San Clemente once had a Spanish Colonial Revival Style train station in the North Beach area built in 1931, a few years after the city incorporated. It included a passenger waiting room and a freight room.

It was a regular train stop between Los Angeles and San Diego for nine years until it closed due to lack of passengers. But even though the station was closed, the train continued to stop for passengers when flagged down by a white flag. Unfortunately it was demolished in 1964.

Once the population of San Clemente increased and there was once again a need for a train stop one was created near the entrance to the pier. Later, a second train stop was built in North Beach with a platform and a ticketing machine. Today, both train stations are in use.

There were other train stations in nearby towns which were built earlier. San Clemente didn’t exist until 1925 but San Juan Capistrano, San Onofre Town and Oceanside were towns long before. A train station in Capistrano Beach was called San Juan by the Sea and was built in 1888 and in use until 1898.

 The San Juan Capistrano Depot today is a major tourist stop in the historic part of town. Although San Juan was established in the late 1700s with the building of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, the train station came later with the building of the railroad in the 1880s. Today the red brick historic train depot is a restaurant, but the train still stops at the platform adjacent to the depot. 

San Onofre Town, where the San Onofre State Park is located today, had a train station that was still in existence in 1928 which is the same time as San Clemente was being built. Further south, in Oceanside a gingerbread style train station was built in 1886. Later, a newer station was built in 1946 and the current transit center was built in 1983. There were similar train stations in Carlsbad and Encinitas.

The train station in Del Mar delivered people to the race track and was in use from the early1900s to 1995. Today, people can get to the Del Mar Race track via the Solana Beach train station. The Solana Beach station, which is very unusual, was built in 1994. It was designed by a well-known San Diego Architect, Rob Wellington Quigley. 

 Cedros Street in Soana Beach is known for its Quonset huts which were built in an industrial neighborhood and have now been turned into a major tourist spot. The new train station was designed as a larger Quonset hut to look like those on Cedros Street. 

Quonset huts were prefabricated metal half round buildings used by the military during WWII. After the war they were sold inexpensively and were often used for industrial manufacturing. Today, the Quonset huts are also used as shops with interesting items and souvenirs for the many tourists who visit the area.

 Downtown San Diego still has its beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival train station built in 1915, the same time as the Expo that is now Balboa Park. Prior to this station there was a Victorian station built in 1887. It continues to be known as the Santa Fe Depot which was its original name. The new station was built with a steel frame beneath the plaster exterior and was one of the most impressive train stations that the Santa Fe Railroad had ever built in the West.

Union Station in downtown Los Angeles is a classic blend of Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture, Mission Revival and Art Deco. It was completed in 1939 and designated as ‘Mission Moderne’ by Architecture Historians. The huge interior main hall has a 62 ft high ceiling that could fit a five-story building under its roof. The interior hall has been used in many television shows and movies i

 ncluding ‘Blade Runner’ and more recently the television series ‘West World.’ It was commissioned in 1933 after one of the three LA train stations was destroyed in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. It was a joint venture between the Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroads. It was built on top of the original LA Chinatown which was demolished in order to build the train station.

Today, in San Clemente, the trains stop at both the San Clemente Pier and at North Beach and bring tourists to town from Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire.

A one-day SoCal Day Pass on the Metrolink train from San Clemente to Los Angeles costs $10 for the weekend and it allows unlimited travel on Saturday or Sunday on any Metrolink line, including free transfers. Prices normally start from around $23, but vary by date and time. You can purchase your ticket on the Metrolink Mobile App or at a ticket machine at Metrolink Station.