Peninsula Commute

:"See Caltrain for the commuter rail service presently operating on the San Francisco Peninsula."

The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, refers to historical commuter rail service between San Jose, California and San Francisco, California on the San Francisco Peninsula. This service ran as a private, for-profit enterprise beginning in 1863. Due to operating losses, the Southern Pacific Railroad petitioned to discontinue the service in 1977. Subsidies were provided through the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in 1980 to continue service, and it was renamed Caltrain.

History

Since 1863, the San Francisco Peninsula, the series of towns (and later, cities) between San Francisco and San Jose, has been served by a railroad. The Southern Pacific (SP) first provided freight and passenger service, followed briefly by the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) and finally a Joint Powers Board which runs today's passenger service.

The original Peninsula railroad corridor between San Francisco and San Jose was constructed in 1863 by the San Francisco and San Jose Rail Road, which was purchased by Southern Pacific in 1870.

Under Southern Pacific's ownership, the line was double tracked in 1904 and had experienced record ridership during World War II. After the war, the ridership slowly declined with the rise of automobile use. At several times during the 1960s and 1970s, SP talked about discontinuing the money-losing commute service. In 1971 when Amtrak took over long distance passenger operations, Southern Pacific's extended commute train to Monterey, California, the "Del Monte", was discontinued, but Southern Pacific retained normal commute service. All of SP's passenger locomotives were then transferred to peninsula commute service except for those what were sold to Amtrak. In 1977, SP filed a petition with the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to discontinue the commuter operation due to the ongoing operating losses.

To preserve the commuter service, Caltrans in 1980 contracted with SP to continue to operate the service and began to subsidize the operation. During the Caltrans' administration, Caltrans purchased new locomotives and rolling stock which replaced the SP equipment in 1985, upgraded stations, introduced shuttle buses to nearby employers, and rebranded the operation to is present state as CalTrain. Since that time, the operation was transferred from the State of California to the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board.

Locomotives Used on the Peninsula Commutes

team Locomotives

Note: SP began dieselization of all passenger train operations in the early 1950s and the peninsula commute became fully dieselized by 1958, after which all steam locomotives were retired and scrapped or donated to parks or museums.

Diesel Locomotives

Note: some diesel locomotives continued operating in freight service after the arrival of Caltrain equipment in 1985.

* "There are possibly other survivors that may still be active on shortlines or as industrial switchers."

Rolling Stock

Two types of passenger cars were used on the peninsula commutes before CalTrain. The first were the Suburban coaches (commonly known as "Subs", "Harrimans" and "Cream Puffs"), made by Pullman-Standard from 1923 to 1927. Some of these cars are still operated by the Grand Canyon Railway today. The second were bi-level coaches (sometimes known as "gallery cars" or "galleries"), designed to carry more passengers. The first order for these was made to Pullman-Standard in 1955 and in 1957 another order was made to American Car & Foundry (ACF). More bi-level coaches were ordered in 1968 and were made by Pullman-Standard. All were used until Caltrain equipment arrived in 1985.

Many examples of the Suburban coaches still exist at several museums in California and are still in service on a few tourist railroads. The bi-levels were sold to Trancisco Tours, Colorado Railcar, and the Alaska Railroad. Trancisco Tours converted them into luxury lounges and diners, while Colorado Railcar converted them into luxury full-length dome cars for Princess Tours which are used on the Alaska Railroad. Trancisco Tours went bankrupt in the early 1990s, and the majority of the converted ex-SP bi-level coaches were sold to the Burlington Northern Railroad for use on their business trains, and a few others went to dinner and tourist railroads. Burlington Northern merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to become BNSF in the mid-1990s, and the converted ex-SP bi-level coaches still continue to serve as business cars. There are four that still remain in their original condition; one is in service on the Alaska Railroad and three are in storage at the Colorado Railcar facility.

ee also

*Caltrain
*Bay Area Rapid Transit

References

External links