The WESTERN RAILROADER
For the Western Railfan
EARLY DAY TROLLEYS CF THE EAST BAY VOL. 22, NO. 4 FEBRUARY, 1959 ISSUE NO. 232
Railway Age
GREAT NORTHERN will build 500 new box cars at its St. Cloud, Minn., shops during 1959 in ad- dition to heavy repairs to 1000 cars. UNION PACIFIC ordered five more coaches from St. Louis Car Company to bring the total UP order to 35 cars at a total cost of $5.6 million. GREAT NOR- THERN will add 171 miles of CTC during 1959 in Minnesota and Montana. NORTHERN PA- CIFIC plans a $12 million 1959 freight car program. Four hun- dred 40-foot box cars, 200 50- foot insulated box cars, and 400 50-foot box cars will be built at the Brainard, Minn., shops in addition to 50 mechanical re- frigerator cars to be purchased.
UNION PACIFIC has _ sched- uled a through Pullman between Portland and Los Angeles via Salt Lake City and has rerouted the City of Portland via Denver to combine that train with the City of Denver schedule during the off-season.
A linkup between the PACIFIC GREAT EASTERN and Northern Alberta Railways at Dawson Creek, B.C., is expected soon. Some 700 feet separate the two lines.
UNION PACIFIC has doubled its order for 85-foot piggyback ears. ACF and Pullman-Standard will each build 100 cars at a to- tal cost of $3 million for deliv- ery during the first quarter of 1959.
The SPOKANE, PORTLAND & SEATTLE has ordered one RPO- baggage car from St. Louis Car Company for delivery in Nov- ember, 1959, at a cost of $135,000. Daily overnight piggyback ser- vice was established January 5 by GREAT NORTHERN between Seattle and Spokane with inter- mediate service to Wenatchee.
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SP to Seek End of Narrow Gauge
On January 26, 1959, the South- ern Pacific filed application wjth the ICC to abandon its entire narrow gauge operations between Keeler and Laws (70 miles), and four miles of standard gauge be- tween Lone Pine and Owenyo.
Railfan Seeks Street Railway Franchise
Railfan Bob McVay has con- tacted the City of Colusa regard- ing a franchise to use the Sacra- mento Northern trackage in Col- usa as part of a street car mu- seum project with old cars to operate on the city streets on Sundays and holidays. Bob is now general manager of a Stock- ton radio station.
SP Diesel-Electric Rotaries Ready
Five SP rotary snow plows are standing by for the Sierra snows this year following the success- ful conversion of one last year. Four are stationed at Roseville and another at Klamath Falls with one steam rotary at Rose- ville and one steam rotary at Sparks on standby. The traction motors from a B-unit diesel are transferred to the plow and the unit then is attached as a non- powered power plant.
THE WESTERN RAILROADER
“FOR THE WESTERN RAILFAN”
P.O. BOX 668 SAN MATEO, CALIF. FRANCIS A. GUIDO Editor-Publisher Jack Gibson, John P. Carrick
Assistant Editors
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Gay 90’s Trolley Cars
of the East Bay...
Tu Graudpas Day
By ERLE C. HANSON
Prior to the amalgamation of the Oakland Transit Com- pany, one of the many predecessor companies of the Key System, eleven independent electric railway companies were involved in the East Bay transportation field. This story is dedicated to these companies, their employees, the many pho- tographers and photo collectors of the era, for without their individual concern, this story and photos could not have ma-
terialized.
OAKLAND & BERKELEY RAPID TRANSIT CO.
The Oakland & Berkeley Rapid Transit Co. was the first electric railway company in the East Bay.
In the late 80’s, realizing that the service on Telegraph Avenue was unsatisfactory with the slow horse cars to Temescal and the steam dummy from there to Berkeley, several of the promin- ent land owners investigated the possibility of building a new line between Oakland and Berkeley. It was decided that the most di- rect route would be a line out Grove Street to 47th and then to Dover Street.
James Gamble, one of the land owners, who had a long time ex- perience with the Western Union Telegraph Co. and was more or less familiar with electricity, sug- gested the idea of using electric power. The other members were rather skeptical of investing their money in something so uncertain.
Mr. Gamble and J. E. McElrath were chosen to make a trip to Seattle, Washington, to investi- gate and report on the electric roads in operation there. When
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they returned to the East Bay they were so thoroughly con- vinced of the feasibility of the project that they reported that it would not be necessary to in- vestigate further.
On July 24, 1889, the Oakland & Berkeley Rapid Transit Co. was organized and incorporated. F. K. Shattuck was elected presi- dent, G. W. McNear, vice-presi- dent; V. D. Moody, treasurer; and Leland S. Gamble, secretary. The board of directors were F. K. Shattuck, G. W. McNear, V. D. Moody, John W. Coleman, A. T. Eastland, J. Gamble, J. E. McEIl- rath, Andrew F. Poirer, A. J. Snyder, J. McGee, and Louis Gottshall.
The original intention of build- ing one double-track road the en- tire distance was changed to two single track lines north of 47th Street.
A tract of land on Dover Street was bought by a Mr. Williams. This would necessitate the com- pany to buy a right-of-way at an advanced price. The property
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owners on Shattuck Avenue and Grove Street subscribed fifty cents per front foot to have the road on their street.
Franchises were applied for from the Oakland City Council and the County Board of Super- visors. It was decided that the road would be of narrow gauge, . 6.
Work moved very fast and in January, 1890, eight cars were ordered from the Stockton Com- bined Harvester and Agricultural Works in Stockton, California.
The road was double-tracked from 2nd and Broadway via 2nd Street, Franklin, 13th, to Grove to 47th Street. The Lorin line ex- tended out Grove to Center and east to the west gate of the Uni- versity of California campus. The Shattuck line turned east on 47th to Shattuck, north to Dwight way, east to Dana, and north on Dana to the south gate of the U.C. campus.
Additional cars were ordered from the same builders in Stock- ton, and in June, 1890, the first eight double-truck motor cars ar- rived and were numbered 1-8 in- clusive. These were mounted on Brill maximum traction trucks. Each car boasted two Thompson- Houston 15 h.p, S.R.G. motors. The even numbered cars were painted red and the odd num- bers blue. In August, additional equipment started to arrive, in- cluding six single truck trail- ers numbered 19-24 inclusive, and six single-truck motor’ cars mounted on Peckham = trucks. These were numbered 13-18 in- clusive and also, four double- truck motor cars arrived. These were numbered 25-28 inclusive and were mounted on Brill trucks. These cars sported two W.P. 15 motors.
In September, four larger mo- tor cars arrived. These were built by the Holt Bros. Co. in Stock-
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ton, and were numbered 9-12 in- clusive. These four cars were nick-named the “Betsy” cars. On October 11, 1890, the capit- alists who had absorbed the stock of the company, decided to re-in- corporate. The new company was called the Oakland Consolidated Street Railway. Officers were elected and the board of direc- tors cut down from eleven to five. Harry S. Coleman was the com- pany’s first superintendent. This company obtained a franchise on 16th Street from Grove to Center to 17th to the 16th Street de- pot. Also, on 4th Street from Grove to Opal to 4lst to Howe Street and north to and into the Catholic Cemetery, and a line on West 8th Street to Wood Street.
The road was officially start- ed at 5:35 a.m. on May 12, 1891. After the first car left the car barn at 47th and Grove Street towards Oakland, it was followed at regular intervals by the other cars as they went into service. The regular timetable provided for a 10-minute service from Oakland to 47th Street and 20 minutes on each route in Berke- ley.
The blue cars ran on Grove Street to Berkeley, and display- ed the sign, “Lorin,” on the front. The red cars ran on Shattuck Avenue, displaying the _ sign, “Shattuck.”
During April, 1892, a connec- tion was made between the outer ends of the Berkeley lines via the U.C. campus grounds and cars operated alternately around the loop. The first car to oper- ate to the cemetery was on Oc- tober 22, 1892. At this time the trailers were motorized, using one W.P. 50 motor. In November, the 16th Street line was officially opened and on March 11, 1893, the West 8th Street line was put into operation. No immediate changes were seen until March
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OAKLAND & BERKELEY RAPID TRANSIT car 8 on Dana Street at Bancroft Way in Berkeley about 1882. Conductor is J. Woods and Motorman Ed Ervy. From collection of the late Harry Kelton.
OAKLAND & BERKELEY RAPID TRANSIT car 10 on Shattuck at Ashby in Berkeley about 1891. These cars were later rebuilt into open center cars. From the collection of the late Frank Frost.
OAKLAND CONSOLIDATED STREET RAILWAY car 9 on West Eighth Street line about 1893 after being rebuilt to open center car. Photo by the late R. Forgie.
OAKLAND CONSOLIDATED STREET RAILWAY motorized trailer on the cemetery line about 1893. From the collection of L. J. Mills.
OAKLAND CONSOLIDATED STREET RAILWAY car 17 at the cemetery ter-
minus about 1893. Motorman Mike Healey on right. Stanley S. Keefe.
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OAKLAND CONSOLIDATED STREET RAILWAY car 6 at Second and Broadway, Oakland, terminus about 1893. Motorman Pat Mulvihill on left. From collection of the late Billy Jackson.
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OAKLAND CONSOLIDATED STREET RAILWAY car 7 inbound to Oakland from Berkeley enters Grove Street from 47th Street about 1892. Photo by the late R. Forgie.
OAKLAND TRANSIT trailer 20 at the 47th Street carbarn about 1898. From the collection of the late W. E. Gardener.
CENTRAL AVENUE STREET RAILWAY car 11 on Central Avenue at Grove Street about 1893. Motorman Frank Fauruier and conductor Bert Haywood. From the collection of the late Pat Mulvihill.
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PIEDMONT & MOUNTAIN VIEW RAILWAY carbarn and power house during the conversion from cable to electric operation about 1895. Collection of the late W. E. Gardener.
PIEDMONT & MOUNTAIN VIEW RAILWAY car 114 with crew on Harrison Street near the car house about 1896. The car has cable car trucks on left and electric motor trucks on right. From collection of the late Fred Pern.
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EAST OAKLAND STREET RAILROAD car house and power statiori at Com- merce and East 2lst Streets about 1896. From the collection of Ed C. Dodge.
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EAST OAKLAND STREET RAILROAD car 10 at the Broadway and Eighth Street terminus about 1897. Motorman Barney Hanlon on the right. From the collec- tion of the late Fred Pern.
EAST OAKLAND STREET RAILROAD car 12 on the Fourth Avenue line about 1897. W. H. Hall, motorman, and Jerry O’Brien. From collection of the late H. Heartstone.
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21, 1898, when F. M. (Borax) Smith gained control of the com- pany and was formulating plans to consolidate all of the street car lines into one. At this time the West 8th Street line was ex- tended via 8th Street to Pine
to 7th Street. The new company was known as the Oakland Tran- sit Co., a forewarning of what was to follow, as the electric com- panies in the East Bay have been changing ever since. ‘Will the buses follow this same pattern?
CENTRAL AVENUE STREET RAILWAY CO.
This company was organized, built and operated by F. M. (Bor- ax) Smith, and was incorporated and granted a franchise on Janu- ary 21, 1892, to construct and op- erate an electric railroad. This railroad was to be of narrow gauge (3’ 6”) and of single track, which started from Central Ave- nue (12th Street) and Broadway via Central, Wood, 8th, Pine, to 7th Street, where connections were to be made with the SP 7th Street local line from San Francisco. Several legal difficul- ties were encountered, delaying construction of the line. To hold the road’s franchise, Smith had a 50-foot section of cable rail- road track laid at Central Avenue and Wood Street. Actual con- struction was finally started on February 11, 1893.
A car barn was built on Cen- tral Avenue at Kirkham Street, capable of housing 10 twelve- foot cars. A transfer table was used at this barn.
Six narrow gauge electric mo- tor cars of the single-truck type were acquired from Carter Bros. Car Builders of Newark, Calif., late in June. These were painted
bright red with gold gilt and numbered 11-16 inclusive. Each car sported two W.P. 30 motors which were mounted on Brill trucks and were equipped with J type controllers.
On July 19, 1893, the line was completed. Power was supplied from the Piedmont power house of the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Co., by overhead trolley wire, 600 volts D.C. With motor- man C. A. Clark at the controls and his conductor, J. E. Doty, bringing up the rear, the “No. 12” made the first trip over the entire line and in turn its five sister cars were placed on sched- uled runs. There were no changes made until it was absorbed by the Realty Syndicate Co. in 1896. On March 22, 1898, the company’s identity was lost when it became known as the Oakland Transit Co. On this date the Kirkham car house was closed and all cars were transferred to the 47th & Grove Street car house.
The line on Wood Street to 7th Street was at this time ab- andoned and a new route con- structed north on Wood Street to the SP 16th Street depot.
CONSOLIDATED PIEDMONT CABLE Co.
Walter Blair, Samuel and Montgomery Howe, and Mr. De- Fremery had organized the Pied- mont Cable Co. in 1890 and bought 22 new double-truck ca- ble cars from Hammond Car Co.
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which they placed into service between downtown Oakland and the Piedmont hills. Several of their horse car lines were con- templating converting into cable. Late in 1891, track was laid for
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cable operation on West 16th Street between the 16th Street depot and Peralta Street, but work was halted on this project when it was learned that the Oakland Consclidated Street Railway was building an electric line on Howe Street to the Catho- lic Cemetery. Realizing that this new line would offer serious competition to their horse car system on Piedmont Avenue, the backers of the Piedmont Cable Co. immediately started the con- struction of a branch cable line from 24th & Broadway via Broad- way, Piedmont Avenue to the Mt. View Cemetery gate. This was completed on August 3, 1892, two months before the new com- petitive electric line was opened. By this time it was decided to electrify the West 14th Street horse car line. On April 1, 1892, work was resumed from W. 16th Street and Peralta via Peralta Street to W. 14th Street, then east on W. 14th Street to Wash- ington Street, and south on Washington Street to Central Avenue (12th Street). Narrow gauge, 3’ 6” track was used and trolley wire was suspended from wooden poles on each side of the street. Power would be supplied from the Piedmont Cable power house at 24th and Harrison. During this reconstruction per- iod, five single-truck electric cars were ordered and received from Hammond Car Builders in San Francisco. These were of the California type (open ends, closed center) and were mounted on Brill single trucks, each car boasting two W.P. 30 motors. They were painted orange with gold gilt trim and numbered
101-105 inclusive. Each car had the Rheostat controller. Also at this time, two line cars and one 20-foot flat bed service car were built at the car house.
In October, 1892, the W. 14th Street line as it would be called, was completely rebuilt to an elec- tric road and on October 28, 1892, the first trial run was made. Reg- ular service was started on Nov- ember 2, 1892.
Four additional cars were or- dered from Hammond Car Build- ers and were received in Febru- ary, 1893. These were trimmed the same as the original five and numbered 106-109 inclusive. The only difference in the second lot was that they were equipped with J controllers.
In October, 1893, the company was forced into’ receivership when interest on its bonds was defaulted. The court appointed Ira Bishop of Piedmont, who was president of the San Francisco Tool Co. and who had furnished much for the cable road, receiver. The company became known as the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Co. and the new owners had rec- ognized that electric railways might prove preferable to the cable system. It was estimated by the receiver that switchover would reduce operating expenses by $14,600 a year.
These properties were oper- ated by the Consolidated Pied- mont Cable Co., until sold at a foreclosure, March 19, 1895. At the sale they were bought by the bond holders’ committee for $62,000 and were conveyed to the Piedmont and Mountain View Railway Co. on April 1, 1895.
To be concluded next month
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Southern Pacific Passenger Notes
The Interstate Commerce Com- mission has blocked, temporar- ily, the SP plan to place the Shasta Daylight on a tri-weekly schedule. A four-month suspen- sion has been imposed to permit hearings.
The SP has filed as of January 23 an application with the ICC to abandon eight runs in Cali- fornia which have been pend- ing before the California PUC for up to a year. The trains in- clude four Oakland-Sacramento trains, the West Coast between Sacramento and Los Angeles, and two San Francisco-San Jose off- peak evening trains.
The Del Monte was “stream- lined” as of January 23 with the addition of excess Daylight streamliner coaches to the 117- mile run in an attempt to re- verse a downward traffic trend according to VP Claude Peter- son.
Los Gatos saw the daily (ex- cept Sat. & Sun.) commute train for the last time January 23 as the ICC order became final ap- proving end of the three-mile stub from Vasona Junction to down-town Los Gatos. A special train operated on the 25th in a “spike-pulling celebration” by the Chamber of Commerce and Central Coast Railway Club. The commute train will continue over the Los Altos branch ter- minating at Vasona.
Trains 4, Golden State east- bound, and 1, Sunset westbound, will be routed to operate via Lordsburg, New Mexico, instead of via Douglas, Arizona, effective February 15. This ties in with the overall plan to end the form- er EP&SW route through south- ern New Mexico.
SP has sold 22 of its old 60- foot coaches to the Ferrocaril del
Pacifico (former SP de Mexico) mostly from the commute pool. Cars sold were 1007, 1071, 1119, 1128, 1136, 1149, 1187, 1275, 1338, 1372, 1413, 1573, 1576, 1691, 1833, 1840, 1854, 1864, 1873, 2046, 2185, and 2302.
On December 21 the north- bound Daylight, No. 99, operated via the Los Altos branch between San Jose and California Avenue due to a fire on the main line just north of San Jose.
Steam left the Nacozari Rail- way on January 19 with the 3400 slated for display at Deming, New Mexico, and the 3406 and 3423 scheduled to be scrapped. For a week during December consoli- dation 2827 was under steam on movie location on the Arvin branch near Bakersfield.
End of Bamberger Railroad
The Bamberger Railroad ran its last train December 31. En- gine 601 started the run out of Salt Lake City and the 570 was used from North Salt Lake to finish the roundtrip to Ogden stopping at various towns for farewell ceremonies. Rio Grande took over the Salt Lake switch- ing while Union Pacific now switches between Ogden and Hill Field.—Utah Railfans Assn., P.O. Box 224, Bountiful, Utah.
Western Pacific Notes
The new depot and division offices at Elko were opened De- cember 30 replacing the old two- story wooden structure built in 1909. In service since June of ’58 has been the new five-mile spur northeast out of Delle, Utah, to a dolomite deposit supplying the US. Steel mill at Geneva, Utah. The Tooele Valley local hauls the crushed ore the 105 miles from the plant to the Gen- eva mill.
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Welded Rail For Oakland Terminal
The Western Pacific moved a trainload of welded rail from its welding plant at Winnemucca on October 31 to Oakland for use on the Oakland Terminal Rail- way. Ten lengths stretched out over 39 flat cars averaged two- fifths of a mile in length.
The rail was cut into various lengths to replace the old Key
System rails on Poplar and Louise streets in Oakland. The longer lengths facilitated the shipment. Even though 112
pounds per yard the rail had sur- prising flexibility and the special train had no trouble even on some 10-degree curves.
New PUC to Take Over in Oregon
Following the recent elections in Oregon Howard Morgan, Pub- lic Utilities Commissioner who has led the state’s fight against the Portland Traction, submitted his resignation effective with the inauguration of the new gover- nor. All actions against the PT were dropped December 18 in a consent judgment in the Circuit Court.
Porterville & Northeastern
On December 15 the Southern Pacific abandoned the trackage between Worth and Success on the SP Success branch originally built as the Porterville & North- eastern (See Issue 221). What is
left between Porterville and Worth will become a spur for operational purposes and_ the
term Success Branch will be dis- continued.
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New Equipment For Santa Fe
Santa Fe is placing orders for 42 new diesel locomotives and an additional 600 new freight cars.
The new diesels are to be 2400- horsepower units. Thirty will come from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and 12 from Alco. Deliveries are scheduled for the second quarter of 1959.
The new freight equipment consists of 500 “DF” 50-foot box cars to be constructed in the com- pany’s shops at Topeka, Kansas, with shock control underframes, roller bearings, and nailable steel flooring. Two hundred of them will be insulated cars.
One hundred 70-ton covered hopper cars, each having 3000 cu. ft. capacity or greater, will be ordered from outside car builders.
Train vs. Missile Fight Ends in Draw
The battle of train vs. missile has been declared a draw.
The question of which has priority — train or missile — came up recently during the first west coast launching of a Thor intermediate range ballistic mis- sile at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia.
The Air Force said it has sign- ed an agreement with the South- ern Pacific not to schedule mis- sile firings to interfere with scheduled train movements. The SP in return, agreed that un- scheduled freight trains would be delayed on each side of the base during firings.
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