Nostalgia & History > Key System E Line Question

Where the Key System's E Line terminated at Domingo Ave in Berkeley, was the building that currently houses Rick & Ann's Restaurant the station for the E line. I'm thinking of the part of the building with the tall window that is round on top.

Thanks.
Bill Davidson

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I don't believe there was a station a that location. The line terminated across the street between the tennis courts of the Claremont Hotel. Considering the drop off to the parking lot west of Rick & Ann's, I would think the track was on a grade that was lower than the current walkway between the two buildings. I may be wrong, just my $0.02.

Mike

No. The E line ended between the tennis courts - no station at all.

Originally, there was room for two tracks between the buildings, and both buildings in the pix have been either built new since 1960 or have been extended outward into the track area (actually only one track at this point because the spring switch for the end of double track was almost out in the intersection of Ashby and Claremont).

Like so.
Could they have made it any narrower?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/13 19:13 by 90mac.

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Here is a 1940's view of the entrance to the curvature at Domingo Ave taken from a distance courtesy of John Harder...

When Stash and I hosted the marvelous "Grand Key Tour" by chartered bus in June-2002, I had arranged for our large group to "walk the right-of-way" between the tennis courts for the nostalgia effect. In so doing, I had to get permission from the Berkeley Tennis Club to send someone with a KEY to unlock the large gates that block the right-of-way. The day of our tour there was a couple of championship tennis matches going on and I had to walk to the old clubhouse and find the guy with the key.
Fortunately, the gate got unlocked and our historical bunch got their jollies walking the historic narrow space between those courts.

When that part of the tour was over and we got back on our bus, I told the group that I forgot to ask the tennis club guy what kind of "racket" he was involved with!
That got a few snickers out of our group... (grin)

KRK

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Thanks for the information and for sharing the photos.

Bill

Granted that the track in photo #1 is a low speed "tail track", it looks rather bumpy. Was the rest of the Key System OK, or did they have a lot of "deferred maintenance" in their track?

The Key System trackage was terrible all over. They had a reputation for bad track. They had NO money to spend on maintenance and upkeep. So they got by as best they could. When the system was torn up in 1958-1959, they pulled up many miles of VERY tired and wornout rails. Some of it dating back to 1903.

KRK

KeyRouteKen Wrote:

> The Key System trackage was terrible all over.
> They had a reputation for bad track. They had NO
> money to spend on maintenance and upkeep.

It didn't help that owner National City Lines was far more interested in running buses than running trains. There was an old law dating from the horse car days that made street maintenance along rail routes the responsibility of the transit company. Toward the end, the Key was using the poor condition of the streets along its routes as a bargaining chip, claiming the only way they could afford to fix the streets was if they were allowed to abandon rail service in favor of buses.

I was on the last E train April 20, 1958, a Saturday. Last train was in the day time because the line had buses at night. A tennis player gave the train operator a tennis ball. The building to left before the end was a fire station. I think it is a store now.

I was on one of the last "A" trains on Saturday, April 19, 1958. My grandfather suddenly asked me about mid-morning if I'd like to take a ride on the train. You bet!!! So we drove to downtown Oakland at 12th & Oak Streets. Caught the train to San Francisco.. Looked around in the Transbay Terminal a bit and then took another train back to Oakland. I would never ride a Key Train again except years later at Rio Vista Junction.

As I write this paragraph this morning, it has suddenly dawned on me that as far as I can recall, this last trip was the ONLY time my grandfather took me on a Key Train. For all the previous years in my life, it was always my grandmother who took me to San Francisco for a variety of adventures.

KRK