Perhaps The Very Last Time. Metrolink cabcar SCAX 671 leads test train 501X slowly through the community of Glendora as it passes the now inactive, canteliver signal bridge here on the Pasadena Subdivision. Once part of the Santa Fe's bustling 2nd District that carried trains between Los Angeles and San Bernardino via Pasadena, this line sadly saw passenger service leave in 1994 as Amtrak's Southwest Chief moved to the Santa Fe's other mainline into Los Angeles, via Fullerton.
Today's Metrolink test train, a rare treat being a passenger train on this now freight-only line, comes after Metrolink and Mass Electric Construction Company crews have finished cutting out a majority of the original, Santa Fe-era signals and cut in new, led-lighted signals. Being Metrolink owned trackage, the need to test the new signals with a train fell on Metrolink, which came in the form of this 5 car consist with SCAX 909, an F125, providing the power. Following today's test runs and at least one or two to follow on other days, this marked the last time any passenger train - even a non-revenue one - utilized this trackage. Now in 2020, construction crews have completed tearing up the tracks that made up the siding here in Glendora and will soon begin the heavy work of converting this line to light-rail as part of Metro's Gold Line Foothill Extension project, extending the current light-rail line from Azusa to Montclair. As this takes place, signals like the canteliver pictured here and original code line poles and their respective wires (seen to the right) will be removed, taking a little more of the Santa Fe's presence away.
Photos showing the railroad pole lines. The pole line used four basic electrical circuits - telegraph, telephone, signaling, and power. Modern technologies of fiber optics, microwave, radio, satellite, and computers have been replacing the pole lines.
