{"nrhp_refnum":"92001522","name":"Mount Lowe Railway","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"N of Altadena in Angeles NF","address_restricted":false,"city":"Altadena","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.21988020650005,"lon":-118.11850051598083,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-01-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation","Entertainment/Recreation","Science"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The site of a former cable and electric mountain railway built in the 1890s, running about five miles from Altadena into the San Gabriel Mountains within Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County, California. It ended at a mountain hotel called the Alpine Tavern.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the railway as a major tourist line that carried visitors from Altadena through Rubio Canyon, up a cable incline to Echo Mountain, and on by electric line to Alpine Tavern. Supporting letters call it the most spectacular mountain railway in the world at its 1893 opening and a major factor in the development of Pasadena, Altadena, the Angeles National Forest and the regional electric railway industry. Much of the right-of-way, along with many walls, foundations and some machinery, survives.","narrative":"Mount Lowe Railway was a scenic tourist line built in the 1890s that carried visitors from Altadena, a suburb about 11 miles northeast of Los Angeles, into the San Gabriel Mountains. Passengers rode an electric street railway into Rubio Canyon, took a cable incline rising 1,500 feet to Echo Mountain, then boarded a narrow-gauge electric line for 3.5 miles to the Alpine Tavern at 4,414 feet. Echo Mountain held hotels, a zoo, an observatory and the cable machinery. The hotels burned, the last in 1936, and the line was scrapped by the start of World War Two. Forest Service work in the late 1950s and 1960s removed more, including the tavern shell and the cablehouse. Even so, almost all of the right-of-way survives, along with bridge abutments, retaining walls, foundations, some machinery and hiking trails. Supporters described it as a major influence on the growth of Pasadena, Altadena and the regional electric railway industry, and the site is listed as a historic resource.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"T. J. Parkes of Los Angeles (architect of the Echo Mountain House); David Macpherson (chief engineer of the railroad)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Abandoned and partly ruined. The last hotel burned in 1936 and the line was scrapped by about the start of World War Two. The Forest Service later dynamited the Alpine Tavern shell in 1959 and the Echo Mountain cablehouse in 1962. Most of the right-of-way, many walls and foundations, and some machinery remain.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.830834-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/92001522.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001522/1e5c1acbcc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001522/1e5c1acbcc-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Mount_Lowe_Railway_car_to_leave_Altadena_for_Rubio_Canyon,_July_4,_1893_(CHS-40191).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859335","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lowe_Railway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12062115"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/mount-lowe-railway-92001522/"}