Fullerton Transportation Center

The Fullerton Transportation Center[1][5] is a passenger rail and bus station located in Fullerton, California, United States.

Fullerton, CA
Fullerton station trackside
General information
Other namesFullerton Transportation Center
Location120 East Santa Fe Avenue
Fullerton, California[1]
United States
Coordinates33.868612°N 117.9223°W / 33.868612; -117.9223
Owned byBNSF Railway and City of Fullerton
Line(s)BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision[2]
Platforms2 side platforms, 1 bay platform
Tracks4
Bus stands6
ConnectionsBus transport Amtrak Thruway: 1, 39
Bus transport OC Bus: 26, 43, 47, 143, Bravo! 543
Construction
Parking1,321 spaces, 40 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilitiesRacks and lockers
AccessibleYes
Other information
StatusStaffed, station building with waiting room
Station codeAmtrak: FUL
History
Opened1888 (AT&SF)
Rebuilt1930
1993
Original companyAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Passengers
FY 2022172,130[3] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Los Angeles Pacific Surfliner Anaheim
toward San Diego
Los Angeles
Terminus
Southwest Chief Riverside
toward Chicago
Preceding station Metrolink Following station
Buena Park 91/Perris Valley Line Corona–West
Orange County Line Anaheim
toward Oceanside
Future services
Preceding station Metrolink Following station
Buena Park 91/Perris Valley Line Placentia
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Los Angeles
Terminus
Desert Wind
1986-1997
San Bernardino
toward Chicago
Preceding station Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Following station
Rivera Main Line Placentia
toward Chicago
Los Angeles
Terminus
Surf Line Anaheim
toward San Diego
Preceding station Union Pacific Railroad Following station
La Habra
toward East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles Anaheim Anaheim
Terminus
Preceding station Pacific Electric Following station
Harvard Avenue Fullerton Terminus
Santa Fe Railway Passenger and Freight Depot (Fullerton, California)
Area1 acre (0.4 ha)
Built1930
ArchitectE. J. Herbert
Architectural styleMission/Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.91002031[4]
Added to NRHPFebruary 5, 1992
Fullerton Union Pacific Depot
Area0.8 acres (0.3 ha)
Built1923
Built byUnion Pacific Railroad
ArchitectJohn and Donald Parkinson
Architectural styleMission Revival style/Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.83003551[4]
Added to NRHPOctober 12, 1983
Location

It is served by Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner and Southwest Chief trains, as well as Metrolink's 91/Perris Valley Line and Orange County Line trains. It is also a major bus depot for the Orange County Transportation Authority, and is one of the major transportation hubs of Orange County.[5]

History

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway opened its first Fullerton station in 1888.[6]

The station has two historic depots on site: one built in 1923 by the Union Pacific Railroad,[7] and the other built in 1930 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.[6][8] Both depots are on the National Register of Historic Places.[7][8]

The 1930 Santa Fe depot serves as an Amtrak ticket office and passenger waiting area and has a cafe. It features Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture, as evidenced by the stuccoed walls, red tile roof, and decorative wrought ironwork.[9]

The Union Pacific Railroad was the third railway to lay tracks through Fullerton and to build a depot.[10] This helped firmly establish Fullerton as the regional rail center for northern Orange County. The 1923 Mission Revival style building was designed by John and Donald Parkinson.[11] Fullerton's redevelopment agency moved the station next to the Santa Fe depot in 1980 to preserve it.[7] Now it is occupied by an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant.[10]

Pacific Electric constructed an interurban railway to Fullerton in 1917, located just north of the Santa Fe station and providing a transfer point to their system.[12]

In September 1983, the Orange County Transit District (now the Orange County Transportation Authority) opened the Fullerton Transportation Center bus depot which is located across the street from the station which is served by OCTA routes 26, 43, 47, 143, and 543.

This station became one of the original 9 stations on the Metrolink Orange County Line when it opened on March 28, 1994 and also one of the original 7 stations when the 91 Line (now the 91/Perris Valley Line) opened on May 6, 2002.

In the late 1990s, the Fullerton Railway Plaza Association (FRPA) began fundraising and lobbying for the creation of an interactive railroad attraction or museum at the site,[13] while continuing preservation efforts. Starting in 1999 the Amtrak station and the FRPA were hosts for the annual "Fullerton Railroad Days" event at the Santa Fe depot, an event that attracted between 30,000 and 40,000 participants. Due to the city not supporting the FRPA museum, Railroad Days was not held in 2009, and FRPA looked elsewhere, choosing to hold its 2010 event in neighboring Brea.[14] The organization subsequently changed its name to the Southern California Railway Plaza Association (SCRPA). However, Railroad Days for 2020 was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Service

The station is served by the Metrolink 91/Perris Valley Line and Orange County Line commuter rail services, plus Amtrak intercity Pacific Surfliner and long-distance Southwest Chief services however, all Southwest Chief trains going to Los Angeles stops only to discharge passengers while trains going to Chicago stops only to pick up passengers.

The BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision has three tracks through the station. Westbound passenger trains use the north track and its side platform; eastbound trains use the south track and side platform. The center track is for freight use only. An additional siding track with a side platform south of the mainline tracks is used for short turn trains that run between Fullerton and Laguna Niguel or Oceanside.[15]

References

  1. "Fullerton, CA (FUL)". amtrak.com. Amtrak. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  2. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.
  3. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  5. "City of Fullerton: Transportation Center". www.ci.fullerton.ca.us. City of Fullerton. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  6. Richardson, Rob (2010). Railroads and Depots of Orange County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 14, 64. ISBN 9780738580111.
  7. "Union Pacific Depot". www.fullertonheritage.org. Fullerton Heritage. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  8. "Santa Fe Depot". www.fullertonheritage.org. Fullerton Heritage. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  9. "Great American Stations: Fullerton, CA (FUL)". greatamericanctations.com. Amtrak. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  10. "Fullerton History". trainweb.org. TrainWeb LLC. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  11. Utahrails.net: Union Pacific's Parkinson Depots
  12. Yanity, Brian (16 May 2019). "Fullerton, Rail Town: The Pacific Electric Railway". Fullerton Observer. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  13. "Southern California Railway Plaza Association". www.scrpa.net. Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  14. ""Railroad Days" event". www.scrpa.net. Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  15. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 25.

Media related to Fullerton Transportation Center at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.