2015-09-11-0004-SF-Montgomery-1974-01-12
Davis, Starlight, SF, BART, Commutes, San Jose, 12 Feb 1974
Lincoln's Birthday was school holiday in 1974, and a friend and I took advantage of the day off to take a trip to San Francisco.
BART has recently started running and we wanted to have a first ride on BART, and we also wanted to record the SP's commute operations at Third and Townsend Street station, which was in its last year or so of operation before being replaced by the station at 4th Street that Caltrain still uses. Fairbanks-Morse power was also in its last year or so on Southern Pacific and we wanted a ride behind a big H-24-66.
So, before dawn, we were at the Davis station waiting for #11 to come down the West Valley line. (For Amtrak's first 10 years or so, the Coast Starlight turned north at Davis, bypassing Sacramento and Chico, but saving an hour or so on its Oakland-Oregon schedule. This was in keeping with SP's practice from the days when their trains were seen as through Oakland-Oregon services and Sacramento passenges could connect at Davis by local train, bus or car.) The Davis arrival and departure board still showed the train as the Cascade, but had changed the northbound number to 14 instead of the Cascade's 12.
We must taken the Starlight to Oakland and the connecting bus to San Francisco as the BART transbay tube did not open for passengers until later in 1974. We seem to have ridden BART from Montgomery Street to Daly City and back. We then walked down 3rd Street to the SP station.
SP's 3rd and Townsend Street station was completed in time for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition and was intended to be a temporary facility. Temporary wound up being 60 years. By 1974, it was showing its age and the fact that SP had lost interest in passenger service earlier than most western railroads. Amtrak had moved the last intercity passenger train that served San Francisco, the Coast Daylight, over to Oakland and combined it with SP's Cascade and a BN pool train to create the Seattle-LA Coast Starlight, leaving 3rd and Townsend a commuter only station. Ridership on the commutes was stagnant, SP was losing money and not inclined to spend more on a money losing operation, but the state Public Utilities Commission would not allow SP to cancel the service.
As 3rd and Townsend was past its "best before" date, plans had been made to build a new station a block south at 4th Street and the new interlocking tower for the new station had been built. Construction would soon start on 4th St. station and when it was ready, 3rd and Townsend would be demolished. Today you could stand where I did to shoot these photos and not recognize anything except for some of the track looking south photos.
The weather was rainy part of the day, but cleared toward afternoon. We wandered around the station area, shooting arrivals and departures during the day and the commute parade lining up for departure. We shot some commutes departing, then boarded one, led by F-M 3022, that would get us into San Jose in time to catch the Coast Starlight back to Davis.
I got a few shots at San Jose, then must have decided that shots of the Starlight would not be worth it as it arrived well after dark.
The was the first of quite a few around the bay trips I've taken by train over the years, sometimes going and coming on the Starlight, these days, more likely on the Capitol Corridor. Pretty much everything has changed as far as trains and equipment, other than the original BART cars still soldiering on. The Capitol Corridor was undreamed of in 1974, and it would be 11 years before Caltrain would replace the SP equipment on the commutes.
2015-09-11-0004-SF-Montgomery-1974-01-12
Davis, Starlight, SF, BART, Commutes, San Jose, 12 Feb 1974
Lincoln's Birthday was school holiday in 1974, and a friend and I took advantage of the day off to take a trip to San Francisco.
BART has recently started running and we wanted to have a first ride on BART, and we also wanted to record the SP's commute operations at Third and Townsend Street station, which was in its last year or so of operation before being replaced by the station at 4th Street that Caltrain still uses. Fairbanks-Morse power was also in its last year or so on Southern Pacific and we wanted a ride behind a big H-24-66.
So, before dawn, we were at the Davis station waiting for #11 to come down the West Valley line. (For Amtrak's first 10 years or so, the Coast Starlight turned north at Davis, bypassing Sacramento and Chico, but saving an hour or so on its Oakland-Oregon schedule. This was in keeping with SP's practice from the days when their trains were seen as through Oakland-Oregon services and Sacramento passenges could connect at Davis by local train, bus or car.) The Davis arrival and departure board still showed the train as the Cascade, but had changed the northbound number to 14 instead of the Cascade's 12.
We must taken the Starlight to Oakland and the connecting bus to San Francisco as the BART transbay tube did not open for passengers until later in 1974. We seem to have ridden BART from Montgomery Street to Daly City and back. We then walked down 3rd Street to the SP station.
SP's 3rd and Townsend Street station was completed in time for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition and was intended to be a temporary facility. Temporary wound up being 60 years. By 1974, it was showing its age and the fact that SP had lost interest in passenger service earlier than most western railroads. Amtrak had moved the last intercity passenger train that served San Francisco, the Coast Daylight, over to Oakland and combined it with SP's Cascade and a BN pool train to create the Seattle-LA Coast Starlight, leaving 3rd and Townsend a commuter only station. Ridership on the commutes was stagnant, SP was losing money and not inclined to spend more on a money losing operation, but the state Public Utilities Commission would not allow SP to cancel the service.
As 3rd and Townsend was past its "best before" date, plans had been made to build a new station a block south at 4th Street and the new interlocking tower for the new station had been built. Construction would soon start on 4th St. station and when it was ready, 3rd and Townsend would be demolished. Today you could stand where I did to shoot these photos and not recognize anything except for some of the track looking south photos.
The weather was rainy part of the day, but cleared toward afternoon. We wandered around the station area, shooting arrivals and departures during the day and the commute parade lining up for departure. We shot some commutes departing, then boarded one, led by F-M 3022, that would get us into San Jose in time to catch the Coast Starlight back to Davis.
I got a few shots at San Jose, then must have decided that shots of the Starlight would not be worth it as it arrived well after dark.
The was the first of quite a few around the bay trips I've taken by train over the years, sometimes going and coming on the Starlight, these days, more likely on the Capitol Corridor. Pretty much everything has changed as far as trains and equipment, other than the original BART cars still soldiering on. The Capitol Corridor was undreamed of in 1974, and it would be 11 years before Caltrain would replace the SP equipment on the commutes.