Peninsular Railway (California)
| Locale | Santa Clara County, California |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1906–1934 |
| Successor | Southern Pacific Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 91 miles |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California |
The Peninsular Railway was an interurban electrified railway in the U.S. State of California in the United States of America. It served the area between San Jose, Los Gatos, and Palo Alto, comprising much of what is today known as "Silicon Valley". For much of its existence it was a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
The Peninsular Railway was incorporated in January 1906 as a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific in response to calls for an interurban line from San Francisco to San Jose. In addition to the line to Los Gatos, branches were also planned to extend to Alviso, Oakland and Lick Observatory. However, due to the Colorado River flood of 1905 (which created the Salton Sea), many of the rails to be used for this construction had to be rushed to the Imperial Valley to rebuild the Southern Pacific line between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona. Therefore, only the lines connecting San Jose, Palo Alto and Los Gatos were constructed, and interurban service did not exist between Palo Alto and San Mateo. Another attempt to complete this line came in the next decade, but construction was again delayed by a scarcity of steel rails, this time due to World War I.
By 1920, the sixty-eight-mile system had several main tracks:
- San Jose to Monta Vista via Stevens Creek Road (now Stevens Creek Boulevard)
- San Jose to Los Gatos, via several county roads and San Jose-Los Gatos Road (now Bascom Avenue and Los Gatos Boulevard)
- Meridian Corners (what is now the junction of Stevens Creek Boulevard and Saratoga Avenue) to Los Gatos, via Saratoga-Santa Clara Road (now Saratoga Avenue) and Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, with a branch from Saratoga to Congress Springs
- Congress Springs Junction (near what is now the intersection of Highway 85 and Saratoga Avenue) to Palo Alto, along current Union Pacific track, Foothill Expressway, and a route parallel to Page Mill Road, with a branch to Stanford University. (This route, the so-called "Mayfield cutoff", was also used by Southern Pacific starting in 1908 as part of its steam train passenger service between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.)[1]
By 1931, the system was operating 34 streetcars on 91.1 miles (146.6 km) of track.[2]
Electric passenger service between San Jose and Palo Alto began on March 5, 1910 and ended on October 1, 1934.[3]
See also
- Caltrain
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Light Rail
References
- Demoro, Harre W. (1986). California's Electric Railways. Glendale, California: Interurban Press. p. 201. ISBN 0-916374-74-2.
- Hilton, George W.; Due, John F. (2000) [1960]. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3.
- McCaleb, Charles S. (1981). Tracks, Tires, and Wires. Glendale, California: Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-48-3.
- Scott, Mel (1985) [1958]. The San Francisco Bay Area: A Metropolis in Perspective. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05510-1.