The Berkeley Branch Railroad was a long

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) from a junction in what later became Emeryville called " Shellmound" to what soon became downtown Berkeley, adjacent to the new

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

campus.

History

The line opened on August 16, 1876. The initial terminal point was at Shattuck and University Avenues in Berkeley (designated "Berkeley Terminus"). In 1878, the line was extended north along Shattuck to Vine ("Berryman's Station") with the original terminus then becoming Berkeley Station. The line connected at Shellmound with trains headed to the

Oakland Pier The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific R ...

and

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

to San Francisco. Beginning on January 22, 1882, Berkeley Branch trains proceeded directly to the pier. The line was constructed in no small part because of heavy lobbying by prominent local citizens like Francis K. Shattuck and people connected with the University of California. The Berkeley Branch Railroad was used under lease by the Central Pacific until 1885, when it was leased by the CPRR's affiliate, the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

(SP). In 1888, the SP consolidated the Berkeley Branch Railroad into its subsidiary, the Northern Railway. Although the corporate Berkeley Branch ceased to exist at that time, its trackage continued to be called the "Berkeley branch line". In 1911, the line was electrified for commuter service, becoming a part of the SP's

East Bay Electric Lines The East Bay Electric Lines were a unit of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Southern Pacific Railroad that operated electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Ar ...

. When SP ceased running its electric commuter trains in July 1941, the trackage up to Ward Street and Shattuck Avenue remained in use for freight and was referred to as the "Berkeley Lead". Until the early 1960s, the SP Ward Street Freight Depot was the Berkeley terminal point. Beyond Ward, the tracks were turned over to the Key System for its F Line commuter trains. The Key System had previously used its own tracks which ran parallel to the SP line down Adeline and Shattuck. (The Berkeley Branch tracks had always run along the west side of Shattuck south of University Avenue.) The Key System had ceased operating past Alcatraz Avenue in 1930, and reestablishing F Line service to downtown Berkeley was a term of allowing the railroad to abandon the line.

Route

The Berkeley Branch route began at Shellmound where it was connected to the main line of the CPRR and its successor, the SP. A switching tower existed there, the Shellmound Tower. The tracks then curved onto Stanford Avenue, then Adeline, then Shattuck into downtown Berkeley. Part of the line corresponds to

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running to Antioch, and Oakland Airport Connecto ...

's route through Berkeley, on Shattuck and Adeline streets but rebuilt as a subway.

Operations

Operations of locomotives on the Berkeley Branch prior to the re-engineering of tracks which accompanied electrification required running "tender-first" in one direction, as the Berkeley Branch was a single-track line having no way to turn the engines at the end of the line.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley Branch Railroad Defunct California railroads Railway companies established in 1876 Railway companies disestablished in 1888 Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Transportation in Alameda County, California Public transportation in Alameda County, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area History of Berkeley, California Emeryville, California 1876 establishments in California 19th century in Berkeley, California American companies established in 1876 1888 disestablishments in California American companies disestablished in 1888 Closed railway lines in the United States