(The following story by Mark Landis appeared on the San Bernardino Sun website on August 28.)
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Long before there were paved roads or freeways in the San Bernardino Valley, short line railroads and streetcar systems weaved intricate patterns through busy city streets and open fields, providing the region’s first version of mass transit.
Toward the end of the 1800s, entrepreneurs in the San Bernardino Valley joined the rush of new railroad construction and began building a hodgepodge of short rail and streetcar lines to serve the developing cities.
Amid cheers and celebration from the local population, the first passenger train steamed into San Bernardino in September of 1883. The California Southern Railroad, which became part of the Santa Fe Railroad, built the new line into the valley, completing a major link to the rest of the country.
San Bernardino’s first depot was a humble boxcar that was set up as an interim facility at the site of today’s Santa Fe depot. In 1886, the boxcar was replaced with a huge wood frame and brick depot that became the center of transportation in the region.
Public transportation in the San Bernardino Valley began with simple horse-drawn streetcars (they were called horse cars even though they were usually pulled by mules). In 1885, the City Street Railroad
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Company was organized and its horse cars began providing service from the Santa Fe station to downtown San Bernardino.
In 1889, the fledgling city of Redlands got its first horse-drawn streetcar line. For a nickel, you could travel on the 5 1/2 miles of track that ran in the city’s newly laid streets.
The mules often balked at their heavy tasks, making for noisy rides and sometimes unpredictable schedules. In some areas, the grades proved too much for even the toughest mules and passengers had to get out and help push the cars over the steep slopes.
In 1888, the San Bernardino and Redlands Railroad Co. built a 10-mile narrow-gauge line (36 inches between the inside edges of the rails) between the two cities. Regular passenger service began on June 4 of that year. The fare on the route was 30 cents one-way and 50 cents for a round trip. The steam locomotive-powered line meandered through a picturesque route and was the primary mode of public transportation between the two cities until 1903.
The Redlands Street Railway Company, a small horse-drawn line incorporated in 1888, became the Valley’s first streetcar line to be electrified. The line got an infusion of new financial backing in 1898 when the Fisher family of Redlands purchased a controlling interest in the company.
In July of 1898, the Redlands Citrograph optimistically reported the electrification of the line. “A careful estimate has been made of the cost of the change from the present system to an electric system and it is found that is will cost $35,000.”
Along with the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe mainlines, Redlands had several smaller streetcar systems, including The Terracina and Redlands Street Railway Company, and The Redlands Central Electric Railway Company. By the early 1900s, Redlands had established an excellent public transit system that was expanding to handle the prosperous new city.
The San Bernardino Valley Traction Company, incorporated in June 1901, became the first electric line to operate in the city of San Bernardino. The proposed standard-gauge line was to be built from Redlands to San Bernardino, with the route passing through Colton.
The company had good financial backing and was a mainstay in the San Bernardino Valley’s public transportation system for the next 10 years.
With razor-thin or nonexistent profit margins, rail line mergers and closures were commonplace. As the San Bernardino Valley Traction Company gained a strong foothold in the valley, it began purchasing many of the smaller struggling lines and consolidating their facilities.
The intersection of Third and E streets in San Bernardino was the hub of the city and its transportation system. Numerous rail lines, including the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and several small city lines crisscrossed the congested area around the intersection. Tracks in the streets were often double-gauged (three parallel tracks that could handle both narrow and standard-gauge trains) and electric overhead trolley wires clogged the skies.
New lines and extensions were built to serve major public attractions such as Harlem Springs, at the present-day intersection of Base Line and Pepper Avenue. The Harlem Motor Road, as it became known, took passengers from downtown San Bernardino to the popular hot springs and amusement park. The narrow- gauge steam line struggled as the popularity of the park waned and it was eventually bought out by the transit company in 1903.
One of the most popular tourist routes was the line to Urbita Springs Park, which was at the present-day site of the Inland Center mall. In 1901, the San Bernardino Valley Transit Company purchased the amusement park that featured a boating lake, picnic grounds, merry-go-round, outdoor concerts and a dance pavilion.
In 1906, the company began constructing the Arrowhead Line with plans to eventually connect San Bernardino with an incline railroad up Waterman Canyon to the mountain resorts. Plans for passenger service up the incline railroad were scrapped, but the line was constructed from Third and D streets to a small station near the Arrowhead Springs Hotel.
As public transportation was emerging in the San Bernardino Valley, Henry Huntington and the Pacific Electric Railway Company were building a vast network of railroad systems around Southern California. In 1911, the San Bernardino Valley Transit Company was purchased by Pacific Electric, and the company began converting and upgrading the facilities to meet their standards.
In 1914, San Bernardino Valley residents celebrated as the PE completed an electric trolley line connecting Los Angeles with San Bernardino and their Eastern Division. The PE continued passenger service from Los Angeles to the San Bernardino Valley until 1941.
During the 1930s and 1940s, highways and automobile transportation were greatly improved. Even the mighty Pacific Electric Railway couldn’t compete with the automobile, and the steel rails were eventually replaced with freeways.
By 1938, PE abandoned local passenger service on all but the original transit company route from San Bernardino to Colton. Pacific Electric buses were used until 1953 when the service was absorbed by the Metropolitan Coach Lines.