Nostalgia & History > Traction

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/15 06:01 by drumwrencher.

Wow! Interesting set of pictures after interesting set of pictures. Thanks for posting them. I wait for more.


Marty Bernard

My great grandfather worked as a motorman on the key system from 1947 until eventually retiring from AC Transit in 1973. He worked out of the Lake Merritt car barn, and then the bus yard on SL Blvd. & Seminary...
(SpHero)

The 271 was purchased by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association, is still operable and is at the Western Ry Museum in Solano County.

Wow! Walter, those are great! It would be interesting to see how much coverage of the Key system there would be with your photos and Stash's combined.

I wonder what it was about your father's camera that tended to fairly consistently underexpose a hunk of the lower right if the image. Do you know what sort of camera he used?

No need to apologize for the equality, they're great! There are almost always some camera artifacts from images that old; I probably should have just ignored that one rather than mentioning it.

drumwrencher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SpHero2015 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > My great grandfather worked as a motorman on
> the
> > key system from 1947 until eventually retiring
> > from AC Transit in 1973. He worked out of the
> Lake
> > Merritt car barn, and then the bus yard on SL
> > Blvd. & Seminary...
> > (SpHero)
>
>
> If memory serves, around 1946-47 was when the Key
> Route sold out to National City Lines, and became
> the Key System. I don't remember anymore - where
> was the Lake Merritt barn? I remember there was a
> car barn at 51st and Telegraph. It was used into
> the AC era, until they sold the property to make a
> strip mall.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Walter


Hi Walter--
"Central Car House" (at Lake Merritt) was located at 3rd Avenue & East 18th Street in Oakland.

KRK

drumwrencher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SpHero2015 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > My great grandfather worked as a motorman on
> the
> > key system from 1947 until eventually retiring
> > from AC Transit in 1973. He worked out of the
> Lake
> > Merritt car barn, and then the bus yard on SL
> > Blvd. & Seminary...
> > (SpHero)
>
>
> If memory serves, around 1946-47 was when the Key
> Route sold out to National City Lines, and became
> the Key System. I don't remember anymore - where
> was the Lake Merritt barn? I remember there was a
> car barn at 51st and Telegraph. It was used into
> the AC era, until they sold the property to make a
> strip mall.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Walter

Hi Walter-
Correction to your KEY SYSTEM date...
In 1908, the SFOSJR changed its name to the San Francisco, Oakland & San Jose Consolidated Railway, changed to the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railway in 1912. This went bankrupt in December 1923 and was re-organized as the Key System Transit Co., transforming a marketing buzzword into the name of the company.

Following the Great Crash of 1929, a holding company called the Railway Equipment & Realty Co. was created, with the subsidiary Key System Ltd running the commuter trains. In 1938, the name became the Key System.

KRK

> I remember there was a car barn at 51st and Telegraph. It was used into the AC era, until they sold the property to make a strip mall.

AC never used the place because after the streetcars were abandoned, it was sold and became a food market. About 20-25 years ago, it was resold, the old carbarn torn down, and the strip mall built (primarily the Genova Delicatessen). The adjoining PG&E substation is sill there doing its electricity thing.