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RE: (rshsdepot) Fontana, CA
A sad lack in surviving traction is lack of the context of wires and poles,
let alone rails.
Clue me in, at the time of the Pacific Electric, and of the SP electrics
running all over the East Bay and Alameda), were these routes considered
real rail by rail fans, or were they snubbed as suburban traction? Not
now; but at the time.
The only station left from the northern California big red cars is the
station building in Los Altos, though there may be a power building in
Berkeley
> [Original Message]
> From: <jdent1_@_optonline.net>
> To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net <rshsdepot@lists.railfan.net>
> Date: 7/21/2006 4:42:35 PM
> Subject: (rshsdepot) Fontana, CA
>
> 7/21/2006 12:00 AM
>
> Fontana Pacific Electric train depot now restored
>
> By Leonor Vivanco, Staff Writer
> Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
>
> FONTANA - Ninety years after it was built, city officials pried open the
heavy, welded doors of one of the city's historic treasures.
> When they walked into the Pacific Electric railroad freight train depot
on Spring Avenue near Nuevo Avenue last fall, they realized just how
dormant the building had become.
>
> ‘‘Inside, it was almost pitch black,'' said Ray Bragg, the city's
director of redevelopment and special projects.
>
> ‘‘It was like walking into a Halloween haunted house with real-live
cobwebs.''
>
> Crews then began cleaning the depot, which was constructed in 1915, and
put on a white coat of paint to brighten up the building, preparing it for
its new life. Doors and windows were ordered to replicate the historic feel.
>
> ‘‘I can't believe how good it looks,'' Bragg said.
>
> The refurbished depot will now house a pottery studio, art gallery and
coffee shop.
>
> The $438,000 project started in September, and the building just received
its certificate of occupancy with the businesses now moving into their new
digs.
>
> The city's summer concert series is being held outside the depot from
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. each Thursday through Aug. 24.
>
> ‘‘The coffee shop is going to give the people downtown, at City Hall and
working people down there, a place to go and sit down and chat with
friends,'' said Joan Geist, community relations representative for the
Fontana Downtown Revitalization Task Force.
>
> The depot is expected to once again be the gathering place it was during
its heyday in the 1940s.
>
> ‘‘There was a lot of activity there with people going in and out. It was
very active back then,'' said Geist, also a member of the Fontana
Historical Society.
>
> Rail cars hauled citrus until the depot's freight operations ceased in
the 1950s. The depot later had a couple of different uses, including
serving as a mercantile store before being vacated in the 1980s, Bragg said.
>
> ‘‘We're really happy we're able to reuse the building as a way to remind
people of the past as well as looking forward into the future,'' Bragg said.
>
> It is located near the Fontana Historical Society at the Hazel Putnam
Historical Plaza.
>
> ‘‘The prize was where the passenger depot was,'' said society member Joe
Bono.
>
> The 1974 demolition of that structure, which featured Greek columns,
sparked residents to get involved in saving the city's older buildings.
>
> The historical society was founded by Mary Vagle when she saw old
buildings being torn down and tried to save the Pacific Electric passenger
depot.
>
> ‘‘We have to save what's left,'' Bono said.
>
>
> =================================
> The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
> railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
>
>
>
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
------------------------------
End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1399
********************************
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org