Nostalgia & History > Western Pacific Tunnel "A" in San Francisco

The WP had a tunnel that went through Potrero Hill in San Francisco. It was wood lined so a fire caused its collapse. My house in San Francisco was located right behind St Teresa's Church seen in the second photo. All the years I lived there not once did I film the local WP action. I have only one shot taken near the tunnel of some switching action. Man I look back on what I took for granted. The WP used Santa Fe's trackage after the collapse. I'm not sure what year the fire occurred.

Robert Morris Photography
http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/18 14:25 by photobob.

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We had an extensive discussion about the tunnel and the general Dogpatch area over on the Steam Board and decided the collapse was around 1962,

re:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4573466,page=1

Date: 06/13/18 03:37
You Can Certainly Know That This Place Has Changed From This!

Like you Bob I never was lucky enough to get a WP train going through the tunnel. I remember reading about the fire in the Chronicle. - Tony J.

The city of San Francisco is giving a new meaning to Bob's phrase that "It's all crap now"!

Nice !... Did WP have TRACKGE RIGHTS on SP ???  Because I had No Idea WP went into SF proper...I remember watching a Streets of San Fran. tv show from the early 1970s...a new WP boxcar was parked in an area that looked like that in pic #2...on a spur in a hilly residental area...Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/18 08:27 by the_expediter.

the_expediter Wrote:
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> Nice !... I had No Idea WP went into SF proper...

Didn't the WP pull the CZ into SF?  Or was that not SF proper?

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465559680200154584/?lp=true

Cheers, Jim

Terminated in OAK

Through the decades the CZ equipment was displayed along the Embarcadero a few times. For the most part it terminated streetside at the WP Depot in Oakland, others have better details though.

>
> Didn't the WP pull the CZ into SF?  Or was that
> not SF proper?
>
> https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465559680200154584/?
> lp=true
>
> Cheers, Jim

the_expediter Wrote:
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> Nice !... Did WP have TRACKGE RIGHTS on SP ???
>  Because I had No Idea WP went into SF proper...

WP barged their trains across the bay to San Francisco like the Santa Fe did.  WP had a car ferry built in 1957 to replace the barges.  See: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2383792
This lasted until November 1978 when the WP started paying the SP to use the Dunbarton bridge and penninsula route.

During the 60’s San Francisco CZ passengers would ride into the WP yard where they would board buses for SF. All other passengers would detrain at the depot on 3rd. The movie scene was shot at 8th and Brennan on WP trackage. 62 sounds about right for the tunnel fire. Don’t remember transferring with the SP at SF but it probably would have been on the Shore line. Believe all SP were floated to Oakland until I believe 80 or 81 when they went by SP via the bridge...

WP Class of 66

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> Didn't the WP pull the CZ into SF?  Or was that
> not SF proper?
>
> https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465559680200154584/?lp=true
>
> Cheers, Jim

Yes, that photo was most definitely taken in San Fracisco.  
You can also see the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the background.

The caption on that great photo you linked to says:
> Western Pacific's California Zephyr in front of the San Francisco
> Ferry Building for its inauguration ceremony (1949)

That tunnel looks to have a bit of a clearance issue.

WP Passenger trains terminated at the WP's own pier (across the estuary from the SP's) until the WP retired its passenger ferryboat, at which time they started using the SP's Oakland Pier via a connection installed at Magnolia Tower. When the SP discontinued using Oakland Pier, the WP passenger trains changed to originating and terminating at the "launching pad", which was on Middle Harbor Road, adjacent to the WP passenger yard, where they were met by buses, which went to/from SF.

WP's industrial leads in SF consisted of the line from the ferry slip at Islais Creek, one branch of which went along the south side of Army St towards the west (ocean) side of the produce terminal area and the other which went through this tunnel towards the 9th and Harrison Streets area. When the tunnel burned, the WP bypassed it by using Santa Fe industrial trackage and some State Belt trackage on 16th St.

Illinois St. has always been State Belt Trackage.

Any passenger and display trains which went to the Ferry Building, including Flying Scotsman and 1976 bicentennial stuff, were on State Belt trackage and came from the SP where it interchanged with the State Belt at 2nd Street. How the equipment got on the SP to get to this interchange is another question.

One WP-SP interchange was at the ferry slip at Islais Creek (the bay end of Army St.), can't recall whether there were any others.

When the Las Plumas was retired, there was some sort of deal for the WP to operate from Milpitas to Mission Bay, but I don't think it was ever used, Instead there was a ferrying arrangement where the SP hauled the WP's cars between these two points -- -- for a fee.

> The other interchange point was on Newcomb St. where it connected to the SP's 14th Ave. lead. This was in the 1980's. This interchange is referenced in a report analyzing ways to better connect the intermodal container terminal which was split by Islais Creek on piers 80 and 92. Remember, at that time, there was no railroad connection over Islais Creek!

Still have a fixation on that consultant's pie-in-the-sky report? By the time of the report, I don't think the WP had any engines working in SF. Before 1975, there never was such an interchange.

> Just stating facts. You're right about WP not having any engines working in SF at that time, but not in the way you think. It was a UP engine serving the former WP customers at that point. Photobob took a great photo of one of them. It's near the top of this thread. Repainted in UP's livery of course after merger but kept numbering. Ratenne took a nice one of 1501 in 1984 too on Indiana St.

Whoopie doo to youu.

> You wouldn't know anything about this stuff because you didn't go to SF to look at this stuff from what was it 1972 on?

Even though still employed by the SP, I didn't "go to SF" after transferring to Oak because of Oak being a different division. And the date was c1975, which I've already stated. I also made it clear that I wasn't readily familiar with the picayune details of WP operations after the Las Plumas was retired, but you must have overlooked that while your nose was in that pie-in-the-sky report.

The photo of the CZ inauguration on the SF wharf is in the book portrait of a silver lady which states that the CZ consist was run over the SP to the embarcadero.