Historic Carlsbad, CA Train Station

California is often maligned for its inattention to its own history. But, while craftsman homes and bungalows are torn down to make way for the latest McMansions, the state has managed to keep many of its historic railroad structures intact. Driving down the coast with friends recently, we came across a historic Southern California train station in the town of Carlsbad.

About 30 miles north of San Diego, Carlsbad dates from the 1880s. It was named after a European health spa (Karlsbad, Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic) by a German immigrant who found that the town’s well water was a chemical match for the spa.

Carlsbad owes its existence to the California Southern railroad, which built north from National City (just south of San Diego) to Oceanside and Fallbrook. The California Southern was part of an attempt by leading figures of the fledging town of San Diego to achieve prominence as a major port city, and by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to reach a California port –- a move which was being thwarted by rival Southern Pacific.

The AT&SF, which took over the California Southern, built the station at Carlsbad in 1887, and it is still standing today. Instead of traveling through Fallbrook and Temecula to San Bernardino, the route takes riders to Los Angeles along the Surf Line, built north from Oceanside beginning in 1888.

Most passengers, though, wouldn't pay much attention to the tiny mustard-color station building, with its red roof and green trim. Amtrak trains zip by at 90 miles per hour, while Coaster commuter trains stop at a modern station up the street.

We spotted the building from a strip-mall parking lot across the tracks. It was obviously a railroad structure, and obviously in good repair, so we went to take a closer look. We found the front door open, and the building in use as the Visitor's Information Center for the city of Carlsbad.

The structure is similar to other Santa Fe stations in the area built during the same era, including Encinitas, Escondido and San Marcos. It contains many elements of Stick Style architecture, which was popular at the time of its construction. Geometric ornamentation and a steeply pitched roof are among the distinguishing features of this style.

At times in its history, the depot also functioned as a telegraph office, post office, express office and general store. In 1907, the Santa Fe renamed the station "Carl" to avoid confusion with its stop in Carlsbad, N.M. Local citizens demanded a return to its original name in 1924.

It served as the railroad station until 1960, when the Santa Fe pulled out. In the late 1980s, the city of Carlsbad undertook restoration of the building, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. The intricately cast brass door hinges are original to the building.

The historic station may never have been built if not for the machinations of the owners of the Southern Pacific to prevent any rival railroads from reaching a major California port city. The “Big Four” – Leland Stanford, Colis Huntington, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins – had locked up San Francisco and Los Angeles, and had no intention of allowing competition into the state.

However, the wealthy business leaders of San Diego –- primarily Frank Kimball and Alonzo Horton -– realized that their city could never grow without a major rail connection. They courted the Santa Fe, offering land in present-day National City (where the BNSF still maintains yards and port facilities).

As was the norm at the time, the Santa Fe established a separate entity -– the California Southern -– although its president was also the president of the CS and its Board of Directors also sat on the Board of the new railway. The original plan was for the line to run from San Diego to a connection with the AT&SF at San Bernardino for east-west traffic.

The Big Four blocked that move by preventing the CS from a necessary crossing of the Southern Pacific right-of-way at Colton. And, in 1884, heavy rains washed out a portion of the line through Temecula.

The SP tightened the screws even further. They soon refused to interchange traffic with the California Southern at Colton, instead sending San Diego traffic by steamer from their port in San Pedro. They also diverted traffic away from the Santa Fe at both Ogden, Utah and El Paso, Texas to hurt their rival’s revenue.

The chess match also included the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (the “Frisco”), of which 50 percent was owned by the Santa Fe and 50 percent by Big Four ally Jay Gould.

However, Gould was not a builder of railroads, but a financier. His interest was limited to making money on his investments, and once he sold his stock in the SL-SF, Southern Pacific’s monopoly hold on California was broken.

If you are in Southern California and wish to visit the historic Carlsbad depot, it is located at 400 Carlsbad Village Drive. There are a few picnic tables across the tracks from the depot, safely separated by a chain link fence. The San Diego Coaster serves Carlsbad at a station just a short walk from the old depot.

Coaster stops at modern Carlsbad station just north of the historic building.

Comments

[Jean]

I didn't even know this website existed. I found it searching for trains to SD.

Cool!

Jean

[Richard Hilton]

The colors here look like the typical SP yellow and is that blue trim? I am painting a Lionel train station and want to get the colors correct. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated (including interior wainscoting, roof (interior and exterior) - the whole thing I guess. Thanks.