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Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Pacific Electric Substation No. 14
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Location	802 E. 5th St. Santa Ana, California
Coordinates	33°44′55″N 117°51′37″W / 33.74861°N 117.86028°W / 33.74861; -117.86028
Area	0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
Built	1907
Built by	Pacific Electric Railway Construction Dept.
NRHP reference No.	83001219
Added to NRHP	September 22, 1983

The Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 is a former traction substation in Santa Ana, California. It was built by the Pacific Electric Railway to provide electricity to run the railway's streetcars in central Orange County, California. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Substation function

Electric trolley and interurban cars required 600 volts direct current (DC) to operate a car's DC traction motors. The function of a "substation" was to convert very high voltage alternating current (AC) from a power station, often miles away, for the necessary conversion to a lower voltage DC. High voltage AC entered the substation, was dropped to a lower voltage by a transformer, and then fed to a device called a Rotary Converter for the conversion to 600 volts DC. Substations were required on every trolley and interurban line in the United States and often still are for today's subway and light rail lines. Later the very large and cumbersome rotary converters, as much as eight feet (2.4 m) in diameter rotating and vibrating and requiring a human round-the-clock operator, were replaced by small package solid state converters with no operator.

History

Pacific Electric Railway's Santa Ana substation #14 was built in 1907 and still stands. It is a single-story, rectangular building made of brick with minimal classical ornamentation in its design. There are hollow pipes at each end for electric wires to enter and exit. Very high voltage alternating current (AC) from the Watts Steam Generating Station (30 miles away) entered at one end of the building and was converted (by rectification by a six foot high massive rotating machine called a rotary converter) to 600 volts direct current (DC) necessary to power the interurban trains, and the DC wires then exited the building at the opposite end. A transformer was located inside the building to drop the high voltage (delivered from Watts) to a lower voltage AC for the rotary converter. This substation powered the Watts–Santa Ana Line, the Santa Ana–Orange Line, and the Santa Ana–Huntington Beach Line and was in service from 1907 until the cessation of passenger service in 1950. It is the last former Pacific Electric substation building remaining in Orange County.

Substation #14 was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 due to its association with the Pacific Electric Railways extensive operation in Orange County as well as for its architecture. The building was partially restored in 2020, replacing the roof and converting interior spaces.

See also

• Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8
• Ivy Substation
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Orange County, California

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. George W. Hilton, UCLA, 1952.
3. ^ Thomas, Harold (April 30, 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form: Pacific Electric Sub-Station #14". National Park Service. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
4. Kopetman, Roxana (29 March 2021). "Santa Ana Unified wins historic award for restoring, preserving 114-year-old building". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 28 July 2021.

v t e Pacific Electric
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History	Strike of 1903 1919 streetcar strike General Motors streetcar conspiracy
Infrastructure	Stations Etiwanda Lynwood Pacific Electric Building Picover Subway Terminal Building Watts Yorba Linda Hill Street Tunnel Hollywood Subway Ivy Substation Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge Redlands Trolley Barn Substation No. 8 Sub-Station No. 14 West Santa Ana Branch
Predecessors	Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway Monrovia Rapid Transit Company Mount Lowe Railway Ontario and San Antonio Heights Railroad Company Pasadena and Pacific Santa Ana, Orange & Tustin Street Railway Los Angeles and Independence Railroad Los Angeles Pacific Railroad
Connecting services	Glendale and Montrose Railway Los Angeles Railway
Successors	LA Metro MTA RTD LACTC OCTA Omnitrans Waterfront Red Car
Legacy	Culver Boulevard Median Bike Path Red Car Trolley (Disneyland Resort) Waterfront Red Car (San Pedro) Who Framed Roger Rabbit

v t e National Register of Historic Places in California
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• Electrical substations
• Pacific Electric infrastructure
• Buildings and structures in Santa Ana, California
• History of Santa Ana, California
• National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, California
• Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California
• Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places
• Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California
• Transportation buildings and structures in Orange County, California
• 1907 establishments in California