Nostalgia & History > "Since we're Neighbors---Let's Be Friends "

Hi Everybody--  This photo depicts the Terminal of the Key System transbay "C"-Line .  Even a phone booth was handy in-case one needed to make a call !   The house behind the train is VERY close to the right-of-way.  Look out your bathroom window and see a KEY TRAIN.
How quaint !!
The original idea was to extend this line to San Jose.  A lot of right-of-way was secured and planned out, with the line crossing Park Blvd and running along MacArthur Blvd (Old Highway 50) thru San Leandro and beyond.   But the money just wasn't in the cards !

Photo courtesy of Clark Frazier.

Cheers.

KRK

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Bucolic ?? Great shot in early Morning Sun.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

Here is what the Terminal looked like several years before.  What is that tall chimney in the left background.  A stove vent for the Station or something to do with the neighbor's house ??

KRK

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Thanks, Ken, for posting those very pretty and very
interesting and historic photos. Inwish the Key System
was still here.

Here's a couple I took back in the late 50's.

Ed

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thanks for great post, what is a phone booth?!

hogantunnel Wrote:
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> thanks for great post, what is a phone booth?!
Where Superman Changes Clothes, Ha, Ha. Thanks for the history and look back in time.

Fantastic photos! It was definitely a 'different world' back then. They harken to my early years seeing the north end of Milwaukee (TMER&L) street car route 15 running within a few feet of some very substantial suburban homes.

In all likelihood, home construction was sometime after the lines were laid. Can you imagine the uproar today! Back then, people knew when they built or bought a house next to the tracks (or airport, or freeway) there'd be some noise and didn't have a problem. Nowadays, they buy the house, then gripe about all the noise!

Love the yellow station sign. Classy.

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> Love the yellow station sign. Classy.

The sign is "Key Route ORANGE",  as all of them were.

KRK

Wow, these photos are simply too classic! Having never lived in that area
it is hard to imagine anything so incredible ever existed. Did that track ever have
a bumper post at the end?

Thanks for all the great photos, Ken; you're posting faster than I can keep up with
enjoying and studying them. Not complaining, though!

The trains ran through a lot of back yards. Here is a view one station west of the Oakland Avenue terminus at Holly Place in Piedmont. 1951 scene. Homes were quickly constructed on the right of way after the trains were gone. Final day of operation: April 19, 1958.

---stash

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stash Wrote:
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> The trains ran through a lot of back yards. Here
> is a view one station west of the Oakland Avenue
> terminus at Holly Place in Piedmont. 1951 scene.
> Homes were quickly constructed on the right of way
> after the trains were gone. Final day of
> operation: April 19, 1958.
>
> ---stash

I'd like to personally thank my friend STASH for helping out with descriptions and other info.

KRK

Seventyfive Wrote:
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> Wow, these photos are simply too classic! Having
> never lived in that area
> it is hard to imagine anything so incredible ever
> existed. Did that track ever have
> a bumper post at the end?
>
> Thanks for all the great photos, Ken; you're
> posting faster than I can keep up with
> enjoying and studying them. Not complaining,
> though!

Hey "Seventy-Five",   These photos were the Key System transbay "C"- Line.  You should have seen the "B"- Line.  More neighborhood hideaways !!  Take a look at this "B"- Line station between the houses in Oakland's exclusive 'Trestle Glen" neighborhood.
Photo courtesy of John Harder.

KRK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/17 21:23 by KeyRouteKen.

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keyrailpix.org is where many of these photos are posted. I haven't done much with the site for a long time but there are still lots of Key photos there.

Also search TO for Traction Action. Hundreds of these posted by Yours Truly over the years.



Seventyfive Wrote:
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> Wow, these photos are simply too classic! Having
> never lived in that area
> it is hard to imagine anything so incredible ever
> existed. Did that track ever have
> a bumper post at the end?
>
> Thanks for all the great photos, Ken; you're
> posting faster than I can keep up with
> enjoying and studying them. Not complaining,
> though!

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/17 21:30 by stash.

BRAtkinson Wrote:

> In all likelihood, home construction was sometime
> after the lines were laid.

The Key was largely built by real estate interests. Having convenient transit lines in close proximity to the houses they planned to build raised the value of those houses.

Are those lights above the center door? If so, what are they for? Thanks.

Two lights, colors adjustable. Each route had specific color(s). Towermen ID'd trains that way.


whistlepig Wrote:
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> Are those lights above the center door? If so,
> what are they for? Thanks.

Posted from Android

As a youngster visiting relatives in San Leandro in the '40s and early '50s and because I was the only kid around and wanted to get away from the adults, I simply jumped on a Key Train and ran around the Oakland area. Even went to San Fran on the lower level of the bridge without my parents permission.

Now long retired and in order to occasionally get out of the house without driving, I jump MAX and/or the Portland Streetcar and just go.