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With the exit of steam, SP no longer required extensive locomotive servicing facilities "downtown". Thus, on February 12, 1960, SP closed its Mission Bay Roundhouse in favor of more modest facilities squeezed into little more than an acre of land situated at the corner of 7th and Townsend Streets. Anything beyond basic inspection and servicing required a trip to Bayshore Roundhouse, five miles away. Seventh Street normally handled passenger power only - switch engine maintenance was handed over to Bayshore. The coming of Amtrak in 1971 removed long-haul power from 7th Street's responsibilities, and the onset of push-pull commute service in 1985 did away with the remainder - locomotives no longer required turning on the Mission Bay Wye and usually layed-over coupled to their trainsets at 4th and Townsend Depot. By then, Bayshore Roundhouse was shut down, so major repairs had to be performed in San Jose. |
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(above) The old Baker-Hamilton watch company, located across 7th Street from the shop, dominated the scene then, just as it does in 2003. Today, the Cook Shack (previously labeled as a herder shanty, above) is missing tand an overhead crane (for replacing coach trucks) sits in the middle of the site, but otherwise things haven't changed much. For the most part, Caltrain uses the area to store work train locomotives and cars. |
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(above) Between PA1 6062 (ex T&NO 203, renumbered one year earlier; scrapped four years later) and the pickup truck at extreme right lays Townsend Street, along which ran the Ocean View Line, SP's original mainline out of San Francisco. |
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(above) You're looking northward through rows of Train Masters and PAs. |
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(above) On the left is Townsend Street and the Coach Yard. At center beyond the PA's nose is the Pullman Yard, where SP serviced long-haul equipment. The former Ocean View westbound mainline comes into the picture in the left forground from Townsend Street. At the time of the photo, it still lead to several industrial customers as far away as 18th and Harrison. Today, only the parallel Coach Yard Lead (former Ocean View eastbound main) winds out into Townsend, but only as a train-length-long tail track. |
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These very basic facilities are a glowing tribute to San Francisco's moderate climate, eh? Later, SP added a fence.
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