Hitched at the Depot of Love

This was one time when the train really needed to be on time.

And indeed, the Metrolink engine pulled into the San Juan Capistrano Depot right on schedule at 4:49 p.m. Friday, carrying a load of smiling passengers to a happy couple standing under a wedding arch on the station platform.

Ten minutes later, the train was gone and transit employees Beth McCormick and Ed Pederson were exchanging their vows in front of about 70 friends, relatives and co-workers gathered at the San Juan Capistrano Depot.

“It just goes to show that love rides the rails,” said fellow Metrolink employee Peter Hidalgo, chuckling at his own pun.

McCormick, 35, and Pederson, 42, are the original Commute Couple. She is an analyst with the Orange County Transportation Authority and oversees spending for OCTA’s share of the Metrolink rail system.

He is safety manager for Metrolink, in charge of preventing accidents between trains, cars and pedestrians.

They met when assigned to the team that built the San Clemente rail station. “We were just friends at first,” said McCormick. “We’d get together and do stuff. After six months of that, we started to get serious.”

At first, McCormick said she didn’t want to marry a co-worker. But most of Pederson’s days are spent in Los Angeles (he usually commutes by Metrolink from the couple’s Garden Grove home) while she works in Orange County.

The historic San Juan Capistrano Depot, with its antique rail cars that serve as a restaurant and lounge, “just made sense” for a wedding site, McCormick said.

Pederson also thought the location was great.

“He’s a real good sport,” McCormick said.