Nostalgia & History > Passenger trains on SP Dumbarton Cutoff?

Question. Did SP ever operate passenger service over the Dumbarton Bridge? Was there any passenger service between SF and Newark or Niles?

In my timetables it shows Daily ex. Sun Mixed Train #503, the REDWOOD MIXED over the dumbarton Bridge back in 1914. The other REDWOOD MIXED was Train #512. The trains also show up in Table #146 of Dec. 22, 1912, and Table #165 of Apr. 20, 1916.

A passenger train (not a Mixed Train) made a special trip over the bridge on opening day. - Tony J.

TonyJ Wrote:
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> In my timetables it shows Daily ex. Sun Mixed
> Train #503, the REDWOOD MIXED over the dumbarton
> Bridge back in 1914.

Where did the Redwood City Mixed run to? Newark? Niles? Somewhere else?

It seems to me that passenger trains directly from SF southbound to SJ Valley points could have used this route, but I guess it never worked out even in theory. It sure seems to be a potentially valuable route in the future and good that it is still more or less intact, assuming UP's Altamont portion can be used......., oh no, here we go again.

avogel Wrote:
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> It seems to me that passenger trains directly from
> SF southbound to SJ Valley points could have used
> this route, but I guess it never worked out even
> in theory. It sure seems to be a potentially
> valuable route in the future and good that it is
> still more or less intact, assuming UP's Altamont
> portion can be used......., oh no, here we go
> again.

Trains will run again on the route. Caltrain commuter trains will eventually be running between SF and Newark/Fremont/Union City on the line. Rebuilding of the line is/was supposed to start sometime this year.

http://www.smcta.com/Dumbarton_Rail/information.asp

tomk Wrote:
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> Since the Owl originated out of
> Oakland and headed down to Niles before turning
> east to go through Altamont Pass...

When was that?

Ah! There's the problem. It says the Owl connection ran thru Niles, not the Owl. Far as I know the Owl itself always ran via Martinez.

And yes, it was discontinued 1965.

Thru cars Oakland-LA via Niles ... I'm betting not, and I'll bet the public timetable won't show any such thing. That wouldn't 100% prove they didn't exist, but...

Have never seen reference to an Owl connection, in all my timetable collection dating 1954 to AMTRAK(1971). Timetables all show routing through Martinez, then Moccoco line to Fresno, and main San Joaquin line to LA. Nor do any of my SP related books mention an Altamont connection to the Owl. I hope if such a thing existed, someone might share the documentation. AA





















































































































































































































































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......................

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Back to the Dumbarton bridge-- the 1915 public timetable shows a daily-exc-Sun schedule (no number shown) leaving Niles at 1340, Centerville 1350, Newark 1405, arr Redwood City 1505. (Doesn't say mixed, but they must have been doing their mixing west of Newark?) Return leave Redwood City 1520 (which seems pretty quick), lv Newark 1620, lv Centerville 1632, arr Niles 1645. Far as I can see that was all-- it didn't continue west of RC or east of Niles.

Thanks.....that was exactly what I was looking for.

In the 9/37 timetable, the Owl left Oakland Pier at 1828 and left Tracy at 2046. Train 280 left the Pier at 1808, ran via Niles, arriving Tracy 2006 and continuing to Lodi, where it apparently terminated.

I was surprised to see trains 95-96, Oakland Pier to Fresno via Niles and Modesto. Lv Fresno 0700, lv Oakland Pier 1708. They're not in the 5/38 timetable.