The Shipyard Railway was an electric
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
/
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...
line that served workers at the
Richmond Shipyards
The four Richmond Shipyards, in the city of Richmond, California, United States, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the Kaiser Shipyards. In World War II, Richmond built more ships than any other shipyard, turning out as many as three ships ...
in
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council. , United States, during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was funded by the
United States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...
and was built and operated by the
Key System
The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area fr ...
, which already operated similar lines in the
East Bay
The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...
. The line ran from a pair of stations on the
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 ...
/
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
border – where transfer could be made to other Key System lines – northwest through Emeryville,
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 ...
,
Albany, and Richmond to the shipyards. It operated partially on city streets and partially on a dedicated right-of-way paralleling the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
mainline.
The Maritime Commission authorized the line in June 1942 over two competing proposals and construction began that August. It was built quickly with available materials, including rails reused from other lines and a bridge constructed from old
turntable
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
s. The line operated with former elevated railway cars from New York City, which were rebuilt for use on the Shipyard Railway. Service began to Shipyard #2 on January 18, 1943, with two extensions to the other shipyards over the following month. It closed on September 30, 1945, after the conclusion of the war. Most of the 90 cars were later scrapped, but two are preserved at the
Western Railway Museum
The Western Railway Museum, in Solano County, California is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of the
Sacramento Northern Railway. Their collection focuses on trolleys, as it is ...
.
Route
![Shipyard Railway test train at 40th and San Pablo, January 1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Shipyard_Railway_test_train_at_40th_and_San_Pablo%2C_January_1943.jpg)
The southern terminus of the line was at Yerba Buena Avenue (40th Street) and Louise Street on the
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 ...
/
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
border. A
fare control
In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...
led platform was built for the Shipyard trains. Connections could be made there with Key System routes A and B, which turned south on Louise Street, outside of fare control. The line ran east on 40th Street (on the south side of the Key System mainline) to San Pablo Avenue, where a pair of fare controlled platforms were located; connections could be made there with other Key System routes outside of fare control.
The line ran north on San Pablo Avenue, turned west for two blocks on Grayson Street, then continued north on Ninth Street.
Splitting from Ninth Street, it crossed
Codornices Creek
Codornices Creek (sometimes spelled and/or pronounced "Cordonices"), long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 is one of the principal creeks which runs out o ...
and ran diagonally northwest on a private right-of-way across
Albany Village, a federal housing project for war workers. A curved
trestle bridge
A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles trian ...
brought the line over the main line of the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
(SP). It ran north on dedicated tracks between the
Eastshore Highway
Interstate 80 (I-80) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The segment of I-80 in California runs east from San Francisc ...
and the Southern Pacific tracks.
Wigwags were used at grade crossings on this segment.
The line turned west along Potrero Avenue in Richmond, reaching Shipyard #2 at 14th Street.
After the stop at the Pre-fab Yard (10th Street), it turned north on 8th Street to Cutting Boulevard. It ran west on Cutting Boulevard with a stop at Shipyard #1 at 5th Street.
Near Canal Boulevard, the line turned south onto private right-of-way, with stops at Shipyard #4 and Shipyard #3.
The line was fully double track except for Grayson Street and two short sections in Richmond.
Express trains at shift changes served only the shipyard stops and the Key System transfer points at 40th Avenue. Local trains ran every 35–40 minutes and served additional local stops in Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, and Richmond.
Map detail
Running time was about 45 minutes for local trains and several minutes faster for express trains.
History
![Construction of Key System bridge, 1942](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Construction_of_Key_System_bridge%2C_1942.jpg)
As the
Richmond Shipyards
The four Richmond Shipyards, in the city of Richmond, California, United States, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the Kaiser Shipyards. In World War II, Richmond built more ships than any other shipyard, turning out as many as three ships ...
were expanded at the beginning of World War II, mass transit was needed to bring East Bay workers to the shipyards.
Two "belt line" proposals were advanced in early 1942. "Plan 1", created by an Oakland mayoral commission, would have run from
San Leandro
San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...
to the shipyards.
It would have reused several abandoned
Interurban Electric Railway
The East Bay Electric Lines were a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad that operated electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.Tufveson.Ford (1977). Beginning in 1862 ...
(IER) lines: the Dutton Avenue line (some of which had been taken over by the Key System), tracks along the SP mainline, the 7th Street Line, and the 9th Street Line. New trackage would have been built from Solano Avenue along Panhandle Boulevard (now Carlson Boulevard) and Cutting Boulevard. An alternate proposal by a business association would have used existing
Western Pacific Railroad
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...
, SP, and
Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
tracks.
On June 6, 1942, the
United States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...
authorized the Key System to construct and operate a line connecting the
Richmond Shipyards
The four Richmond Shipyards, in the city of Richmond, California, United States, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the Kaiser Shipyards. In World War II, Richmond built more ships than any other shipyard, turning out as many as three ships ...
to existing mass transit lines in Oakland. The "belt line" proposals were rejected at that time.
The line was built from scrap and available materials, as the war made regular construction materials unavailable. The portion on San Pablo Avenue shared the tracks of the #2 streetcar line of Key System subsidiary Oakland Traction Company, while the Ninth Avenue portion reused part of a 1941-abandoned IER line.
Rails were salvaged from other defunct lines, including portions of the IER, abandoned Key System streetcar lines, and even the
Pacific Electric Railway
The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...
in Los Angeles.
A new quarry was opened in Albany to provide
track ballast
Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties (sleepers) are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to bear the load from the railroad ties, to facilitate drainage of water, and also to keep down veget ...
, as existing quarries were at capacity.
Overhead lines were reused from Key System streetcar lines and from the
Bay Bridge. (Key System cars used
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
on the bridge, and the
Sacramento Northern Railway and IER had discontinued service using the bridge in 1941).
Two defunct IER substations were relocated to provide power.
For the trestle over the SP mainline, bridge beams were fashioned out of used SP
turntables
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
from
Bayshore and
Tracy.
Timbers were reused from the Key System mole (pier), which had been abandoned after the completion of the Bay Bridge.
![Shipyard Special logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Shipyard_Special_logo.jpg)
The line was constructed by the Key System under a $1.65 million contract (equivalent to $ million in ) from the Marine Commission. Around-the-clock construction began on August 3, 1942. Testing of trains on Ninth Avenue began on December 1, 1942.
The line opened as far as Shipyard #2 on January 18, 1943.
It was extended to Shipyard #1 on February 1, and to Shipyard #3 on February 22.
This completion allowed most bus service to the shipyards – which used scarce gasoline and tire rubber – to be discontinued.
Built for 50,000 passengers a day, the Shipyard Railway only operated at 20% capacity; it was heavily used at shift changes but poorly used at other times.
Although it was planned to primarily serve riders from Oakland and San Francisco, the fare structure discouraged ridership from those points, and the highest ridership was within Richmond.
A 1945 government report noted that "The shipyard management actually went out of its way to propagandize against the railway almost as soon as it started service and criticized Key for schedules which were specified by the shipyard's own staff."
The line was "half a century out of date the day it opened"; the old wooden cars rode roughly and had uncomfortable seating.
Because construction was done cheaply with available materials, the track quality deteriorated quickly. By early 1945, most curves were no longer smooth, and two had significant kinks.
Shipbuilding continued even after the war ended in August 1945, but many workers switched to private automobiles as gasoline rationed ended. The Shipyard Railway was offered to the Key System, but the Key declined, viewing the line as unprofitable. It would have required substantial reconstruction for continued service, as well as new trackage to serve downtown Richmond.
Service ended on September 30, 1945, and the line was quickly dismantled.
Rolling stock
![Interior of Shipyard Railway car, January 1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Interior_of_Shipyard_Railway_car%2C_January_1943.jpg)
For unknown reasons, the Maritime Commission did not acquire rolling stock from the IER or the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad interurban lines, which had also been abandoned in 1941.
Instead, the commission purchased 90 obsolete
New York City elevated ("El") cars awaiting scrap. These wood-bodied cars had been built in 1887 for the
IRT Second Avenue Line
The IRT Second Avenue Line, also known as the Second Avenue Elevated or Second Avenue El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan, New York City, United States, from 1878 to 1942. It was operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company until 194 ...
as coaches pulled by steam locomotives. They were converted for
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
operation in 1900, and retired when the elevated line closed in 1942.
The elevated cars were purchased by the Maritime Commission in June 1942 and overhauled in the Key System's Emeryville shops that August.
The commission supplied
maritime gray paint for the cars.
The elevated cars had been built for high-level platforms in New York. Wooden platforms were installed at the express stops.
Local trains were operated with Key System "bridge units" until a small number of the elevated cars were refitted with folding steps to allow them to serve street-level stops.
The cars were operated as
married pair
A twin unit or twinset is a set of two railroad cars or locomotives which are permanently coupled and treated as if they were a single unit. A twinset of cars or coaches can also be called a twin car. In US passenger railroad parlance, twin u ...
s. One car in each pair had an ex-IER
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
, which replaced the third rail equipment used in New York.
Typical train lengths were four to six cars.
After the line's closure, most of the cars were scrapped or sold off for use as sheds or bunkhouses.
Married pair #561 and #563 were purchased by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. They remained at the Key System yard in Emeryville until 1960, when they were moved to the
Western Railway Museum
The Western Railway Museum, in Solano County, California is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of the
Sacramento Northern Railway. Their collection focuses on trolleys, as it is ...
for preservation.
References
Notes
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*Western Railway Museum
Key System 561an
Key System 563
{{Richmond, California
Defunct California railroads
History of the San Francisco Bay Area
Interurban railways in California
United States home front during World War II
Transportation in Contra Costa County, California
Electric railways in California
Railway lines opened in 1943
Railway lines closed in 1945