What's in SF?
Andrew Waugh
This immediately raises lots of interesting railway questions:
Apart from the cable cars, BART, and the Muni, what is worth seeing?
The big one of course is: Are there any bookshops carrying a good
selection of railway books? Somewhere near the city would be
preferable as I won't have a lot of free time (and I won't have a car).
Thanks,
andrew waugh
Mike Travis U.S. Forest Service
What you really ought to do, if you can find the time, is to spend
a day in Sacramento. This, the State Capitol, is about 100 miles from
SF. (What's that in Metric??? Never mind . . . .) See the California State
Railroad Museum, spend some time at Milepost One, the bookstore. It's worth
a whole day.
Surely if you're coming all the way from Down Under, you can fit this in?
Otherwise, I don't know of a rail-related bookstore in San Francisco.
There's a hobby shop with a good assortment of books down the peninsula,
near San Jose. Can't think of the name at the moment.
You've probably figured out by now that in North America, we have railroads,
we have railways, and there are two or three "rail road"s. But "railroad" is
the most common term. It appears that in the un-revolted colonies (Canada
excepted) "railway" is 100% standard. Correct as far as you know?
mt
Jon Bell
>What you really ought to do, if you can find the time, is to spend
>a day in Sacramento. This, the State Capitol, is about 100 miles from
>SF. (What's that in Metric??? Never mind . . . .) See the California State
>Railroad Museum, spend some time at Milepost One, the bookstore. It's worth
>a whole day.
And you can do it in a day trip via Amtrak from S.F. (Actually, from Oakland,
but Amtrak runs a connecting bus; or you can take BART to Richmond.)
For example, you can leave S.F. at about 7:30am and arrive in Sacramento
about 10:00; then leave Sacramento at about 6:00 pm and get back to S.F.
a bit after 8:00.
I only had a couple of hours in the museum when I was there in June, which
was really frustrating; but fortunately the bookstore was open later than
usual because of the rail festival which happened to be taking place that
weekend. (No, I didn't take Amtrak... I rode up with my brother, and
we had other things to take care of that day.)
Sacramento also has an intresting new light rail line.
--
Jon Bell <jtb...@presby.edu> Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA
Loren I. Petrich
Quick Info:
From downtown San Francisco itself, one can catch BART, the
Muni Metro, the Cable Cars, and a bus to Amtrak trains. BART goes to
the southern border of SF, where an extension is being built, and also
goes to the East Bay, courtesy of an underwater tunnel. For scenery,
check out the Concord line or the Fremont line south of Hayward.
To get to CalTrain (SF -- SJ commuter train), catch the #30
trolleybus at 4th and Market Sts., and get off at 4th and Townsend
Sts. Outside of commute hours, the CalTrains usually leave on the hour
or on the even hour, and the trip to San Jose takes 1.5 hours. At the
Tamien station, one can catch the SJ trolleys, but remember to buy
your ticket from a ticket machine in advance. It goes from some
southern suburbs to downtown SJ to the Great America amusement park.
In downtown SJ on middays and weekends, some antique Heritage Trolleys
are run.
Amtrak? There are currently 3 trains a day (the "Capitols")
from the Bay Area to Sacramento; catch either a bus from SF or from
BART at Richmond. Near the Amtrak station there is the CA State RR
Museum, which is a very good one. About 5 blocks or so away is
Sacramento's new light-rail line, which mostly goes out to some
suburbs.
Good RR shopping? Check out Ace Hardware in Berkeley at
University Ave. and Walnut St. From Berkeley BART station, walk north
to University Ave. and then east to Ace Hardware. In the basement are
_lots_ of RR books and model-RR supplies.
Also, "Milepost One" in Sacramento near the RR museum has a
lot of RR stuff.
Here is something I wrote some time ago for just such an
occasion:
Railroading in the San Francisco Bay Area
Urban-transit and commuter systems. Unless otherwise noted,
they run fairly frequently seven days a week.
The San Francisco Cable Cars.
This system is almost certainly the only street-running,
cable-driven rail-transit system remaining in the world. The are three
remaining lines, and they all run from the central business district
in the northeast part of the city. One of them runs from the
Embarcadero BART station westward on California Ave., while the other
two run from the Powell BART station northward to Hyde and Mason Sts.
to near the waterfront. Near where the lines meet, there is the Cable
Car Museum, where the cable-pulling system may be seen in action. At
the present time, however, it is closed from lack of funds.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit system.
The BART system, arguably one of the finest urban-transit
systems in the world, runs on four lines out from downtown Oakland:
one northward to Berkeley and Richmond, one eastward to Walnut Creek
and Concord, one southward to Hayward and Fremont, and one westward
under the San Francisco Bay to San Francisco itself. Much of the BART
system, including most of the East Bay parts, is above ground,
affording scenic views. There is some very nice scenery to be seen
toward the end of the Fremont line, as well as along the Concord line.
Extensions are currently being built northward from Concord to
Pittsburg and Antioch, eastward from Hayward to Dublin, Pleasanton,
and Livermore, and southward from San Francisco to Colma and San
Francisco's airport; the first two extensions, now served by BART
buses, promise yet more scenery. But one un-scenic, but critical, part
of the system is the Transbay Tube, a tunnel between San Francisco and
Oakland. This tunnel, like the rest of the BART system, survived the
Loma Prieta earthquake intact, while a segment of the Bay Bridge,
which parallels the tunnel, fell down, and took a month to repair.
There are three kinds of cars on the system. The first two
kinds, 440 cars built by Rohr Industries, date from the beginning of
the system in 1972, and are cab cars and cabless mid-train cars, with
the cab cars having the signature sloping cab. The third kind, 150
cars built by Alsthom of France in the late 1980's, are cars with flat
cabs that can be coupled at the cab end, in the fashion of most other
subway cars. Some new cars on order from Morrison-Knudsen will be like
these cars, which exchange esthetics for practicality. A further
indication of pragmatism is the removal of several sloping cabs; these
may be seen from the BART line in the Hayward yard between the South
Hayward and Union City stations. A bit of history is visible at the
Hayward station: to the northeast of the station is a small, two-axle
trolley car (the original of the Toonerville Trolley?) that ran on
the onetime Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward Electric Railway. On the
subject of tourist attractions, in the Powell St. station, there is a
big model of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Muni Metro light-rail system.
Its five lines run underground in the central business
district, and above ground, except for some tunnels, in southern and
western San Francisco. The Boeing Vertol cars are something of an
embarrassment, being of noticeably low quality and having numerous
mechanical troubles; the fleet is to be supplemented with, and perhaps
ultimately replaced by, cars on order from Breda of Italy in 1996.
The Santa Clara County (mostly San Jose) light-rail system.
It runs from a transit mall in downtown San Jose southward to
the Santa Teresa and Almaden suburbs and northward to Tasman Blvd. and
the Great America amusement park and the Santa Clara Convention Center
in Santa Clara. On weekends and middays, in addition to the very
modern rolling stock, historic trolley cars are run on the downtown
San Jose part of the system. It was built in the late 1980's, and
several extensions are in the planning stage. Warning: fares are paid
on an honor system, so be sure to buy a ticket in advance.
CalTrain.
This is a commuter train that runs between San Francisco and
San Jose, serving several places along the way, like San Bruno, San
Mateo, Palo Alto, and Santa Clara. Recently, commute-time service has
been extended southward to Gilroy. The bulk of the service is
commute-time, with off-peak service being every one or two hours, and
departing from San Francisco and San Jose on the hour or even hour as
the case may be. The full trip takes about an hour and a half, so
count on 3 1/2 hours for a round trip. The trains use F40 diesel
locomotives and gallery double-decker passenger cars. They are run in
push-pull mode with the locos pointing southward; going northward, the
trains are run from a cab car at the other end from the loco. CalTrain
also has the honor of being in continuous operation since the late
19th century, making it one of the oldest commuter trains in America.
The San Francisco terminal is at the out-of-the-way location of 4th
and Townsend Sts, while the San Jose station on Cahill St. is a
Mission-style building that bears the name of its former owner and
CalTrain's former operator, the Southern Pacific railroad. Its SF-SJ
route, like CalTrain itself, is now publicly owned, though SP still
owns the tracks to Gilroy. There are speculative plans for moving
CalTrain's SF terminus closer to the Financial District, though such
plans would require a lot of construction and still lack the necessary
financial and political support.
The Sacramento RT Metro light-rail system.
Sacramento is almost, but not quite, Bay Area, but it is now readily
accessible by train from there. It runs from central Sacramento to the
north and to the east. Built in the late 1980's like the San Jose
system, some extensions are planned and fares are on the honor system,
as described for the San Jose system.
[The Transbay Terminal in San Francisco]
This structure, one block south of Market Street near the
Embarcadero BART station, was once the San Francisco terminus of the
Key System trolleys, which ran over the Bay Bridge from when it was
opened in 1938 to when the system was shut down in the 1950's. The
trolleys had served several East Bay communities, but even after the
system was shut down, BART's planners used its lines as a guide.
It is now a major bus terminal, serving as a stop for San
Francisco Muni, Golden Gate (Marin/Sonoma Counties), SamTrans (San
Mateo County), Greyhound, and Amtrak (to Oakland stations) buses, not
to mention some tour buses.
[since I wrote this, Amtrak's SF bus terminal has been moved
to the Ferry Building at the bay end of Market St.]
There are various plans discussed for it, like demolishing it
and building a new bus mall at its site, and restoring rail service to
it. The latter option includes such speculative possibilities as a
CalTrain extension to it, new trolleys to the East Bay crossing the
Bay Bridge (something like a revival of the Key System), and even the
structure being the San Francisco terminus for high-speed trains from
the Los Angeles area.
Amtrak (intercity passenger service).
All of the Bay Area Amtrak routes share a stretch of SP track
that runs from Oakland to Richmond (at the BART station), and from
there along the shore of San Pablo Bay, to Martinez. The San Pablo Bay
segment is great scenery, though slow running from the twisty track.
All trains connect to Amtrak express buses to San Francisco's Transbay
Terminal and CalTrain station in Oakland; buses run from many of the
trains to various Bay Area and neighboring destinations. A large
fraction of the train service is state-supported; California has
probably done more for its trains than any other state. To further
expand service, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
has ordered new locomotives and passenger cars, due to arrive next
year. Also on order is a new Oakland station at Jack London Square, to
replace the old West Oakland one, which was seriously damaged by the
1989 Loma Prieta quake, and which will be torn down when construction
starts on the replacement for the West Oakland segment of I-880,
wrecked in that same earthquake. It reportedly has a beautiful mural
of Mt. Shasta (in northern CA) in it. In the West Oakland SP yard,
Amtrak trains can sometimes be seen, visible from the BART line.
The San Joaquins.
These run from Oakland to Martinez, stopping in Berkeley and
Richmond, and switch over to Santa Fe track for stops at Antioch (on
the San Joaquin River), Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, and Bakersfield.
Buses go from Bakersfield to several points in the Los Angeles area.
Currently 4 trains per direction per day (t/d/d), though there are
plans for going to 6 t/d/d when Caltrans gets more rolling stock.
These trains might be extended to San Jose and Sacramento, the latter
destination now being served by a bus from Stockton.
The Capitols.
These run from San Jose's Cahill St. station along SP and
ex-SP track to Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Martinez, and across the
San Joaquin River to Fairfield, Davis, and Sacramento. Currently 3
t/d/d, though with plans for expansion. In the works are stations for
Hayward and Fremont.
The Coast Starlight.
These run from Los Angeles on the SP coast line to San Jose,
from where they follow most of the Capitols' route to Sacramento, from
where they go onward to Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. Currently 1
t/d/d. Reservations required.
The California Zephyr.
These run from Oakland along the Capitols' route to
Sacramento, from where they go onward to Reno, NV, Salt Lake City, UT,
Denver, CO, Omaha, NE, and Chicago, IL. Currently 1 t/d/d.
Reservations required.
Major freight railroads.
Southern Pacific (SP):
Its Bay Area trackage is: From Oakland, a line runs north to
Richmond and Martinez, where it splits into one to Sacramento and one
to Stockton, both meeting Central Valley lines. Also from Oakland, the
line splits in two south of the Oakland Coliseum, with the two meeting
in San Jose. There is a line connecting the two in Fremont, which also
goes into the abandoned Dumbarton Bridge to the San Francisco - San
Jose line, now publicly owned. The line continues southward from San
Jose to Gilroy, Salinas, and Los Angeles. Amtrak and CalTrain all use
SP or ex-SP lines in the Bay Area; there are major yards in Oakland,
San Jose, and in San Francisco. The Oakland yard is visible from the
West Oakland segment of BART; Amtrak trains and locomotives from other
railroads, like Conrail, sometimes can be seen. It will be partially
replaced by the replacement segment of I-880 there; in anticipation,
there is a yard being built near the BART line south of Lake Merritt.
SP has trackage rights over UP between Fremont and Stockton, and also
over its San Francisco - San Jose line, now publicly owned; SP's own
Fremont - Stockton line is now abandoned, as is its Pleasanton - San
Ramon - Walnut Creek - Martinez line.
Union Pacific (UP):
A line comes from the east from Stockton, through the Altamont
Pass, and goes through Livermore and Pleasanton, going into Niles
Canyon. In Fremont, it meets a north-south line, which has ends at San
Jose and Oakland. From Union City to Oakland, this line is right next
to the BART line. This line once belonged to the Western Pacific,
which disappeared by merger into the UP, and is still known as the
Feather River division from the scenic canyon in the Sierras between
Stockton and Salt Lake City on this route.
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF or Santa Fe):
A line from a yard in Richmond approximately parallel to the
San Pablo Bay SP line, and eastward from Martinez to Stockton and SF's
Central Valley line. There are some impressive steel trestles in the
Martinez area.
Northwestern Pacific (NWP):
This railroad runs from Marin and Sonoma counties northward to
Eureka and Willits, and eastward to the SP line at Fairfield. Its
southernmost point is now Novato, with service through Petaluma and
Santa Rosa; there are abandoned tracks, trestles, and tunnels to be
seen southward, in San Rafael, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Tiburon. It
is now owned by Southern Pacific, and there is the possibility that
commuter service may be run from Santa Rosa to the Larkspur Ferry
Terminal.
Sacramento Northern (SN):
This railroad no longer exists, but once ran from Oakland to
Pittsburg and Antioch, with a ferry link to a line to Sacramento and
beyond. BART now occupies its right-of-way between Walnut Creek and
Concord.
Tourist railroads and railroad museums.
The Niles Canyon Railway, Main St. and Kilkare Rd., Sunol, off
of I-680. It has a big collection of antique rolling stock, including
several kinds of locomotives. Twice a month, there is a free tourist
ride on its line.
The Napa Valley Wine Train, Napa <-> St. Helena. 15
trains/week of gourmet meal trains using ca. 1915 luxury passenger
cars and ca. 1959 diesel locomotives, painted burgundy red, champagne
gold, and grape leaf green. The Gray Line sends tour buses to its Napa
depot from the Transbay Terminal in SF.
Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific Railway, Felton <-> Santa
Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Goes through scenic San Lorenzo Canyon between
the Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay.
Roaring Camp and Big Trees, Felton. Lots of old locos, a ride
through some redwood forests. They are narrow-gauge steam locos, and
were mostly used for logging.
Western Railway Museum, Hwy. 12, 10 mi. E of Fairfield, a.k.a.
Rio Vista Junction. Over 120 old streetcars, interurbans, locomotives,
passenger cars, etc. Some of this rolling stock can be ridden by
visitors on the museum's tracks.
Train Town, Hwy. 12, 1 mi S of Sonoma Plaza. A 1/4-scale
railroad complete with buildings and a menagerie of small animals.
Three full-sized cabooses are also on display.
California State Railroad Museum, in Old Sacramento,
Sacramento, CA. The largest railroad museum in North America, it has
several old locomotives, including one of the biggest steam locos ever
built (an SP "Cab Forward"), as well as some old passenger cars,
including an opulent private car once owned by a railroad magnate.
Nearby is a tourist railroad that runs a few miles to the south, and
also a riverboat. It is very close to the Sacramento Amtrak station,
and is readily accessible from the Bay Area via Amtrak's Capitols. One
can go there on the first train of the day and return on the last one,
and still have plenty of time for touristic fun.
Railroad-oriented hobby shops.
Ace Hardware, Berkeley. University Ave. and Walnut St. From
the Berkeley BART station (on Shattuck Ave.), walk a block or so north
to University Ave. and then a block east. Big collection of railroad,
aviation, space, and military model kits and magazine, and a working
model railroad.
Note on access:
I do _not_ recommend driving in some of this territory, such
as downtown San Francisco and Berkeley. Traffic is often a mess, and
parking is _very_ hard to find. If you are traveling by car, then park
in some outlying BART station and take BART to wherever you are trying
to get to. Some of the sights listed here are visible from BART lines,
though I should warn everybody that BART's trains are rather fast and
one won't get a very long look from them.
Invitation to readers of this file:
To write similar files on railroading in their home areas.
History, interesting details, etc. My list has been somewhat biased
towards railroads that one can ride on, such as urban-transit systems,
commuter trains, and Amtrak. And when presenting access, present
non-car access (local buses and/or rail systems) whenever it is
available.
--
/Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster
/l...@s1.gov
Garth G. Groff
the Archivist who operates in the old town area about
three blocks from the railroad museum. He deals in
old paper items like books, postcards and stock
certificates. Lots of railroad stuff including photos.
Last time I was there he had three books of old
Illinios Terminal photos. His prices have gone up
in recent years, but he is still fair. Usually he
opens up after lunch, but hours are pretty irregular.
As for San Francisco:
I suggest seeing the State Maritime Museum at the end
of Hyde Street. That's near the end of one of the cable
car lines, and close to Ghirdelli Square and the
Cannery (interesting shopping areas in old factories).
The museum has several restored ships, including one
of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad's ferries.
Franciscan Hobbies is one of the best stocked (but
cramped) train shops in the area. I don't really know
what they have in the way of books, but they have lots
of trains. Usually you have to ask for what you want
and they climb a ladder or haul it out from a box
under the counter. Check the phone book or MODEL
RAILROADER for an address. The Muni streetcar runs
past the shop; I forget the line number, but it is the
line that goes to the city college.
Another interesting shop is called Mailways. It is in
the downtown industrial area, almost under one end of
the Oakland Bay Bridge. It is a rough neighborhood
(and probably worse now!) so be careful. The shop is
an adjunct to a printing business, and is above the
press rooms.
--
Garth (Haridas) Groff
"Not yet famous author"
gg...@poe.acc.virginia.EDU Chant "Govinda Bohlo Hare"
Ed Greenberg
COnnection Amtrak service from Oakland to Sacramento, walk to the museum
and bookstore, walk to Old Sacramento, and then back to the train.
There is an entire day's activity within walking distance of the
station, and you can also take busses and light rail to other Sacramento
attractions (state capitol, for instance).
Enjoy,
-edg
--
Ed Greenberg e...@netcom.com Ham Radio: KM6CG
John McLachlan
In article <1993Aug2.0...@mel.dit.csiro.au> a...@squid.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh) writes:
>Looks like I'm getting a trip to San Francisco in late August.
>This immediately raises lots of interesting railway questions:
>
>Apart from the cable cars, BART, and the Muni, what is worth seeing?
The cable car museum in SF is worth a quick stop...
John McLachlan
Draper Lab
Cambridge, MA
aka jmcla...@draper.com
:-)
Garth G. Groff
usually go (assuming they are still in business
and haven't been discovered since I was last in
The City)
Govinda's (Carl Street)--Excellent Indian vegetarian
food at very reasonable prices.
Owl and Monkey (street unknown)--Hippie food like
sandwiches with sprouts, homemade bread, soups, etc.
It is/was right on one of the trolley lines. There
was an interesting bookstore about two doors up.
Ginzburg's Authentic Irish Pub--This used to be a
great watering hole. It was about a block from the
Mason Street cable car turntable. Didn't used to
be crowded. Great Yiddish coffee.
Magic Pan (at Ghirdelli Square)--great crepes. It's
a chain and there might be others around the city.
Usually crowded, but great views of the Bay.
It has been several years since I was in The City, so
I am sorry if these turn out to be duds or are gone.
~S
Sir Lunchalot du Sac
|>This immediately raises lots of interesting railway questions:
Books are available at Franciscan Hobbies on Ocean Ave. Ocean is on the K
Ingleside streetcar line between downtown and City College.
If you have a bit of time and don't mind getting a ride from one or more
perfect strangers, I think we could get you to The Train Shop in Santa Clara.
This visit, by the way, calls for a bay area railfan event! Andrew won't have
a car, but plenty of us will. How about a group tour some place like - like
Roaring Camp. Group rates include the Bar-B-Queue.
Other possible venues include Golden Gate Live Steamers in Tilden Park, Niles
Cyn Scenic Rwy, Rio Vista Jct, and Sacramento.
I call on bay-areans with ideas to send 'em to me via email and I'll try to
coordinate something. I've asked Andrew to post a timetable for his visit;
that should help us firm up plans.
--
Nolan Hinshaw
Internet: no...@twg.com Dingalingnet: (415)962-7197
Bob MacDowell
- The Muni LRV system. They run in subway under Market Street. Take a
J Church train (the prettiest line) over the one of the steepest adhesion
railway grades in America, then in the old Southern Pacific cut to Balboa
Park. Change there to a K Ingleside train, up to West Portal and through
the old Twin Peaks tunnel and back into the subway.
(Buy a MUNI map at any drugstore or bookstore; $1.50; a very good map of
The City as well as the official transit map.)
-The Cable Cars. Ride the California Street line which is never very busy.
If you MUST ride the Powell/Hyde or Powell/Mason lines, do so in the early
morning before the tourists get up. They're **BUSY** all the time and be
ready to stand in line over an hour.
-The Market Street Railway at Church and Duboce Streets. Right in the
shadow of the Mint, and where the J and N LRV lines enter the surface.
Get there on any LRV service; from a K/L/M get off at Church St. Station
and follow the tracks north and east toward the Mint. They're open seven
days, although not running except on major holidays.
- BART. The most boring line is San Francisco to Daly City.
The prettiest line is Oakland-Concord. Oakland-Fremont is flat and straight
and loooooong; Oakland-Richmond is mixed subway and elevated and mostly
flat and straight. I recommend you ride the Concord line, which is most
convenient since it runs all day from the City.
- MUNI Trolley Buses. The coolest line is probably the 1 California
between downtown and van Ness. Big hills!!! But any will do; the 33 is
also kind of neat, if infrequent, between Castro and Haight.
- CalTrain. Don't feel obligated to ride it all the way to San Jose. It's
a LOOOOOONG ride. Look on a schedule, but you should be able to ride a
fair bit of it in an hour and a half. If on a weekday evening, get #62
at 5:20p out of the City. Get off at California Avenue and check out that
part of Palo Alto. Great Dim Sum at Cho's, a hole in the wall a block up from
the station. Kirk's has great burgers. Printer's Ink Books is a good general
interest bookstore.
- Amtrak to Sacramento. Be aware that Amtrak is running a "2 for 1" fare
scheme Monday through Thursday. This Is Not A Good Thing because they're
filling up the trains, leaving standing room only on the first and last trips
of the day. If you go to Sac, best to make it Friday or a weekend, and
overcrowding will be vastly reduced. The trip's not long, two hours or
so, and there's a shuttle bus from either the Ferry Terminal or CalTrain.
- Ferry Terminal. Damn, I forgot about that! There's ferries to Marin
County, Vallejo and Oakland. Never rode 'em though.
Have a nice trip!
-Bob
Andrew Waugh
>This visit, by the way, calls for a bay area railfan event! Andrew won't have
>a car, but plenty of us will. How about a group tour some place like - like
>Roaring Camp. Group rates include the Bar-B-Queue.
>
>coordinate something. I've asked Andrew to post a timetable for his visit;
>that should help us firm up plans.
Nolan,
Thanks for a wonderful suggestion, but most of my time will be taken
up conferencing, and the few free days I'll have will be more than
adequately filled by activities that people have suggestted. There
is no need to organise anything special, I suspect I'll be busy
enough as it is...
andrew waugh