On April 30, 1971, the Saugus Station ceased its passenger services with the San Joaquin Daylight train.

The Southern Pacific Railroad completed its work on the Santa Paula Branch Line, including the future station in Saugus. The line connects Saugus and Santa Paula through the Santa Clara River Valley. The Saugus station officially opened on June 21, 1888.

The station featured a large two-story building that served as a freight and passenger depot. There were three interchangeable lines between the railroad path: the Santa Paula onto the Coast Line, the Soledad Canyon line onto Mojave, and the Valley line south to Los Angeles.

Major politicians used the train system at the Saugus Station, such as the 23rd President, Benjamin Harrison, in April 1891, and the 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt, was said to have met California governor Henry T. Gage at the station in 1903.

A part of the Saugus Station was the Tolfree’s Eating House, connected on the north side of the station, which opened in 1887. The restaurant was then moved across the street in 1916 and was renamed the Saugus Café.

There were a few robberies that took place, most famously the 1929 Saugus Train Robbery, where the locomotive was derailed and ultimately looted.

The Saugus station was also made the perfect filming location. It was used in many films, such as Charlie Chaplin’s “The Pilgrim” (1923), “Suddenly” (1954), and “The Grifters” (1990).

Passenger service ended in April 1971, and the last station agent, James “Bob” Guthrie, shuttered the depot for good on November 15, 1978.

After years of transporting passengers, the station ended its passenger service on April 30, 1971. Seven years later, on November 15, the station was officially closed to all transportation.

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click here.

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