The Oakland Terminal Railway was a

terminal railroad A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It gener ...

in West

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. The OTR was jointly acquired in 1943 by the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

and

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

to take over the

Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area ...

's freight railroad known as the Oakland Terminal ''Railroad''. Today, the OTR is now the West Oakland Pacific Railroad that operates on of track. OTR was jointly owned by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

and

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

. The railroad operated in the industrial area around the Oakland Army Base. The OTR interchanged with the ATSF near the Southern Pacific 16th Street Station in Oakland. The OTR also interchanged with the Western Pacific via

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

over the Key System from Emeryville to the

Sacramento Northern The Sacramento Northern Railway (reporting mark SN) was a electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the state capital, Sacramento. In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oakland, Sacr ...

(a WP subsidiary) terminal at 40th and Shafter Streets in Oakland. It is no longer in service.

Oakland Terminal Railroad

The Oakland Terminal ''Railroad'' was the predecessor of the Oakland Terminal Railway. The Railroad was formed in 1935 by the Railway Realty & Equipment Company, Ltd. to handle the Key System's freight customers. The Railroad operated over Key System's A, B, and C lines and the Key System's freight-only tracks on 26th Street and along the waterfront. In 1943 the Key System sold the Oakland Terminal Railroad to the Western Pacific and the Santa Fe Railway. The Oakland Terminal Railroad was renamed the Oakland Terminal Railway. Because it operated over some of the Key System, some of the switching was performed by electric locomotives. The company acquired a controversial franchise to operate

street running A street running train is a train which runs on a track built on public streets. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with other users, such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists, thus often being referred to as ru ...

on Union Street in 1953, allowing the freight interchange directly between the two parent companies' lines.

References

Bibliography

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External links

WOPR Official Site
California railroads Western Pacific Railroad BNSF Railway Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Rail transportation in Oakland, California Railway freight terminals in the United States Companies based in Oakland, California Switching and terminal railroads Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway lines Key System {{California-transport-stub

Oakland Terminal Railroad

See also

References

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External links