Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14
The Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 in Santa Ana was one of four stations in Orange County in which high voltage AC from a remote power station was converted to 600 volts DC for the railway’s streetcars (“Red Cars”) running on the Watts–Santa Ana, Santa Ana–Orange, and Santa Ana–Huntington Beach lines. Built in 1907, it is the oldest standing structural feature of the Pacific Electric Railway system in Orange County. The six twelve-inch tile pipes in each end gable served as high tension insulators for incoming and outgoing power lines. The only significant alteration to the building has been the removal of the machinery after Pacific Electric ceased operations in 1950. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Santa Ana, Orange County
Images by Andrew Schmidt