Nostalgia & History > 18th St., West Oakland, and a few IER/OAB/Peninsular Remnants

According to Robert Ford’s book, “Red Trains in the East Bay”, the 18th street line was built to compete with the Key Route. The full route and reasoning behind it are beyond the scope of this post. Suffice it to say, the line was constructed by the Peninsular Railway, then leased to the SP. It opened in 1912. It formed a loop in front of SP’s depot at 16th and Wood, and marched up 18th street to locales I’m not going to get into today – we only followed it to Poplar, which is as far as the abandoned rails go today. If you’re interested in a full history, I recommend Mr. Ford’s book, or even search here at TO for “Interurban Electric Railway”. Lots of posts going back a few years.

We started at the 16th street depot, which has been covered here on TO many times before, so no dwelling there. But, when we got there, the gate at 18th was open, and there were city(?) workers going about their business. Unfortunately, an Oakland cop was on duty in an unmarked car. Fortunately, after I introduced myself, and chatted it up with him for a minute, he became more at ease with us – but, he would only allow photos from one location – exactly where we were standing. I wanted to try to see if there was any trace of the old loop tracks, but well, as you can see from the pics, I wasn’t able to get close enough.

1. I thought this is an interesting view of the old depot – haven’t seen too many from this side recently. Reminds me a bit of Bayshore Roundhouse – no rails, just “Jurrasic Park”.

2. Looking west from 18th onto UP property, this is all that’s left of either the loop, or in later years, when the line connected to the UP. I believe someone mentioned in one of the “West Oakland Rails” series, it’s been cut since the freeway was built thru here. Anyone have more accurate info? Comments, corrections, always welcome… That's the cop's car in the background.

3. Looking east, up the branch from 18th & Wood St.

More to come...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/17 01:28 by drumwrencher.

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4. A bit further up, the rails turn slightly north, just a bit before Campbell St.

5. The first turnout, near Campbell. (Apologies for my shadow; it was late in the day...)

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6. The next turnout, (compass) westbound right across Campbell. The turnouts in this stretch get rather “busy” – right here, there’s an eastbound turnout butted right up against a westbound. Perhaps everyday stuff to you rails, but unusual to me…!

7. The northbound switch lead curves between these two buildings.

8. The white building to the left was a music venue called “Lobot”. Don’t know what any of them were in their railroad days.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/17 22:05 by drumwrencher.

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9. Looking back at the butt-ended switches and the two just-mentioned sidings. The one to the south is cut off 25 ft. or so into the fenced in area.

10. The east of the two switches heads pointlessly into a trucking outfit. No doubt cut off years ago.

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11. Next, near/at Peralta is this turnout.

12. Peralta and 18th is where we found the first of three surviving catenary poles.

13. A close up of the pole’s ladder.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/17 21:35 by drumwrencher.

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14. Across Peralta was the second pole, still wired to it’s ancient mate.

15, 16. Rails up to and across Mandela Parkway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/17 21:36 by drumwrencher.

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17. At Mandela, we found a third catenary pole.

18. Still has a now-ancient phone (?) box.

19. The top of the pole at Mandela.

I thought it interesting that these poles were put in by the Peninsular Railway 105 years ago; Very likely 100% original, unless they were hit by a truck or otherwise damaged and replaced. Even then, they would still be what, 75 years old? They haven’t carried IER current since July of 1941!

Anyway, there’s just a bit more, from Mandela to Poplar, and around the corner. I think I’ll leave that short bit for another time.

Enjoy.

Walter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/17 21:38 by drumwrencher.

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When were the ramps to the elevated taken down?

Steve

Very interesting and informative posting. Thanks very much. Was the old interlocking tower right near the station still there? Google Earth indicates it is.

The 16th street tower! Yes, it's still there. I took this one at the same time, but didn't want to "over do" the whole depot thing...

Walter

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drumwrencher Wrote:


> 2. Looking west from 18th onto UP property, this
> is all that’s left of either the loop, or in
> later years, when the line connected to the UP. I
> believe someone mentioned in one of the “West
> Oakland Rails” series, it’s been cut since the
> freeway was built thru here. Anyone have more
> accurate info?

As late as 2000, UP was still serving the steel plant in the old American Steel building at 18th and Poplar. I think by then the occupant was McGrath Steel, as that was the name on the office just inside the roll-up door that UP 1227 is about to enter in the first photo below. This was on August 28, 2000, and was the last time I personally saw a movement on 18th St. I'm sure there were subsequent trips to the steel plant, but not for much longer. That doorway where the track entered the building has since been sealed:

https://goo.gl/maps/27eKRhExV8A2

For a few years in the first decade of the 2000's, the Oakland Terminal Ry. used the first few hundred feet of the line to 18th past the switch to its own interchange track as a place to spot hoppers or tank cars for a bulk-unloading outfit. The second photo below, photographed from the OTR flyover with the railroad's permission, shows their ex-ATSF GP7 #97 spotting hoppers on the remains of the 18th St. lead with the OTR-UP interchange track visible just above the locomotive. I have the scan with me, but the slide is hundreds of miles away, so unfortunately I can't look up the date.

The remains of the 18th St. lead are also where the tank cars are spotted in this 2009 streetview from West Grand:

https://goo.gl/maps/a3Q6TCfrFZD2

That business eventually moved over to the Oakland Army Base, and by May 2011 the track was gone:

https://goo.gl/maps/HdqFweFMr9Q2

drumwrencher Wrote:

> 6. The next turnout, westbound right across
> Campbell. The turnouts in this stretch get rather
> “busy” – right here, there’s an eastbound
> turnout butted right up against a westbound.

I've posted this before, but the third photo below shows an SP 0-6-0 switching at this spot back on September 15, 1956. E.K. Muller was the photographer, photo courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.

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Thanks, Evan. Great pics, even better info.

Walter

Super interesting post! Amazes me how some of these railroad remnants survive.
I appreciate how buildings are curved like you have pictured to accommodate the tracks.

I truly love posts of this nature. It's very interesting to trace the history and see whats left. I have done this in my own area and found several surprising things. Even better when you can find old photos when the tracks were still in use.

Thanks for sharing,

sphauler

Great series.

When I worked as a conductor for Amtrak out of Sacramento, I was conductor on the last inter-city Amtrak passenger train, Amtrak #11 - The Coast Starlight, to stop at the 16th Street Oakland Depot. Our jobs at the time were from Sacramento to Oakland on Amtrak #11 with a turnaround there then take Amtrak #6 - The California Zephyr back to Sacramento.

The railroad had made the new run around line and was going to press it into service the same morning. Our crew made the Oakland 16th station stop, then as we departed I looked out the vestibule window to the rear of the train and saw the signal crews taking down the signals behind us.

This is great. Makes me miss West Oakland, too bad its so expensive to live there now. You can see the building where me and my wife used to live in one of those photos, right above Pretty Lady diner.

Pretty Lady Restaurant. Jesus says he thinks the lady retired, sold it, then went back to work there.

Walter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/17 13:26 by drumwrencher.

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Reading this interesting post brings back some things to mind... After no use as a parking lot for decades, the area in front of the old 16th Street depot was fenced off after the station platform ended its service a year or two after the 1989 earthquake. Then a few years later it was leased to a trucking oufit to store semi-trailers and chassis's. It got very rough treatment, resulting in huge and sometimes deep potholes. It was clear that there was not a trace of the old loop trackage in front of the depot so it must have been removed many years ago.

Photo #14 shows a spur track going off to that industry diagonally acrosss from the Pretty Lady. I believe that was the next to last industry that SP / UP served on the branch. I cannot recall the type of industry but they had a boxcar or two on the spur most of the time into the late 1970s. There was no change in the industry but suddenly rail service ceased. I was curious and questioned the SP sale rep what had happened. That guy was not the kind of salesman I would ever deal with. He said words to the effect that they had terminated rail service because SP was interested only in larger volume and could not be bothered with such a small shipper. I had the feeling the way he had dealt with the customer had probably been pretty rude and not professional.

The Pretty Lady was owned & run by a Greek couple. The wife and another woman served customers, hubby ("Sammy") cooked. Food good, portions a little small. The curious thing was that no matter what you ordered, you did not receive a bill. When you finished, you walked up to the counter where the cash register was located, and the wife told you what you had eaten and what you owed. What a memory!

> When were the ramps to the elevated taken down?

If you mean the ramps to the upper level
tracks at 16th St-- never seen a pic
showing them after 1941. Anyone else?

Yes, I meant the ramps to the upper level. Thanks.

Steve