The Glendale and Montrose Railway

Our little town, Montrose, once had its very own electric trolley line that connected riders with Glendale and Los Angeles. That line, which ran both freight and passenger service, was key to our valley’s growth in the boom years of the 1920s. 

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, before everyone had a car there was a business model that tied land development to rail travel, particularly in Southern California, which was more spread out than other cities. It was common for a developer (or railroad owner like Huntington) to buy a tract of land out in the suburbs and run a rail line out to it. The fares for the rail service were not profitable, but sales of home lots were – and wildly so. Everyone wanted a piece of that action.

And so in 1910 a real estate guy, Robert Walton, and an investor, J. Frank Walters, teamed up to run a business deal just like the one above. They bought 300 acres of scrub brush and laid out streets and plotted out home lots. Their intention was to run an electric trolley line from Glendale up to their new development of Montrose.

An existing trolley line ran from Eagle Rock to Glendale. They bought that railroad and paid to have rails laid and poles planted for the overhead electric wires, all heading north to Montrose. They laid tracks north along Glendale Avenue. Then a straight run up the Verdugo Canyon (what is now Cañada Boulevard), over Verdugo Creek and up the center of Verdugo Road. From there it would run along Montrose Avenue. There were even ambitious plans to extend it into Tujunga and La Cañada. They named their new rail line the Glendale and Montrose Railway.

But the main purpose was to get people to the new town of Montrose to buy land. The line was not completed when they opened for sales in February 1913. Hundreds of people came up by wagon or very early autos to the wilds of the Crescenta Valley for a free barbecue. The trolley line did reach Montrose just a few months later in April.

At the same time, a generator was brought up to power the trolley line. A small building was built to house the massive generators that supplied the 600 volts needed for the electric trolley line that ran uphill from Glendale. The generators, weighing 30 tons, were acquired second-hand from the Pacific Electric Company. Moving them up to Montrose required a huge house-moving wagon pulled by a team of 14 horses and 12 mules, and it took two days to get up the Verdugo Canyon from Glendale.

Besides regular trolley cars, several small trolley cars were bought second-hand. They were single-truck cars, meaning they had a single set of wheels under the center of the trolley car. This made for a very rocky ride, described by some being like riding in a small boat in waves. Because of the cars’ small size, locals called the trolley “the Dinky.”

The Glendale and Montrose Railway ran not only passenger cars but also freight cars. Electric locomotives pulled flatcars from La Crescenta to Glendale and back again. They brought building materials to the Crescenta Valley, particularly in the boom years of the 1920s, and returned with fruit from the many orchards, along with other commodities the valley produced. The Glendale and Montrose lines eventually extended from Glassell Park up through Glendale and into the Crescenta Valley, initially stopping at La Crescenta Avenue but later extending to Pennsylvania Avenue. A large maintenance barn was constructed just below Montrose.

The line was never wildly profitable but it did serve a vital service to the growth of the valley. The line finally fell victim to the Great Depression, making its last run on the night of Dec. 31, 1930.

These are the basic facts but there are many stories to be told about the Glendale and Montrose Railway, including many, many things from the old railroad that still exist today. I’ll tell you about them in the next few weeks.