Fullerton Transportation Center

The Fullerton Transportation Center is a transit center located in Fullerton, California, United States. 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 OC Bus system, and is one of the major transportation hubs of Orange County.^[2]

Fullerton, CA
Fullerton station trackside
General information
Other names	Fullerton Transportation Center[1][2]
Location	120 East Santa Fe Avenue Fullerton, California United States
Coordinates	33°52′07″N 117°55′20″W
Owned by	BNSF Railway and City of Fullerton
Line(s)	BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision (main lines) SCRRA Orange Subdivision (bay platform)[3]
Platforms	2 side platforms, 1 bay platform
Tracks	4
Bus stands	6
Connections	Amtrak Thruway: 1, 39 OC Bus: 26, 43, 47, 123, 143, 543
Construction
Parking	1,321 spaces, 40 accessible spaces[4]
Bicycle facilities	Racks and lockers[4]
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Staffed, station building with waiting room
Station code	Amtrak: FUL
History
Opened	1888 (AT&SF)
Rebuilt	1930, 1993
Original company	Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Passengers
FY 2023	160,622[5] (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 L.A. Union Station 91/Perris Valley Line Corona–West toward Perris–South Orange County Line Anaheim toward Oceanside
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 toward Los Angeles Main Line Via Fullerton, Riverside 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 towards Pacific Electric Building Fullerton Terminus
Santa Fe Railway Passenger and Freight Depot (Fullerton, California)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	1 acre (0.4 ha)
Built	1930
Architect	E. J. Herbert
Architectural style	Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	91002031[6]
Added to NRHP	February 5, 1992
Fullerton Union Pacific Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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[6]
Added to NRHP	October 12, 1983
Track layout Legend South Harbor Boulevard Union Pacific Depot Santa Fe Depot South Lemon Street This diagram: view talk edit
Location

History

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway opened its first Fullerton station in 1888.^[7]

The station has three historic depots on site: one built in 1923 by the Union Pacific Railroad,^[8] another built in 1930 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway,^[7][9] and the third used by the Pacific Electric starting in 1918.^[10][11] The two mainline depots are on the National Register of Historic Places.^[8][9]

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.^[12]

The Union Pacific Railroad was the third railway to lay tracks through Fullerton and to build a depot.^[13] This helped firmly establish Fullerton as the regional rail center for northern Orange County.^{[citation needed]} The 1923 Mission Revival style building was designed by John and Donald Parkinson.^[14] Fullerton's redevelopment agency moved the station next to the Santa Fe depot in 1980 to preserve it.^[8] Now it is occupied by an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant.^[13]

Pacific Electric constructed an interurban railway to Fullerton in 1917, terminating just north of the Santa Fe station and provided a transfer point to their system.^[15] The Mission Revival style depot was built the following year.^[10] Their passenger service lasted until January 1938.^[11] Greyhound Bus service called at the depot between 1936 and 1976.^[11]

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, and is served by OCTA routes 26, 43, 47, 123, 143, and 543.

This station became one of the original nine 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,^[16] 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.^{[citation needed]} Due to the city not supporting the FRPA museum,^{[citation needed]} Railroad Days was not held in 2009, and FRPA looked elsewhere, choosing to hold its 2010 event in neighboring Brea.^[17] The organization subsequently changed its name to the Southern California Railway Plaza Association (SCRPA).^{[citation needed]} However, Railroad Days for 2020 was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 2024^[update], Amtrak plans to reconstruct the platforms for accessibility by FY 2025.^[18]

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 Railway 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.^[19]

References

1. "Fullerton, CA (FUL)". amtrak.com. Amtrak. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
2. "City of Fullerton: Transportation Center". www.ci.fullerton.ca.us. City of Fullerton. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
3. SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. p. 25.
4. "Fullerton Train Station". Metrolink. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
5. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
6. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
7. Richardson, Rob (2010). Railroads and Depots of Orange County. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 14, 64. ISBN 978-0-7385-8011-1.
8. "Union Pacific Depot". www.fullertonheritage.org. Fullerton Heritage. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
9. "Santa Fe Depot". www.fullertonheritage.org. Fullerton Heritage. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
10. "Pacific Electric Depot, 1918 – Il Ghiotto Restaurant". City of Fullerton. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
11. "Fullerton Heritage Present: The Pacific Electric Railway Depot". Fullerton Observer. October 9, 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
12. "Great American Stations: Fullerton, CA (FUL)". greatamericanctations.com. Amtrak. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
13. "Fullerton History". trainweb.org. TrainWeb LLC. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
14. Utahrails.net: Union Pacific's Parkinson Depots
15. Yanity, Brian (May 16, 2019). "Fullerton, Rail Town: The Pacific Electric Railway". Fullerton Observer. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
16. "Southern California Railway Plaza Association". www.scrpa.net. Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
17. ""Railroad Days" event". www.scrpa.net. Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
18. "Amtrak Fact Sheet Fiscal Year 2023 State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. p. 7.
19. 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, CA – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Fullerton – Metrolink
• City of Fullerton: official Fullerton Transportation Center website Archived 2010-05-15 at the Wayback Machine