The San Francisco and Oakland Railroad (SF&O) was built in 1862 to provide ferry-train service from a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

ferry terminal connecting with railroad service through

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 ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

. In 1868

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

decided that Oakland would be the west coast terminus of the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

and bought SF&O. Beginning November 8, 1869, part of the SF&O line served as the westernmost portion of the transcontinental railroad. It subsequently was absorbed into 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). The track in Oakland was electrified in 1911 and extended across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 1939. Service was abandoned in 1941.

History

Early Oakland, 7th and Adeline Streets, The Southern Pacific Depot, by William Keith, 1867

The San Francisco and Oakland Railroad (and Ferry Co.) was formed in October 1861 under the leadership of Rodman Gibbons and other Oakland residents in order to provide transportation to Oakland by means of a

ferry 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 taxi ...

from San Francisco to a small wharf at

Oakland Point Oakland Point, or Gibbons' Point, was a small promontory formerly on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in West Oakland, California. It was located in the vicinity of what is now the Port of Oakland shipping terminal. History Oakland Point ...

where passengers could take a train into Oakland. Service began in September 1862 along 7th St. to a station in

downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lak ...

at Broadway. Traffic increased steadily so an extension of the line was planned. In 1864 the track was extended across a bridge over Indian Creek Slough, the outlet to

Lake Merritt Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon in the center of Oakland, California, just east of Downtown. It is surrounded by parkland and city neighborhoods. It is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designate ...

, then along private right-of-way adjacent to San Antonio Creek (

Oakland Estuary The Oakland Estuary is the strait in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, separating the cities of Oakland and Alameda and the Alameda Island from the East Bay mainland. On its western end, it connects to San Francisco Bay San Francis ...

) to the Commerce St. Wharf (foot of 14th Ave) in

. The cost of the extension and of building a new larger ferry boat caused Gibbons and his associates to lose control of the company SF&O in 1865 to A. A. Cohen, president of the

San Francisco and Alameda Railroad The San Francisco and Alameda Railroad (SF&A) was a short-lived railroad company in the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. The railroad line opened 1864–1865 from Alameda Terminal on Alameda Island to Hayward, California, with ferry ...

(SF&A). After

(CP) decided in April 1868 to make Oakland the western terminus of the

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

, its subsidiary purchased the majority of the stock of the struggling SF&O from A. A. Cohen in August 1868 and began to expand the small wharf at

. In August 1869 the CP subsidiary also purchased the majority of the stock of SF&A, bankrupt by the 1868 Hayward earthquake. In 1870 they merged the two local railroads together and then brought them back into the Central Pacific. Meanwhile, the

Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870) 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 ...

had surveyed a line from San Jose via

Niles Canyon Niles Canyon is a canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area formed by Alameda Creek, known for its heritage railroad and silent movie history. The canyon is largely in an unincorporated area of Alameda County, while the western portion of the canyo ...

and

Altamont Pass Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, but ran out of money in a 1866 dispute, after laying 20 miles of track from San Jose into the middle of

. By 1868, a CP subsidiary had purchased the WP line and then restarted the construction of it, through a contract with Turton, Knox & Ryan, beginning February 1868 from Sacramento working south to connect with the line beginning, later in June 1869, eastward from the point Western Pacific had stopped in Niles Canyon. Also in June 1869, they added a new line, through a contract with J. H. Strobridge, from Niles northwest towards Oakland. In September 1869 this new line towards Oakland was first connected temporarily to the SF&A at

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 ...

. The first through Western Pacific train from Sacramento arrived on September 6, 1869 at the SF&A

Alameda Terminal Alameda Terminal (a.k.a. Alameda Wharf) was a railroad station and ferry wharf at the foot and west of present-day Pacific Avenue and Main Street in Alameda, California, on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay with ferry service to San Fran ...

, and then by SF&A ferry to San Francisco, just in time for the opening of the 1869 State Fair in Sacramento, completing the

first transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

to the Pacific. Two months later, the connection to the SF&O was made and the small Oakland Point wharf was expanded. On the morning of November 8, 1869, the first transcontinental train to use the expanded ferry terminal at Oakland Point traversed the SF&O line and the Western Pacific Railroad to get to Sacramento and continue east on the Central Pacific Railroad. The city of Oakland held a large celebration later in the day to greet the first westbound transcontinental train. Having large amounts of long-distance passenger and freight railroad traffic traverse Oakland on 7th St., one of its main streets, was not a good idea for either the city or the railroad. During 1869 and 1870, a bypass track was constructed starting in San Antonio and using a new bridge across Indian Creek Slough that led to 1st St. and along this street to Oakland Point. Initially the bypass was used for freight trains only, but in later years, long-distance passenger trains used it also and a new station for them was built at 1st St. and Broadway (

Jack London Square Jack London Square is an entertainment and business destination on the waterfront of Oakland, California, United States. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, Amtrak ...

). After 1879, the transcontinental trains no longer used the Altamont Pass Niles Canyon route, taking a shorter route from Sacramento via Benicia to reach

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 ...

instead, but trains to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

continued to use the former SF&O and Western Pacific routes to reach San Jose. On 7th St. there was still a large amount of traffic of local steam passenger trains as the service was extended farther into East Oakland. The Central Pacific Railroad was leased to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1885. In 1911 the SP started electrifying its local train service in the

East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area) 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 Oakland 7th St. line was extended to Dutton Ave. in

and carried the most passengers of any line in the system. In 1939, under the subsidiary company,

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) the line was rerouted over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge into the

San Francisco Transbay Terminal The San Francisco Transbay Terminal was a transportation complex in San Francisco, California, United States, roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north–south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east–west by Beale Street and 2 ...

. IER service on the 7th St. line was abandoned in March, 1941, but the track on 7th St. from Broadway to Pine St. was put back in service (1943–1946) 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 ...

to enable streetcars of 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 ...

to reach several military installations.

Ferryboats

The first ferryboat used by the SF&O, the leased ''Contra Costa'', had previously been in service from San Francisco to the foot of Broadway. The lease ended in 1864 and the SF&O purchased the ferryboat ''Louise'' to replace it. With the extended railroad line, traffic increased considerably and the ''Louise'' was soon inadequate for regular service. The larger river packet ''Washoe'', having been damaged in an explosion, was purchased, extensively rebuilt as a ferryboat, and placed in service. In 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad controlled the SF&O and anticipated much increased traffic when the transcontinental railroad was completed to Oakland. They ordered a new even larger ferryboat, the ''El Capitan'', from a new shipyard at Oakland Point, and placed it in service.

Locomotives

The SF&O originally purchased a small, unnamed, 2-2-0 type locomotive and a larger 4-4-4 type

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

named the ''Liberty''. In 1863, needing another locomotive, the SF&O purchased a 2-2-4 type combination locomotive and express car from a line in San Francisco. It was unnamed, but was unofficially called ''Old Betsy''. By 1869, a more powerful locomotive was needed to pull longer trains, so a new 4-4-0 type locomotive was ordered and named the ''Oakland''. With the SF&O merged into the Central Pacific Railroad in 1870, the former SF&O locomotives were sent to various other locations on the CP system and CP locomotives were brought in to pull the local trains on 7th St.

References

* * * * *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Francisco Oakland Railroad Defunct California railroads Passenger rail transportation in California Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Public transportation in Alameda County, California Rail transportation in Oakland, California History of Oakland, California First transcontinental railroad

History

Ferryboats

Locomotives

References

See also

Notes