Pacific Electric Railway

The Pacific Electric Railway was once the world's largest interurban railway. Pacific Rlectric Railway lines once stretched from Santa Monica to Newport Beach on the coast to Redlands and Riverside. The San Bernardino Baldwin Park Branch line was the Pacific Electric s longest line. It was unique because it was the company's only 1200 volt electrified line and the line on which the system's highest average speeds were consistently maintained. The San Bernardino line, with it's several branches, did more than any other line to give Pacific Electric the distinction of being classified as a true interurban operator. Construction of the San Bernardino line began in 1906. On April 11, 1912, a committee was elected to secure right-of-way for the Pacific Electric Railway north to the Ioamosa area (now Alta Loma) to shorten the distance farmers had to haul their citrus. The chairman of the committee was Captain Peter Demens, a captain in the Imperial Guard of Czar Alexander II. The line was completed through to Etiwanda on January 20, 1914, and to San Bernardino on July 11, 1914.