48 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM For more than a century and a half, the Peninsula’s regional railway has served as a vital artery to farmers, merchant kings and mining millionaires alike. It has carried raw materials that fattened the economy as well as the titans who forged it, ferrying movers and shakers from their country homes to their offices in San Francisco. It’s gone by many names: the Central Pacific Railroad, then the Southern Pacific and finally the Caltrain we know today. This railroad didn’t just connect the Bay Area—it created it. SUMMER HOMES AND FARMLAND But let’s return to those early years, back when the locomotive first started shaping our local landscape. Initially, the railway consisted of 25 stops. Traveling from one end of the line to the other cost passengers two hours, ten minutes and around three bucks (that’s about $60 today). “When it was first built, it was pretty much the only ‘rapid transit,’” says Vernon “Vern” Bruce, founder of the Millbrae Train Museum, an educational center in the former Millbrae Southern Pacific Train Depot. The only other option was bumping along in a stagecoach, a nine-hour trip on a good day. “Out here on the West Coast, cars didn’t really start to get into heavy use until the early part of the 20th century.” Rural farmers in San Mateo County welcomed the railroad with open arms. Agriculture had taken off as the Gold Rush craze waned. People began catching on that mining might not be the most reliable route to wealth and fortune—and that the boom in San Francisco’s population meant a growing number of mouths to feed. Soon orchards and vineyards popped up all over San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Prunes, peaches, apricots and cherries flooded the region’s fertile valleys. “Virtually all of the agriculture that wasn’t consumed on the Peninsula would’ve been shipped via rail,” explains Vern, adding that spurs were created to whisk the region’s abundance straight from the canneries and warehouses to San Francisco. Oysters and milk began flowing from Millbrae, leather and salt from Redwood City, and cattle from the foothills of Portola Valley and Santa Clara Valley. This newfound accessibility to the countryside also appealed to San Francisco’s early elite, who saw an opportunity for idyllic summer retreats while maintaining easy access to the City. Titans of industry like mining tycoon William {punchline} PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY / CALTRAIN / SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY ABOVE: (clockwise, from top left) Commuters on a Southern Pacific train in 1951; A new Caltrain locomotive is christened for its inaugaral ride in 1985; Trains transported lumber for building Peninsula homes. Grace & Symington Lumber Company depicted here was a supplier.
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