page_title: Santa Fe Depot (San Diego)
section_title: Santa Fe Depot
hierarchical_section_title: Santa Fe Depot (San Diego) / History / Santa Fe Depot
caption_attribution_description: English: The station platform at San Diego during World War II. The en:Valley Flyer train, used as the en:San Diegan, is at the right. The local train from Los Angeles is just pulling in with No. 3749 on the head end.
context_page_description: The Santa Fe Depot in San Diego, California, is a union station built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace the small Victorian-style structure erected in 1887 for the California Southern Railroad Company. The Spanish Colonial Revival style station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its architecture, particularly the signature twin domes, is often echoed in the design of modern buildings in Downtown San Diego. A wing now houses the downtown branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
  The Santa Fe Depot officially opened on March 8, 1915, to accommodate visitors to the Panama-California Exposition. The depot was completed during a particularly optimistic period in the City's development, and represents the battle waged by the City of San Diego to become the West Coast terminus of the Santa Fe Railway system's transcontinental railroad, a fight that was ultimately lost to the City of Los Angeles. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  In its heyday, the facility not only handled Santa Fe traffic but also that of the San Diego and Arizona Railway and San Diego Electric Railway.
context_section_description: Though the elegant California Southern depot had served San Diego for nearly three decades, the station was not adequate to handle the expected flood of visitors through the "Silver Gate" in 1915. In fact, the Santa Fe had considered replacing the aging "D" Street station with a larger, more modern edifice. Plans were drawn up for a new station complex in the Mission Revival Style, befitting the upcoming Exposition. The large, graceful palm trees that graced the old depot were boxed and stored for re-planting alongside the new building. Construction began on a site just east of the existing structure on January 15, 1914, and was completed on December 31, at a total cost of $300,000. A Fred Harvey Company lunch counter and dining room were incorporated into the floor plan. The old wooden structure was razed during the few days before the opening; the clock tower was ceremonially toppled on March 7, 1915.
  The facility opened for business on March 8. Oliver J. Stough, the last surviving veteran of the Mexican–American War, was given the honor of purchasing the first ticket. At the outset, the Santa Fe had three daily local trains and one express train running between Los Angeles and San Diego. During the exposition nine scheduled trains ran on during the week (eight only made stops at Fullerton and Santa Ana, while the ninth was a local that stopped at all of the "Surf Line" stations). Twelve trains operated on weekends, many running in multiple sections. Four helper locomotives were assigned to the Sorrento Grade to help trains over the hill for the duration of the Exposition.
  John D. Spreckels' San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) made regular stops at the station since its opening, and continued to do so until April 24, 1949, when San Diego adopted an all-bus transit system. Spreckels' other rail-related concern, the San Diego and Arizona Railway (built in part to provide San Diego with a direct transcontinental rail link to the east by connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad lines in El Centro) was invited to make use of the facility. The first SD&A passenger train arrived in downtown on December 1, 1919. In 1936 the Santa Fe ordered a six-car trainset from the Budd Company specifically for the initiation of a new, streamlined named train between the LAUPT and San Diego. On March 27, 1938, the company inaugurated the San Diegan route, operating on a two-hour-and-30-minute schedule. A second San Diegan consist entered service on June 8, 1941, doubling the schedule to four daily round trips. Freight service consisted of one scheduled overnight train per day, though extras were run as required (sometimes numbering as many as 10–12 per day). The United States' entry into World War II saw a significant increase in rail traffic to and from San Diego, both in the form of troop movements and transport of military vehicles and supplies.
  While freight shipments dropped precipitously after the War, passenger demand remained high, and traffic on the "Surf Line" ran second only to the Pennsylvania Railroad's New York–Philadelphia corridor. Passenger service on the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (a successor to the SD&A) ended on January 11, 1951, due to years of continued declining patronage. The front portico was removed in September 1954 to allow for the construction of a parking lot.
  On May 1, 1971, Amtrak took over operation of the San Diegan line, which operated its route between Santa Fe Depot and Union Station in Los Angeles. Santa Fe trainsets usually ran with no cabcar in the days before Amtrak took over the operation of the San Diegan. To make this work, Santa Fe trains backed up, and turned the trains around at the Washington Street Wye, just about 3 miles north of the station near the San Diego International Airport. The wye is not longer in service today, and has been torn up and removed from the site.  After more than sixty years of service, the San Diegan was rebranded as the Pacific Surfliner, reflecting extensions of the route over the past two decades to the Central Coast. Since the nearest wye is now 16
caption: The station platform at San Diego in the early days of World War II. The Valley Flyer train, filling in as Train No. 70, the San Diegan, is at the right. The local train from Los Angeles is just pulling in with #3749 in the lead.[25]
exif: {}