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Milepost 0 on the Western Pacific was in a small yard in San Francisco. The WP ran a ferry service from Oakland for many years until reaching an agreement with the SP to use the Dumbarton cutoff. Both freight and passengers were then moved to SF this way.
This view is from a ferry docking at Oakland. The blue building to the left of the shot is one of the buildings at the Oakland Naval Supply Center. When I first went down in the early 90's there were hundreds of these buildings, there are only 2 left! ( get out and get those pictures you need ) We were able to get a paint sample, building awaits painting.
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This is the West end of Oakland yard. Oakland has 7 industries that are switched, 7 trains that are made or broken up, and 2 passenger trains to deal with.
The freight building in the center foreground is the Walters pier building, this building is very similar to a building at San Francisco, so I put it in Oakland !
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It's early morning on the WP, the beautiful California Zephyr waits at the Oakland 3rd street Depot for an 8 am departure. The year is sometime in the late 60's, so the train originates in Oakland yard at the Launching Pad. Then pulls up to the Depot to load Oakland passengers. For many years the CZ picked up San Francisco passengers at the Oakland SP Mole. The ferry service for passengers was terminated in 1958. More information on the depot is on the depot page.
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As we leave Oakland we pass the WP's piggyback facility at the east end of the yard. They are trying something new called containers, maybe we can work with the truckers on this one ! One of the PG&E natural gas holders, towers over some of the equipment the boys at Rio Vista are storing on site until they get their museum started.
The track exiting under the layout is the future Southern Pacific Oakland loop.. The SP parallels the WP to Sacramento. Someday it will run on automatic to give the Dispatcher fits at Niles crossing!
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