Fullerton Transportation Center

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

Fullerton, CA
Amtrak inter-city rail station Metrolink commuter rail station
Fullerton Train Station, trackside
Location	120 East Santa Fe Avenue Fullerton, California 92832[1] United States
Coordinates	33.868612°N 117.9223°W / 33.868612; -117.9223
Owned by	BNSF Railway & City of Fullerton
Line(s)	BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision[2]
Platforms	2 side platforms & 1 bay platform
Tracks	4
Construction
Parking	250 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	FUL (Amtrak)
History
Opened	1930 (AT&SF)
Rebuilt	1993
Original company	Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Traffic
Passengers (2017)	399,695[3]  3% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Los Angeles toward San Luis Obispo Pacific Surfliner Anaheim toward San Diego Los Angeles Terminus Southwest Chief Riverside toward Chicago Preceding station Metrolink Following station Buena Park toward Los Angeles Union Station 91/Perris Valley Line West Corona toward Perris–South Orange County Line Anaheim toward Oceanside
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Los Angeles Terminus Desert Wind Discontinued in 1997 San Bernardino toward Chicago Preceding station Union Pacific Railroad Following station La Habra toward East Los Angeles East Los Angeles – Anaheim Anaheim Terminus Preceding station Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Following station Buena Park toward Los Angeles Main Line Via Fullerton, Riverside Placentia toward Chicago Surf Line Anaheim toward San Diego
Santa Fe Railway Passenger and Freight Depot (Fullerton, California)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	140 East Santa Fe Avenue, Fullerton, California
Area	1 acre (0.4 ha)
Built	1930
Architect	E. J. Herbert
Architectural style	Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	91002031[4]
Added to NRHP	5 February 1992
Fullerton Union Pacific Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	100 East Santa Fe Avenue, Fullerton, California
Area	0.8 acres (0.3 ha)
Built	1923
Built by	Union Pacific Railroad
Architect	John and Donald Parkinson
Architectural style	Mission Revival style/Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	83003551[4]
Added to NRHP	12 October 1983
Location

It is served by Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner and Southwest Chief trains, as well as Metrolink's 91 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 station has two historic depots on site: one built in 1923 by the Union Pacific Railroad,[6] and the other built in 1930 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.[7] Both depots are on the National Register of Historic Places.[6][7]

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.[8]

The Union Pacific Railroad was the third railway to lay tracks through Fullerton and to build a depot.[9] 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.[10] Fullerton's redevelopment agency moved the station next to the Santa Fe depot in 1980 to preserve it.[6] Today it is occupied by an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant.[9]

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, 213 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,[11] 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.[12] 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 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 Subsidivision 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.[13]

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, FY2017, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
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. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
6. "Union Pacific Depot". www.fullertonheritage.org. Fullerton Heritage. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
7. "Santa Fe Depot". www.fullertonheritage.org. Fullerton Heritage. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
8. "Great American Stations: Fullerton, CA (FUL)". greatamericanctations.com. Amtrak. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
9. "Fullerton History". trainweb.org. TrainWeb LLC. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
10. Utahrails.net: Union Pacific's Parkinson Depots
11. "Southern California Railway Plaza Association". www.scrpa.net. Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
12. ""Railroad Days" event". www.scrpa.net. Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
13. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 25.

External links

• Media related to Fullerton Transportation Center at Wikimedia Commons
• Fullerton, CA – Amtrak
• Fullerton at the Metrolink website
• City of Fullerton: official Fullerton Transportation Center website
• Great American Stations (Amtrak): Fullerton (FUL)