Key System and March of Progress

Unfinished History

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A Key System train on the Bay Bridge, depicted in the opening celebratory newspaper.

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Home movies of VS trains on Key System viaduct around Transbay Terminal area; F train along right-of-way in East Bay; Scenes of Bay Area Electric Railroad Association Special (older yellow car) on East Bay streets; North Berkeley tunnel (Shattuck-Solano); downtown Berkeley

Video: Prelinger Archive

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Before the Bay Bridge the Key System trains ended on the "mole" at the end of the landfill spit where they discharged their passengers who then boarded ferries to cross the Bay to San Francisco.

Oakland Mole ferry slip early 1900s. Source album 16 volume 5 number 65, Frank B. Rodolph Photograph Collection, BANC PIC 1905.17146-17161--PIC, The Bancroft Library. oakmole3.jpg

The Oakland Mole ferry slip in the early 1900s.

Photo: Bancroft Library, 1905.17146-17161

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The Oakland Mole in early 20th century, end point for Key System trains until the completion of the Bay Bridge allowed them to roll all the way to the Transbay Terminal.

Photo: Shaping San Francisco


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Key System map, early 20th century


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The March of Progress: Tour of the modern interurban trolley system of San Francisco's East Bay and over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Predicts the bright postwar future of streetcar transit, with visionary images of advanced-design railcars. The Key System transbay service was abandoned in 1961.

Video: Prelinger Archive

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An advertisement from the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company welcoming the new, modern Bay Bridge.


Tours-transit.gif Continue Transit History Tour

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