March 9, 2007
I have more than a passing interest in transportation and urban infrastructure issues — not because I have any expertise in the subject, mind you — I just find it fascinating to ponder the way technology and movement have shaped our surroundings.
Craig Butz, a listener of mine, feels the same way. While examining his neighborhead from the aerial vantage of GoogleEarth, he noticed what seemed like the remnants of an old railroad course — blocks cut apart in strange ways, angular buildings and so on — all throughout the Mission district:
“I did a little walking around and found that when you’re looking for it, there are so many hints about the railroad right-of-way, many too small to see in google earth. Across from Juri Commons there’s some diagonal curb in the sidewalk. A couple of stores by McDonald’s at 24th and Mission have diagonal walls inside. And there are still tracks in the right-of-way by 22nd and Harrison.”
Most of the tracks in the Mission are now gone, but what had Craig spotted were the traces of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which once traveled directly through our fair city.
Craig has put together an amazing graphic combining those GoogleEarth views with a ca. 1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, tossing in a few period photographs, and adding explanatory historical text. He sent it to me because he thought (correctly!) that I’d be interested. I’ve had a show about vanished rail lines in San Francisco in mind, but who knows when I’ll get to it… so, with his permission, I thought I’d just share the thing.
Enjoy! (it’s on the largish side, so prepare to wait for a few seconds.)
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15 responses to “mission street railroad graphic”
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February 25, 2008 at 11:12 am[…] description. What could I do? I had to create an interactive map! Those of you who enjoyed the Mission Street Railroad graphic are going to love this, too … it’s another look at the one-time “San Francisco […]
March 9, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Neat!
March 9, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I told Craig that the most common reaction was “cool!”, but “neat!” works too! I concur.
March 9, 2007 at 7:45 pm
This is awesome, I’ve noticed this before using satellite / maps on Google Maps, especially around Potrero hill you can still track them very clearly the tracks from 22nd St Station under Potrero Hill and the way they come out at 17th and De Haro and shaped the diagonal building that is Anchor Brewery…
March 9, 2007 at 8:00 pm
It actually starts at 23rd and Pennsylvania thru to 18th and wisonsin
http://tinyurl.com/2vsdrj
March 10, 2007 at 12:38 am
This is spectacular!! I am always fascinated by the history of my neighborhood, and this is a gem! The Dolores St train bridge would’ve been right outside my living room.
Great work on the Spite Fence episode as well- what a story!
March 10, 2007 at 8:54 am
Sweet!!! I can easily imagine doing this for a few other projects.
March 11, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Seriously, the mind reels with possibilities. In my “spare time”…
March 20, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Excellent map of SP’s onetime mainline into SF. The highlighted portion really helps. Few people know about the existence of this. The tunnel you’re describing under Potrero Hill was originally dug by the Ocean Shore Railroad in the early 1900’s. When the Ocean Shore went bankrupt in the early 1920’s the Western Pacific inherited the tunnel and some of its industrial trackage. In the early 1960’s the tunnel under Potrero Hill caught fire and burned. The fire caused parts of Potrero Hill to cave in and pictures of sinkholes caused by the collapsing tunnel can be viewed on the San Francisco Public Library’s website. In the early 1990’s a new building was constructed on 18th st between Deharo and Arkansas. Prior to this buildings construction an empty lot with rails leading into the hill marked the location of one of the tunnels sealed entrances. A newer patch of pavement leading straight into this newer building can still be seen on 18th st directly in front of it. This marks the location of the tracks leading to the tunnel. The other side of the tunnel is on Private property and cannot be viewed or accessed.
March 21, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Wonderful comment, E — thanks for that, as well as for the links to the photos you mentioned:
Potrero Hill Sinkhole image 1
Potrero Hill Sinkhole image 2
Potrero Hill Sinkhole image 3
These images are from the Historical Photo Collection at the San Francisco Public Library.
March 30, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I just noticed the potrero track on google earth a couple weeks ago and followed the remnants from 9th and division/townsend to 18th after catching a caltrain that skipped my usual 22nd st stop. There are some rail cars stranded on the tracks behind the restaurant sally’s between 16th and 17th! I googled to find out more, and low and behold, the best info is in the comments to my own graphic!
March 30, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Aha! (rubs hands together, cackling gleefully) That’s exactly how this website is supposed to work, connecting like-minded and curious San Franciscophiles.
And as it happens, I’m working on a Sparkletack forum to foster more of this kind of cool info interchange…
By the way, Craig, thanks again for sharing your work.
December 9, 2007 at 1:51 am
I remember as a kid from 1984-1989 a local sp switcher used to come down that trackage every weekday evening around 7pm. It would go down Bryant Street with tank cars and cross 16th. Then do some switching and go down Harrison Street to 20th Street or so. I loved following the train and watch it spot cars. I have some photos somewhere.
I remember on day the train engineer told me that this was the last trip for the train and to take care. Then they took the tracks out a year later. Sad day…
September 9, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Hi
I lived at 609 Missouri. I remember being evacuated that night. We were watching Mighty Joe Young on tv. My mom kept telling me to go to bed… My brother was 8 months old. My mom filled a suitcase with diapers. To my knowledge disposable diapers were not available. It blew my mind to see jpeg 3
Thanks for your time
February 4, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Hi All,
The Tunnel was WP. Ocean Shore Railway had only one tunnel which was at Pedro Point in San Mateo County.
John Schmale