The Amazing Story of Pasadena’s Forgotten Railway to the Clouds

The Mount Lowe Railroad was a scenic mountain railway built in the Los Angeles area near Pasadena, California, United States. It was designed as a tourist attraction at Echo Mountain and Mount Lowe, north of Los Angeles. Founded by industrialist and inventor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe through the Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railroad Co., the railroad operated from 1893 until it was abandoned in 1938. It was the only mountain scenic railway built in the United States to use electric traction. The engineering collaboration between Lowe and David J. Macpherson, a civil engineer from Cornell University, was instrumental in the design of this unusual railroad.

Photo of the first passengers on the Mount Lowe Railroad on July 4, 1893 (Photo: Water and Power Associates).

The railroad opened to the public on July 4, 1893, with about seven miles of track from Altadena. Echo Mountain was the site of the Echo Mountain House, a 70-room Victorian hotel. Nearby was the Echo Chalet, another 40-room hotel. Tourists arriving at the top of Echo Mountain could enjoy a large astronomical observatory, luxurious dormitories, a casino, shops, a dance hall, and even a small zoo.

1893 photograph of the “Great Incline” section. (Photo: Water and Power Associates).

During the seven years that Lowe owned the line, the railroad ran into serious financial problems and was…