Original Mainline - San Francisco to San Bruno
Opened for service in October of 1863, this route proved to be an operational nightmare, the line ran through thickly populated parts of San Francisco and tracks were laid through city streets with heavy traffic. It was a steep and twisting line, with a 1.72% grade overall, with 3% for the last 300 feet to the summit at Oceanview. Helpers were required in both directions to reach the 291-foot summit at Oceanview. And even more interesting was the fact that by 1860 traffic levels were increasing on this line, a proposal to double track the line was made, and construction of that second track began; never to reach any farther than 19th and Harrison Streets. It seems the railroad had never franchised for operation along Harrison Street, and by 1898, the residents along this portion of the line were up in arms over the railroads intentions to double-track the line through the Mission District. By 1901 the number of first class trains had increased to 29 a day, half of these terminated at Palo Alto, all this traffic, including freights was squezed over a single-track line that required helpers.
The need for a new route, free from grades, helpers and city streets was quickly realized, and feasibility studies had been done as early as 1873 and again in 1878. Adding a second track into the city would not do, the real problems were encountered with the line over San Bruno Mountain, the route of preference was a direct line from San Francisco to San Bruno. Starting at 7th and Townsend Streets in San Francisco, the line would run southwest along the base of Potrero Hills and along the San Francisco Bay, touching at Visitacion Point and Sierra Point before cutting inland to South San Francisco and San Bruno. Estimated costs in 1878 was said to be some $1 million per mile, although the price of construction was not going to be cheap, the advantages far outweighed the costs. The proposed route would save three miles, reduce curvature from twelve to four degrees, and be almost gradeless (three-tenths of one percent) compared to the existing line.
E.H. Harriman recognized the need for the line change, but other projects competed for available capital and it was not until October 1904, that ground was broken on the "Bay Shore Cutoff", as it was originally named; the name soon became "Bayshore". The construction of this line was no easy undertaking, as twenty-percent of the line was under tunnels. The cut at Visitacion Point, some 95 feet in depth, required removal of 750,000 cubic yards of material, all of which was used to fill in the inlet known as Visitacion Bay, north of the cut. Harriman could be considered a visionary, he directed his engineers to take the project several steps further that what Huntinton's planners had originally envisioned, Harriman was planning for future growth of the San Francisco Bay Area. The entire line was constructed with two main tracks, although it should be noted that it was designed to accommodate up to four tracks throughout the entire line, with the exception of four of the five tunnels.
A modern freight terminal, designed to replace the old machine shops at 16th and Harrison and the car and repair and roundhouse facilities at Mariposa Street on the old line in San Francisco, was planned to take up some 200 acres of the fill at Visitacion Bay. The new yards some 8,400 feet long, would include a roundhouse, machine and car shops, and a hump, the second on to be built on the West Coast (the first was built at Roseville, California). One of Harriman's plans for the Southern Pacific's terminal facilities on San Francisco Bay addressed the problem of access to San Francisco from the Ogden and Shasta routes. The lines terminated in Oakland, freight cars bound for San Francisco had only two ways to get to the city, one was by transferring the cars to ferries for the trip accross the bay, or by taking a "U-turn route nearly 100-miles long. Even as work progressed on the Bayshore Cutoff projectd Harriman's engineers designe an eleven-mile cutoff between Redwood City on the Peninsula, and Newark on the East Bay line. The bulk of the project was to construct a long causeway and a swingspan bridge across the water between Dumbarton and Ravenswood.
Several major setbacks, including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake causing the collapse of tunnel No. 2, delayed the grand opening of the line until December 8, 1907. The line was officially opened for service and Peninsula Commuter schedules were quickly adjusted and nineteen towns from San Francisco to San Jose were now seventeen minutes closer to the City. Work continued on the yards at Visitacion Bay (later known as Bayshore) and the Dumbarton Cutoff which opened between Niles Junction and Newark in May of 1909. The remaining portion between Newark and Redwood Junction was opened on September 12, 1910, thus giving San Francisco a link as a true Transcontinental Line. The old route into San Francisco via Oceanview was relegated to branchline status, and was eventually severed in the middle during October of 1942.
To see photos of this lines one time alignment, take this link to the SP Original Mainline Right of Way Page.
Information Source: Southern Pacifics Coast Line, by: John R. Signor - Signature Press 1994Check out the Southern Pacific Historical & Techincal Societies web site for more Southern Pacific information.
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