San Francisco & San Jose Railroad

01/12/2025

Would any rail historians care to take over this page?

Caltrain can no longer drive content but we’d love a caring admin to take over the page.

Email us at [email protected]

02/07/2018

Mission neighbors seek to convert old Southern Pacific right of way into greenway.

“If there’s a way to preserve the rails as a part of San Francisco’s old railroad history, I would love that.”

Neighbors of the old Southern Pacific right-of-way between Harrison Street and Treat Avenue have formed the Mission Greenway group to preserve the parcel’s history as a railroad right-of-way and tr…

04/13/2017

University Ave. Depot, ca 1895.

03/30/2017

This is the locomotive Union, or SFSJRR #8, built in for the by Union Iron Works.

12/12/2016

Last week we lost a member of the Caltrain family. Long time railroad man and transit advocate Art Lloyd died following a life of work in transportation. We will miss him greatly.

The San Mateo County Transit District family lost one of its own this month, when Art Lloyd, a longtime member of the SamTrans and Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which oversees Caltrain, p…

09/15/2016

Blog - Rise and Fall of the Bayshore Roundhouse (with photos).

By Jeremy Lipps, Brisbane’s Bayshore Roundhouse was, at one point, part of a vast railroad complex at the center of Southern Pacific’s Bay Area activity. Built between 1907 and 1910, t…

09/01/2016

Throwing it back to 1954 as a Southern Pacific locomotive turns a bend in Brisbane, CA during the waning days of steam power.

05/10/2016

Happy Golden Spike Day.

05/05/2016

A great collection of photos of the Southern Pacific depot at 3rd and Townsend (via official Caltrain). https://www.facebook.com/caltrain/posts/1185576254785858

03/11/2016

Redwood City Station in the 1930s. Caltrain

02/18/2016

The old 3rd and Townsend Depot in San Francisco in an aerial photograph from the San Francisco Public Library archive. Caltrain

12/10/2015

1951 - A Southern Pacific steam train puffs past the old El Palo Alto tree in . The tree has been a historical landmark since the first Spanish explorers came through the area in 1769. It's still there, despite the soot from the steam era that nearly put the old Redwood Tree down. El Palo Alto is on several historic lists and is estimated to be 1070 years old.