Memories of San Francisco Railroads ca. 1953

[Anonymous]

The Golden Days of Railroading in San Francisco - By George Dean



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By the mid-Fifties, San Francisco had already seen its golden age of railroading. The automobile, and particularly the trucking industry, had begun to deal fatal blows to the trains. They continued on, gradually seeing one after another die. There were four railroads serving the city; the Southern Pacific, the Western Pacific, the Santa Fe, and the San Francisco Belt Line Railroad. As of today, only Union Pacific freight traffic can be seen as far north as South San Francisco, and CalTrain commuters still ply the rails into downtown.

What I remember as a young boy attending Candlestick Cove Elementary School at Tunnel and Blanken Avenues, was peering from the recess yard out upon miles of track and freight cars sitting in the SPs Bayshore Yard. It was 1953, and the frequent Peninsula commute trains that were headed by steam engines plied up and down the Peninsula, grandfathers of the current CalTrain commuters. If I was lucky during one of my recess breaks I could coax a friendly wave from an engineer at the head of a commuter going north to the city. That is what I wanted to become, an engineer and what young boy wouldn't?

If I was really lucky, I could wave to the engineer at the head of the orange and red striped Daylight just entering the Bayshore Yard on its final five miles of an ten hour over night run from Los Angeles, its plume of pure white steam rising as a large cloud over the fast moving train. I would stare down on the yard from Tunnel Avenue during the evenings when the early diesel switchers shuffled freight cars back and forth. Their task was to assemble the mile long Overnight that would make its nightly run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Overnight could beat any truck carrier of the day, and with the less-than-carload service, anyone could ship via the railroad. The Overnight, with its specially painted silver and black boxcars, also saw the beginning of trailer truck service.

Later, in 1955 my family moved away from the yard to a different part of the city. My friends and I would find other areas of the city during long walks to see the trains as Bayshore was now a distant four miles away. We would detour to Elkton, the termination point on the Southern Pacific San Bruno Branch Line near Ocean and San Jose Avenues. It was used as a team track for receiving wallboard for the booming home construction going on in the city. We would often detour to the Elkton siding on the way home from school. It was there that we learned all of the exotic roads and their mottos.
There was the C.B.&Q. (Everywhere West), the Lackawanna (Route of Phoebe Snow), the St Louis & SF (Ship it on the Frisco), and the Santa Fe (Route of the Super Chiefs). They all conjured up distant places that we would dream about.

The Southern Pacific eventually replaced all of its steam engines by 1957. I remember warm Fall evenings, hearing the diesel horns from the four mile distant Bayshore Yard, perhaps as the latest commuter rolled through the yard on its way down the Peninsula. My imagination would run wild remembering what I had seen years earlier.

As time went by and the Southern Pacific discontinued service to Elkton, my friends and I found other rail lines within the city. The Southern Pacific had a Mission District branch line near the old Seals Stadium at Sixteenth and Bryant that served such industries as the old Hamms Brewery with its glass of beer perched atop the brewery. We found that the Western Pacific had a freight slip and yard near Third Street and Islais Creek. I discovered the Santa Fe yards and freight slip on the bay not far from today's Pac Bell Park.

Then there was the San Francisco Belt Line Railroad that operated 10 miles of mainline and a total of 43 miles of track along the waterfront's Embarcadero. My first job in 1963 was working the midnight shift at the Municipal Railway's Kirkland Yard near Fisherman's Wharf. I remember hearing the bang of cars being shunted and switched after being delivered by car float at the Pier 43 slip. This little Belt Line was fascinating, delivering cars to hidden factories all along the Embarcadero. In its heyday, it connected with the Southern Pacific at its southern end and ran through Fisherman's Wharf, through a tunnel at Fort Mason, and out through Marina Green to end at the Presidio. By the early Eighties its days were numbered and it went into disuse.

Several factors led to the demise of the rails within the city. All of the great factories and industries that were once part of the city have long since departed. The lack of space at the tip of this tiny peninsula caused the increase in real estate prices and rents. The industries moved to more affordable climes. The four railroads that once served the city are now gone.

I recently visited the site above the Bayshore Yard near Tunnel Avenue. The yard is now completely gone and all that remains is the CalTrain commuter station with its two track main line. That time was fun as it was a time for dreams. I felt I could grow up to become anything I wanted and one day travel anywhere when I saw those trains. I dreamed of driving a powerful diesel engine someday. Time passed and I became an engineer, but not the kind I had once dreamed of as a young lad. The only kind of engineering I would be doing would turn out to be in the computer world.