SAN FRANCISCO – This week Caltrain celebrated 160 years of rail service between San Francisco and San Jose about 50 miles south. Passenger train service began Jan. 16, 1864. Its creation was said to be central to the development of the San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay.
Over the year, the majority of the cities on the Peninsula were founded on or near the corridor, which sped up their growth and ability to market goods and services to the local area. It was this corridor rail service that quickly eliminated early stagecoach routes.
The idea of creating a rail line between the two cities first surfaced about in 1851, while San Jose was still capital of California. After three failed attempts to obtain funding, the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad incorporated in 1860. Construction began in May 1861 at San Francisquito Creek, and regular service from San Francisco to Mayfield (now the California Avenue Station) began in October 1863, with San Jose-bound passengers transferring to a stagecoach for the remainder of their journey. In 1864, the line was completed.
Southern Pacific became the dominant owner over the years, employing a dedicated fleet of steam locomotives and later diesels to move trains. Besides the usual collection of Consolidations, Pacifics, and Atlantics, was a steady mix of Mountains and General Service locomotives. For a few years, SP’s handful of 2-6-2 Prairies were used here after being acquired from a railroad in Texas.
Assigned diesel power included GP9s, a pair of SD9s, a former Cotton Belt FP7A, SDP45s demoted from long distance service after the coming of Amtrak, and of course, a fleet of FM H24-66s. Doing most of the switching were FM H12-44s and Alco S-series locomotives.
The coming of Caltrain found most trains equipped with a combination of inherited Harriman coaches and double-deckers. The new operator brought in F40PH variants and newer double-deckers to modernize the fleet, later incorporating MP M36PH-3s. Switching power has usually been end cab EMDs.
Today, Caltrain is on the cusp of completing its electrification project, the first undertaking in North America in a generation in which diesel trains and their infrastructure components are transitioned to an electrified system. It’s expected to be completed later this year.
Caltrain is owned and operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, with service from San Francisco to San Jose, with additional commute service to Gilroy. Serving the region since 1863, Caltrain is the oldest continually operating rail system west of the Mississippi.
The original SP was founded in San Francisco in 1865, by a group of businessmen led by Timothy Phelps with the aim of building a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego, California. The company was purchased in September 1868 by a group of businessmen known as the Big Four: Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Jr., and C. P. Huntington.
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