Alhambra to Pasadena

Picture Point of Interest

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This station had been a stop for Amtrak's Sunset Limited until the main line was lowered into a trench in the 1970s. This was how the abandoned SP Alhambra station appeared in April 1984. The interior had been set on fire in the recent past; note the smoke damage around the windows and doors. The station was torn down soon after. A remnant of the branch to Pasadena is visible in the photo. It climbed out of the trench on the 'track side' of the station, then used a switchback to proceed past the 'street side' of the station. It crossed Mission Road at the crossbuck (far left in photo). Photo by Mike Palmer, April, 1984.

This branch was built north from the SP "Sunset" main line in Alhambra, crossed two different Pacific Electric lines, and had sidings at Raymond and Pasadena. It passed through South Pasadena but evidently did not have a siding or station there. The area is fully developed (and has been for many decades).

The branch headed north parallel to Raymond Avenue (see photo). It crossed the PE Temple City Line at Main Street in Alhambra, then continued parallel to Raymond Avenue as far as the South Pasadena city line. This Alhambra segment remained in place to the 1980s; the track north of there was taken up earlier, and is right-of-way is now used by a power company for a pole line.

The second PE crossing was at Huntington Drive in South Pasadena, where the PE line to Arcadia, Monrovia and Glendora ran in the median (see photo lower right). The SP branch right-of-way is easily located, but much of it is fenced off as private property. It can be walked where it forms the western boundary of Garfield Park in South Pasadena.

James Stimson adds: The final segment where the SP entered the city of Pasadena is difficult to locate. It ran in a gully parallel to Marengo Boulevard (where Blair High School, built in the 1960s, now stands) and entered Arroyo Parkway (CA Route 110) at the intersection with Glenarm Street. The line continued north in the median of Arroyo Parkway, then shifted to the east side of Arroyo Parkway near the Colorado Boulevard intersection, where a lumber yard was at the "end of the line" up until the 1950s. As of 2004 the Arroyo Parkway is still paved in large cement sections, with some cut-outs that appear to be where the rail lines were removed and paved over.

ICC Abandonment Filings

SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD
Docket Number: 23026 Date: 3/13/1964 Section: 1(18)
Applic for auth. to aband. that portion of the Pasadena Branch, Los Angeles Division, betw. Alhambra and Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California, a distance of approx, 4.412 mi., together with all sidings, spur tracks and appurtenances.
Length: 4.412 miles Citation:  

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