is situated adjacent to the former Santa Fe depot in the downtown Historic District, which is also home to an Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) bus station. The former Santa Fe mainline links the cities of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego via a junction north of the station.

The original Victorian-style Orange combination depot was built for the Santa Fe Railway in early 1888; the freight section was added in 1907.^[2] Here, a passenger train prepares to depart on an April day in 1891.

A trackside view of the former Santa Fe Railway depot (today, a Metrolink platform) in Orange, California as it appeared in July, 2004.

[edit] Service

Two Metrolink lines, the Inland Empire-Orange County line and the Orange County line, serve Orange station. Although Amtrak trains run on these tracks, none serve the station.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Gustafson and Serpico, p. 187
2. ^ Gustafson and Serpico, p. 185

[edit] References

• Gustafson, Lee and Phil Serpico (1974). Santa Fe Coast Lines Depots: Los Angeles Division. Omni Publications, Palmdale, CA. ISBN 0-88418-003-4.

[edit] External links

• Metrolink Station Info Page