The Western Pacific Railroad in San Francisco

[ts735]

Thank you so much for posting this. I've always been fascinated with the WP in SF but it can be difficult to find good detailed maps of the operation let alone get a feel for it's physical presence nowadays. Well done.

[Amiduffer]

@ts735 You're welcome. This kind of urban archeology is a lot of fun. There used to be very detailed topo maps available on Acme Mapper, but they replaced it with more recent ones that aren't as detailed.

[MultiHornguy]

Hello. I was wondering, I went to Point Bonita lighthouse a few days back and right before you walk through the tunnel in this one mountain, if you look down, you can clearly see some types of railroad switches, ties, and broken rails. I am clueless to what railroad owned this and am very curious to know. Thanks!

-Jason in Santa Rosa, CA

[Amiduffer]

@MultiHornguy Did you get any pictures? As far as I know, unless the Army built it, it sounds like a dump for old equipment. The closest railroads from that area was the Northwest Pacific RR that had a huge ferry pier in Sausalito that shut down back in the 1930's.

[MultiHornguy]

@Amiduffer Well, it didn't look like a scrap yard, because the rails that weren't broken were perfectly lined up on a dock made out of ties; It just looked abandoned. I'll try to get some pics from my friend.

[raiderpassion04]

Thanks Amidufer. Fun stuff.

[Amiduffer]

@raiderpassion04 Thanks. There was a hell of a lot of stuff I wanted to dig up around there.

[neblitude]

You can still see tracks right outside the hardware store on Mariposa St. next to the freeway. I have a big framed photo of a switcher idling at the intersection of 16th & Rhode Island in 1973.

[Amiduffer]

@neblitude I moved out of the area before I could photograph much of the line. There's a lot of abandoned ROW's that I wanted to get.

[rare12inchsingles]

Very informative. Thank You!

[wyliesdiesels1]

Well i stand corrected! Every map i have seen had both tunnels labeled SP as well as trackage in SF. Wouldn't be the first time i have seen a wrong map, though. I once saw an incorrect D&RGW map which showed the SPCRR going from Los Gatos through Campbell and straight on 2 Santa Clara, skipping SJ Diridon altogether. Have u considered filming the old SPCRR ROW from Los Gatos 2 Felton. There is 4 old tunnels in the mountains which would be cool 2 film! They were dynamited but the portals remain.

[wyliesdiesels1]

How did they get into SF? Was there a bridge form Oakland or did they just use trackage rights over the SP peninsula route from San Jose? I am very interested in this!

[Amiduffer]

@wyliesdiesels1 Remember the remains of the pier that I showed you? They used to transfer from the Oakland Mole by rail barge. The AT&SF used to do the same thing from Richmond Point into their pier up near China basin.

[wyliesdiesels1]

The WP was never in San Francisco...The tunnel and track you are tracing was the SP.

[Amiduffer]

@wyliesdiesels1 They most certainly were. You better check your facts. The topographical maps I'm showing in the beginning of the the video of state Western Pacific.

[ockteby]

Excellent, Drew 5*****

Frank

[Amiduffer]

Thank you.

[ReflexiveBeef]

good research, very interesting. could do with covering your microphone with a little bit of cloth for the wind tho

[Amiduffer]

I need a better camera. The sound is poor enough as it is without covering the microphone.