Passenger Trains > Caltrain's Lawrence Station and More

One of Caltrain's newest stations, the Lawrence station between Santa Clara and Sunnyvale can get extremely busy during rush hours. It was built with four main tracks in order to allow Baby Bullets to pass the slower local and limited trains. The Bayshore station on the northern end of the line was built similarly for the same purpose. A few times per day, three way meets happen here, and if you're lucky and the schedule is tweaked a bit, four way meets are known to happen. It was my first time here today, and I'm hooked. If you're into passenger operations, this is the place to go.

---

---

---

Here's one more from Lawrence, one from Santa Clara, then one from CP Expressway. All these were taken Friday afternoon.

---

---

---

I may be thinking of something completely different, but did Southern Pacific have a stop at Lawrence Station when they operated the commuter service between San Francisco and San Jose? I know Lawrence Station has been a pretty well known geographical location ever since I moved to California in 1968. Maybe I am just thinking of Lawrence Station Road....

Yes, Lawrence has been around for a long time. When Nick says it is new I suspect he means that it was recently completely rebuilt (completed in 2004?). As he stated, there are now 4 main tracks through the station, and there is a pedestrian underpass from one platform to the other, replacing the old pedestrian overpass.

> did Southern Pacific have a stop
> at Lawrence

Offhand I'm guessing Lawrence opened
in the mid-1980s (not the present
station, of course). So SP may or
may not have operated there.

The area has changed tremendously since the 80's, I suspect that there may have been packing plants in the area. Sunnyvale may have been the more traditional location with CalTrain adding 'Lawrence'.

That Silicon Valley thing really took off.

"... but did Southern Pacific have a stop at Lawrence Station when they operated the commuter service between San Francisco and San Jose?"

Not that I know of. It was highball from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara in those days.

sphogger

Back in the old days (1940's & 1950's) Lawrence Expressway
was called Lawrence Station Road. Later, it became simply
Lawrence Rd. and the Expy. I don't know for sure that there
was ever a station there but the road name gives a strong
indication. Boy, knowing this makes me feel OLD.

Lawrence isn't in the 10/81 public
timetable-- it is in the 10/82.
It's in the 11/81 empl TT, with
no trains stopping there, so maybe
it opened soon after that.

So does that make it an SP station?

timz2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lawrence isn't in the 10/81 public
> timetable-- it is in the 10/82.
> It's in the 11/81 empl TT, with
> no trains stopping there, so maybe
> it opened soon after that.
>
> So does that make it an SP station?


I always thought CalTrain added it, but somebody needs to pull out some info on when CalTrain was no longer related to SP. Early CalTrain would add 'stops' in developing areas by simply putting some asphalt down underneath a nearby overcrossing and saying the train will stop there. Very distant from how it works these days.
I think Lawrence, San Antonio and the San Mateo stop behind K-Mart started that way, but the early discussions and how/when they actually happened are often different (disclaimer).

yOU GET THE SAME SITUATION ON MEETS AT BAYSHORE. CHECK THE SCHEDULE. MORNING AND AFTERNOON DURING COMMUTES.

Lawrence is still a flag stop for
a few trains in 4/44-- it's probably
gone in 6/45 and definitely gone in 4/46.

Good stuff Nicko.

Those placards on the cab car and engines are tacky looking, all to let the bike riders know how many bike cars they have, some things just get dumber and dumber on Caltrain.

The San Mateo stop behind K-Mart is Hayward Park. It was an old SP stop long before Caltrain.

Here is a shot of an Espee commute train at the Hayward Park station.

---

Ooh... just got an idea. Does anybody have an SP-era photo from Lawrence similar to one of mine that would like to enter the upcoming photo contest with me?