Well let's try this again...
Thought I'd try to contribute something to this great thread. Found these on Shorpy, one of my all-time favorite sites. The 'now' pic is by a Shorpy contributor (Dandy). Fifty years ago, my father and several of my uncles took some of us kids hiking up the Mount Lowe right-of-way (yes, I'm that old), the tracks and most of the trestles were long gone even then. I think you can still find evidence of both the Railway and the several resort buildings today.
First image from 1913...
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a25762a.preview.jpg
and today...
http://www.shorpy.com/images/photos/alpine.jpg