Steam & Excursion > This Famous Steam Roundhouse Shown As Rarely Seen In This City!

While the famous Southern Pacific Mission Bay roundhouse was photographed on occasion that was usually from the ground and those photos often do no give us an idea of the layout of this facility.

Fortunately, on April 29, 1949 a photographer caught the faculty from the air while making aerial photos of the City.  Here is what he saw when passing over Mission Bay.  We see that steam motive power is still in charge of the trains on this day.

There are a wealth of details her to take in.  Enjoy.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/21 00:33 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

Seeing these Mission Bay roundhouse images is a nice way for me to start my day. So many things here I remember, starting with Potrero Tower (center top) surround by the wye.Just last night I was reading some of SP's Potrero Tower Log Book  entries. (No kidding!) At far left of the tower the street going over SP's double-track main is Mariposa Street where I started railfanning in 1955. At far left the16-stall roundhouse is partially hidden by the large Pacific Metals buildings. Center right by the water tank is the beginning of Mission Bay Yard. The road dissecting all the tracks later had a beanery called the Triangle Sandwich Shop (I think). Following the road to the bottom of the photos it ducks under a short two-block, two lane overpass over the SP-ATSF connection. Santa Fe’s pocket yard and car ferry ramp is out of sight on the right. The overpass stood until at least 1960 and it allowed vehicle traffic on Third Street to go over the SP-ATSF interchange track while it was blocked by SP trains. The row of buildings paralleling Third Street and Mission Bay Yard tracks were LCL warehouses. If you were to look on GoogleEarth today you would find absolutely nothing left from the railroad other than the double-track SF-San Jose mainline. The entire area today is multi-billion dollar campus’, high-technology and other such occupants. I can’t go back home again.- Tony J. 
 

This areial photo is maybe ten years old, but it illustrates what happen to the Mission Bay roundhouse and Mission Bay Yard area. There isn't a undeveloped plot of land left now.

Photo #2 is Mission Bay roundhouse in 1938.

Photo #3 is he same spot, The concrete pad at far right is where the roundhouse once stood. I-280 is ax extreme left and Mariposa Street goes left to right.

 

---

---

---

Is the UCSF medical facility on top of the old roundhouse site?

Google Maps

wingomann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is the UCSF medical facility on top of the old
> roundhouse site?
>
> Google Maps

Part of it is. Mariposa Park would be more accurate.

In Mariposa park there is a circullar structure.  Is that a nod to the roundhouse?  Is it roughly where the turntable was?

The 135 degree arc structure in Mariposa Park is very close to the old turntable location, designed that way by the landscape architect.  From Google Maps, Golden Gate Autobody on Mariposa St. still occupies part of the same building shown in the 1938 photo.

Oliver Barrett

wingomann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In Mariposa park there is a circullar structure. 
> Is that a nod to the roundhouse?  Is it roughly
> where the turntable was?

Wingo -

My daughter works across the street in the UCSF Children's Hospital and she confims that the 135 degree circular arc "structural beam" structure is indeed a nod to the Mission Bay Roundhouse. It is about 200 feet from where the actual Mission Bay Roundhouse stood. Also, around 5 years ago, and in the main lobby of the main UCSF Hospital, there were photos of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Mission Bay infrastructure as it was circa 1950s and 1960s, seemingly in reverance of the SPRR's presence there. My handle is an acknowledgement that I; when I was but 7 years old, rode in the cab of SP2472, a Baldwin Locomotive Works P-8 (4-6-2 Pacific-type) back and forth on the lead track to the turntable at Mission Bay. In the cab was my twin brother Ron, our "crying with sheer fright when Ron and I took turns (after being lifted by our father) yanking on the whistle cord" 5 year old brother, my ardent rail fan father and his friend (and neighbor) Mr. Lawson, who was a Senior Conductor on the Peninsula commuter trains - the same trains that SP2472 pulled. 

(SP)2472Don,
Manoa Valley, O'ahu


 



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/21 13:55 by 2472Don.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/UCSF+Benioff+Children's+Hospital+-+San+Francisco/@37.7647644,-122.3910171,78m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x31f2b9e4ddd4b070!2sUCSF+Benioff+Children's+Hospital+-+San+Francisco!8m2!3d37.7648549!4d-122.3902697!3m4!1s0x0:0x31f2b9e4ddd4b070!8m2!3d37.7648549!4d-122.3902697

I see the structure you are talking about.

Martin

ShoreLineRoute Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 135 degree arc structure in Mariposa Park is
> very close to the old turntable location, designed
> that way by the landscape architect.  From Google
> Maps, Golden Gate Autobody on Mariposa St. still
> occupies part of the same building shown in the
> 1938 photo.
>
> Oliver Barrett

I never noticed that before. Last time I think I was there was around 2014. The entire area of the ould roundhousehouse site was dug up and under construction. If I ever get there again I'll check out the arc structure. Thanks for the info. - Tony Johnson

That is where I began a 40 year railroad career.  On July 14, 1959 at 10:59 p.m. I made my date on the Coast Division firemans roster working as a hostler helper at Mission Bay.  I can still remember being shown how to fire up an Alco switcher in the roundhouse, and the roundhouse office still had a rose garden.  Fast forward 60 years and I have a panoramic view of where the roundhouse once was from a forth floor waiting room at UCSF.

JBWX

The number of employees whe once worked at Mission Bay must be small by now. For a teenager taking slides in the later fifties/early sixties, it was a great placr to hang out. I rmember "Pop" Mathhers garden at the roundhouse.

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is where I began a 40 year railroad career.
>  On July 14, 1959 at 10:59 p.m. I made my date on
> the Coast Division firemans roster working as a
> hostler helper at Mission Bay.  I can still
> remember being shown how to fire up an Alco
> switcher in the roundhouse, and the roundhouse
> office still had a rose garden.  Fast forward 60
> years and I have a panoramic view of where the
> roundhouse once was from a forth floor waiting
> room at UCSF.
>
> JBWX

I think it only lasted another year or two, if that long.  At some point prior to 1961 (when I went into the Navy) we were working out of the new facility at Seventh and Townsend.

JBWX


TonyJ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The number of employees whe once worked at Mission
> Bay must be small by now. For a teenager taking
> slides in the later fifties/early sixties, it was
> a great placr to hang out. I rmember "Pop"
> Mathhers garden at the roundhouse.
>
> jbwest Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That is where I began a 40 year railroad
> career.
> >  On July 14, 1959 at 10:59 p.m. I made my date
> on
> > the Coast Division firemans roster working as a
> > hostler helper at Mission Bay.  I can still
> > remember being shown how to fire up an Alco
> > switcher in the roundhouse, and the roundhouse
> > office still had a rose garden.  Fast forward
> 60
> > years and I have a panoramic view of where the
> > roundhouse once was from a forth floor waiting
> > room at UCSF.
> >
> > JBWX

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it only lasted another year or two, if
> that long.  At some point prior to 1961 (when I
> went into the Navy) we were working out of the new
> facility at Seventh and Townsend.
>
> JBWX
>The last locomotive to use Mission Bay roundhouse was FM "Train Master" #4812 on September 9, 1960.

Sometime in the early 2000's, while doing LTL truck deliveries along the still "double-track" Illonois Ave, just east of 3rd Street, I saw a CALTRAIN GP-9 set come all the way down the street to the end of the line, where a new RR / car bridge was installed for SFBR access.  It may have been the last time any RR engine rolled over those tracks--crews were walking alongside, watching the wheels.  I had to stop and watch, realizing that decades ago, both SP and ATSF swtichers plied this doubel-track main all the time, night and day, switching the many, many warehouses and industries along that street.  Wow, that must have been something way back then.  And for an overpass to have been built where the SP / ATSF interchange was tells you that it was busy, and tied up traffic all the time.  I wish I could go back and see it.  What a show it must have been, vs. today's very sterile tech world, with it's silent buildings and even more boring adjacent lands, where no whisltes or horns blow anymore.