The Berkeley Branch Railroad was a long

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) from a junction in what later became

Emeryville Emeryville may refer to: * Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San ...

called "

Shellmound A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and eco ...

" to what soon became downtown

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, adjacent to the new

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

campus. The line opened on August 16, 1876. The initial terminal point was at Shattuck and University Avenues in Berkeley (designated "Berkeley Terminus"). In 1878, the line was extended north along Shattuck to Vine ("Berryman's Station") with the original terminus then becoming Berkeley Station. The line connected at Shellmound with trains headed to the

Oakland Pier The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Rai ...

and

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

to San Francisco. Beginning on January 22, 1882, Berkeley Branch trains proceeded directly to the pier. The line was constructed in no small part because of heavy lobbying by prominent local citizens like

Francis K. Shattuck Francis Kittredge Shattuck (March 6, 1824 – September 9, 1898) was the most prominent civic leader in the early history of Berkeley, California, and played an important role in the creation and government of Alameda County as well. He also ...

and people connected with the University of California. The Berkeley Branch Railroad was used under lease by the Central Pacific until 1885 when it was leased by the CPRR's affiliate, the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). In 1888, the SP consolidated the Berkeley Branch Railroad into its subsidiary, the Northern Railway. Although the corporate Berkeley Branch ceased to exist at that time, its trackage continued to be called the "Berkeley branch line". In 1911, the line was electrified for commuter service, becoming a part of the SP's

East Bay Electric Lines The East Bay Electric Lines were a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad that operated electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.Tufveson.Ford (1977). Beginning in 1862, the SP and its predecessors opera ...

. When SP ceased running its electric commuter trains in July 1941, the trackage up to Ward Street and Shattuck Avenue remained in use for freight and was referred to as the "Berkeley Lead". Until the early 1960s, the SP Ward Street Freight Depot was the Berkeley terminal point. Beyond Ward, the tracks were turned over to the Key System for its F-line commuter trains which ran until April 1958. The Key System had previously used its own tracks, shared with streetcars (until 1948), along the east side of Shattuck. The Berkeley Branch tracks had always run along the west side of Shattuck south of University Avenue. The Berkeley Branch route began at Shellmound where it was connected to the main line of the CPRR and its successor, the SP. A switching tower existed there, the Shellmound Tower. The tracks then curved onto Stanford Avenue, then Adeline, then Shattuck into downtown Berkeley. Operations of locomotives on the Berkeley Branch prior to the re-engineering of tracks which accompanied electrification required running "tender-first" in one direction as the Berkeley Branch was a single-track line having no way to turn the engines at the end of the line. Part of the line corresponds to Bay Area Rapid Transit's route through Berkeley, on Shattuck and Adeline streets but rebuilt as a subway.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley Branch Railroad Defunct California railroads Railway companies established in 1876 Railway companies disestablished in 1888 Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Transportation in Alameda County, California Public transportation in Alameda County, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area History of Berkeley, California Emeryville, California 1876 establishments in California 19th century in Berkeley, California American companies established in 1876 1888 disestablishments in California American companies disestablished in 1888