Nostalgia & History > Old SP tunnel at Brisbane, CA

Bay Area guys, can you tell me what number the long closed SP tunnel is in Brisbane? I believe it is now used by Brisbane Dept of Maintenance. I'm guessing possibly tunnel 4 counting south from the City. Thank you!

Tunnel 5

Railbaron Wrote:
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> Tunnel 5

Its covered on the east end and you can still see the west end ( like about in 1980 behind Van Waters and Rogers) Never heard it used by the Brisbane City, but I haven't lived there since 1982

WAF Wrote:
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> Railbaron Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Tunnel 5
>
> Its covered on the east end and you can still see
> the west end ( like about in 1980 behind Van
> Waters and Rogers) Never heard it used by the
> Brisbane City, but I haven't lived there since
> 1982
Thanks,guys. Yes, Brisbane Maintenance and Street Department use it mostly for storage as their facility at the north end of the lagoon isn't very large. Mike

It was Tunnel 5. After a derailment between Metz & King City it was found that the money had been spent to go around that "Point". The SP put in a tunnel and it was named "Tunnel 5 1/2".

Nudge

spnudge Wrote:
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> It was Tunnel 5. After a derailment between Metz &
> King City it was found that the money had been
> spent to go around that "Point". The SP put in a
> tunnel and it was named "Tunnel 5 1/2".
>
> Nudge
Thanks, Nudge. Assume by the "Point" you refer to nearby Sierra Point, where I am employed.

Posted from BlackBerry

hogantunnel Wrote:
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> spnudge Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It was Tunnel 5. After a derailment between Metz
> &
> > King City it was found that the money had been
> > spent to go around that "Point". The SP put in
> a
> > tunnel and it was named "Tunnel 5 1/2".
> >
> > Nudge
> Thanks, Nudge. Assume by the "Point" you refer to
> nearby Sierra Point, where I am employed.
>
> Posted from BlackBerry


The "point" Nudge refers to is a bluff that juts out from the bank along which the railroad was aligned a few miles north of King City. At one time the alignment of the tracks took them around this point but many years ago SP re-aligned the tracks and bored a tunnel through this bluff to eliminate the "S" curve that existed where the tracks went around this bluff. Since there was already a "Tunnel 5" near Brisbane and "Tunnel 6" was at the top of Cuesta Grade the new tunnel was numbered "Tunnel 5-1/2". Sometime later, and I think it was part of the Highway 101 project that created the alignment of Highway 101 across the fill from Brisbane to Hunters Point, the south end of Tunnel 5 was covered and the tracks relocated around the tunnel to their present configuration. I don't know who owns the tunnel but it seems it's been leased for storage from even way back in the early 70's when I worked out of Bayshore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/13 03:53 by Railbaron.