Trolley Tuesday 5/11/21 - The Cars of the Key System

From its opening day on October 26, 1903, until the end of passenger rail service on April 20, 1958, the Key System always stood out from other interurban railroads through its fleet of varied and unique cars that were all built to meet the demands of this Bay Area institution. This iconic fleet ranged from the electrified horsecars, which introduced modern electric traction in Oakland and Berkeley, to the modern articulated interurban cars whose designs informed the light rail vehicles (LRVs) we know today. For today's Trolley Tuesday, let's look back on these iconic cars and get to know them just a little better, shall we?

One Little Spark

One of the larger cars of the Oakland, San Leandro & Hayward
posing with conductors and employees of the company.
(Hayward Area History)

Following Frank J. Sprague's invention of the trolley pole and electric axle motor in 1888, electric traction in the East Bay followed soon after. One of the first lines to buck the steam railroad tradition brought on by the Central Pacific (later Southern Pacific) was the Oakland, San Leandro & Haywards Electric Railway (OSLH), a narrow-gauge electric railroad running between Hayward's Memorial Park to 13th Avenue in Oakland. The five "California" streetcars, built by the Carter Brothers Car Company of nearby Newark, CA, were built to the same horsecar standards as San Francisco's original cable cars and had more in common with the Market Street Railways' "Dinkies" than anything else. Featuring two open benches on either end and an enclosed section in the middle, it helped to beat the intense humid summers that permeated the Bay Area. Soon, these single-pole, single-truck cars were supplemented by larger (still single-trucked) streetcars with front walls and side entrances to allow for easier boarding. When the Key System bought the OSLH in 1906, all but one car was disposed of, as one of the larger cars became a US Mail Railway Post Office (RPO) between Oakland and Hayward until 1923.

B Street and Mission Blvd, looking west, Circa 1920.
(Hayward Area History)

Big Wooden "Standards"

One of the first orders of the "500s", No. 521, posed at Emeryville Yard.
Note the beautiful arched windows and steam-railroad clerestory roof.
(Harre W. Demoro)

When Francis Marion Smith (popularly known as the "Borax King") opened the Key System in 1903, he demanded that his railroad feature trains of incomparable luxury in order to get people to ride his trains to his ferries traveling across San Francisco Bay. In 1903, he got just that through the 90 "Standard" interurban cars from St. Louis Car Company, Nos. 501 to 591. Through their operating wing, the Oakland Traction Company (OTC), the cars were initially lettered for the planned San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose that Smith was gunning for, but all saw out their working lives without ever leaving Oakland at all. 

An enormous line of soon-to-be-retired 500s pose on
22nd Street, heading for the pier. These seven-or-eight
car trains were a commonplace service.
(John Harder, KeyRailPix)

Inside, the cars were sumptuously upholstered, with "fine wood trim, high-backed seats (though upholstered in rattan) and narrow doors and vestibules that followed steam railroad practice." (Demoro, 266) Unusually, despite the presence of specialized motor cars (with two pantographs) and trailer cars (with no pantographs), Key System's Emeryville shops still provided one pantograph to "controller cars" (what we now call "cab cars") to ensure no shortage of control trailers. The trains ran in groups of four, with one motor car at one end, two unpowered trailers in the middle, and a controller car in the rear. For power pickup, the Emeryville Shops also set themselves apart from the competition by being the first electric railroad in the world to use pantographs instead of electric poles, reasoning that the design would carry with it a more-stable pickup without coming off or snagging on the wire. 

Key System No. 548 at Emeryville Yard, just after retirement,
with Sacramento Northern no. 1008 in the background.
(Don Ross)

The first delivery of 500-class interurban cars left St. Louis in early 1903 and arrived in Oakland in time for the Key System's opening, grouped into four consists travelling between Oakland and the Key Pier. When delivered, the cars were delivered in a stunning yellow-chrome scheme, but this was later changed to the standard Key System Orange. Such was the unprecedented popularity of the Key System that the company soon ordered another 24 cars (Nos. 517-540) for immediate service in 1904. These cars were largely identical to the first 15 but were slightly longer due to a much-wider loading platform for easier passenger loading and unloading. Not to be outdone, however, the Emeryville Shops took it upon themselves to add even more cars to the fleet based on their own know-how and spares provided to them by the St. Louis Car Company; this resulted in trailers Nos. 541-550, which entered service in 1908, and Nos. 551-566 in 1913. The latter group was among the longest cars constructed in Emeryville prior to the 110-foot Bridge Units, as they were almost 70 feet in length compared to the 58.5 feet of the first three groups of cars. These long cars were meant to function for full trans-East Bay service between Oakland and San Jose. Interestingly, their 1913 motorization involved taking parts from their "Lehigh" train cars after they were bumped down from interurban to streetcar service. 

Two representatives of the 567-591 Class, Nos. 590 (L) and 576 (R)
pass each other on San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville, year unknown.
(John Harder, KeyRailPix)

The last full group of interurban cars, Nos. 567-591, were constructed by St. Louis Car in 1912 and 1913 in full anticipation for service to San Jose, and featured the most excessive installations on the Key System yet in the form of a full-on smoking section. The motors were also a clear departure from the usual norm, as these cars used Westinghouse motors instead of the more-commonplace GE motors (due to some canny financing from Smith). Due to their immense 72-foot size, the cars often ran single-car on weekends and evenings and replaced plenty of two-car trains that would have one smoker and one non-smoker. Due to Smith being booted from his company for trying to consolidate too much in 1913, and the abandonment of the San Jose routing, the "Standard Fives" continued in service until being replaced by the Bridge Units in 1937-1938, with eleven being lost in the Key Pier fire on May 6, 1933.

New Key System Bridge Units shunt old 650s (rear) and 500s (front) along San Pablo Avenue
in Emeryville in 1937, when the wooden interurbans were being retired. A Birney car is to the right.
(Will Whittaker, John Harder, KeyRailPix)

Little Streetcars of the Oakland Traction Company

Key System No. 271 in an unknown location, showing off its pantographs for interurban service.
(Don Ross)

A Lehigh Valley Transit car after heavy rebuilding into
a suburban car after 1934, showing off its antiquated lines
and clerestory roof.
(Unknown Author)

While the interurban lines were handled by the "Standards", the smaller local streetcar lines were handled by second-hand out-of-towners. The Lehigh Valley Traction Company (LVT) was caught in dire straits shortly after its opening on July 2, 1901, when its promoter Albert I. Johnson, died suddenly while attempting to create a high-speed electric line between New York and Philadelphia. After his plan went bust, their excess streetcars were now for sale as the LVT attempted to recoup their losses and OTC purchased 18 of them in March and April of 1904. In purchasing these cars, which now made up Nos. 250-267, OTC had to regauge them as the initial numbers were built to the broad "Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge" of 5'2.5" and were, consequently, much wider than the other, smaller "Lehigh" cars built much later. As mentioned before, these cars were built to a high-speed interurban standard and plenty of them working the Piedmont Line operated as a train in twos or threes before the 500s began operating. Later on, many lost the ability to train and operate at high speeds as they swapped motors and controllers with the larger 500s. Most were retired and scrapped by 1934 and 1935, with only two lost in wrecks in 1911 and 1921. One, No. 271 (renumbered from 251 in 1917), survived until 1946 when it was sold to the fledgling Bay Area Electric Railway Association (BAERA) for private charter use. It is the only one of the "Lehighs" to survive.

Key System No. 987 on the 7 Line at Euclid and Bret Harte, Berkeley.
(John Harder, KeyRailPix)

East Bay Transit No. 700 at Shattuck, Berkeley, in its
original blue-and-cream livery.
(J. Stashik, KeyRailPix)

After purchasing the Lehighs, the Key System purchased their largest fleet of streetcars yet in 1911: 90 cars from St. Louis Car Company as Nos. 351-410 (with 410 later becoming No. 350 after 1917). These low-slung, low-floor cars were billed as "lightweights" as they featured a light steel frame and body compared to some of the older "Hayward" cars that had wooden bodies. They were supposed to operate all over the Key System, but the city of Berkeley initially banned the car type as they lacked clerestory windows, presumably because the city thought the weight of the trolley poles on the roof would make the archroofs immediately collapse on its passengers or perhaps the early lighting setups were too close to people's heads. Nobody knows, for sure, but the cars were soon rebuilt to conform as they began their work primarily on the Alcatraz Avenue line. 

It's just an awkward box now. I don't like it.
(John Harder, KeyRailPix)

In their first iteration, the cars had a rear entrance and exit and one front exit with a motorman's wall similar to the San Francisco "Iron Monsters", along with grate sidings to hide the wheels. Notably, two cars (Nos. 955 and 956) were rebuilt with pantographs for Westbrae shuttle and Piedmont extension service, and these cars never got the same skirting as the other cars. Further rebuilds made the rest of the 350s a lot... umm, uglier, losing their clerestories and becoming more or less ungainly lunchboxes on wheels. These were also the first cars on the Key to operate with one-man controls and were the last streetcars working on the Key System in 1948. Only three have escaped the scrappers torch, with one being leased by the BEARA to Portland Traction in Oregon in the 1950s.

Key System No. 987 as Portland Traction No. 4011 in the 1950s.
It was retired again in 1958 after service to Oregon City ended.
(Bill Volkmer)

In-between Interurbans

A line of brand-spanking-new 650 Class interurban cars
at the Key Pier, September 27, 1917. You can almost 
squint and see the Bridge Unit lines here.
(Don Ross)

After the success and the standardization of the 500s, the Key System turned to the American Car Company for a new interurban car type in 1917. This new design was largely similar in scope to the 500s but in a much developed form, featuring a center entrance that was a little too late to the hobble skirt craze but not too late to take advantage of the easier boarding and disembarking of passengers. The cars were also much shorter, returning back to a normal size of 52 feet, 6 inches, due to the city of Oakland objecting to the use of longer interurban cars on city streets. After the first orders were built by American Car in 1917 (Nos. 650-655 and nos. 656-661), Key System tried building their own out of spare parts from American Car in 1923 and 1925, putting the numbers now up between 662 and 688. One of these cars, No. 664, was built with a rounded "steam railroad" clerestory roof in 1925 as it was felt the standard "deck" clerestory was too flimsy to support the pantograph. This, interestingly, was never repeated. Like the Standard 500s, the 650s worked on normal transbay services out of the Key Pier to Northbrae until 1937, when they were retired. However, instead of mostly going to scrap, two of them were rebuilt into something a little more legendary.

Key System No. 664 in its second scheme, showing off its unique steam-railroad clerestory roof.
(Don Ross)

Bridging the Gap

Key System No. 103B at Emeryville, showing off its ultra-sleek and modern lines on the Key System.
(Don Ross)

A "Jacobs Bogie" on the North Shore Line's 
"Electroliner" articulated electric multiple unit.
(Illinois Railway useum)

As the original fleet of interurbans were retired and the opening of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (as foretold by Emperor Joshua Norton I of the United States and Protector of Mexico) took out their ferry traffic, the Key System's Emeryville Shops flexed their do-it-yourself know-how to create a new fleet of cars to better serve cross-bay services to the future San Francisco Trans Bay Terminal opening at the end of the decade. 

The 1937 prototype unit, No. 100, was born out of center-entrance car No. 650, with the design direction stemming from a need to double passenger numbers to the Transbay without compromising the curves and clearances of the existing Key System or run a two-car train that required one conductor per car. The solution? Connect two cars together permanently under a single shared Jacobs-style bogie (a shared passenger car truck design already found in streamliners like the Pioneer Zephyr and the Union Pacific M-10000). Using a spare OTC-built St. Louis 23B center trailing truck between two Brill 27 motor trucks, No. 650's length ballooned from 52 feet to 110 feet using another 650-class unit, No. 662, and altogether it now weighed 45 tons. Sheathed in gorgeous fluted steel and outshopped in the system's standard colors of orange with a silver top, the new "Bridge Unit" No. 100 looked absolutely amazing and, more importantly, put the Key System on the map as one of America's most forward-thinking interurban railways.

Electric Railway Journal schematics of the Bridge Units, as built by St. Louis Car and Bethlehem Steel.
Find bigger and more legible versions in this gallery.
(The Model Craftsman)

Brand-new Bridge Units pose at Yerba Buena Yard in
Emeryville, CA, 1939.
(John Harder, KeyRailPix)

However, there was a problem. Due to the Great Depression, rebuilding unit No. 100 and its eventual four other sisters (101-104) was very expensive and retired 650s were now piled around the Emeryville Shop yard. Both the shop managers and the top brass decided it was a lot easier to built new car frames and just take components from the 650s rather than to reengineer the existing cars. Thus, a planned construction plan of rebuilding the other 650s into cars 101-124 were abandoned in favor of building cars from the ground-up. In a departure from the 650's original designs, the new frames and steel skin was welded to create a monocoque interurban body, disproving the myth that the 650 bodies were used in essential construction. Motors and controllers were also recycled into the new cars. Inside, the seats were standard Pantasote-faux-leather walkover seats protected by solid, non-opening windows, with ventilation only provided by roof vents to beat the San Francisco Bay chill. In order to get to the Transbay Terminal, whose overhead wire provided the 1200V DC for the Sacramento Northern and Southern Pacific East Bay Electric trains, the Key System used a third-rail system to get across the Bay Bridge to keep its power separated from the other heavier interurbans. In some rush hours scenes, up to seven Bridge Units were coupled together to provide adequate service.

Key System No. 186 pauses at the Oakland Army Base Stop, Bridge Yard.
The little plaque by the big ad space is the
California Bay Bridge Toll Authority ownership plaque.
(John Harder, KeyRailPix)

After units 100-104 were constructed, the Key System contracted two companies to build the bodies for their new Bridge Units for the Emeryville Shops to furnish upon delivery. One was St. Louis Car Company, who handled part of the orders of cars Nos. 165-187 between 1936 and 1937 and Nos. 111-124 between 1937 and 1938. (Yes, they confusingly built them out of order.) However, due to their full construction schedule of also building PCCs for systems across the country (including San Francisco), an unlikely contractor was found in Bethlehem Steel, a shipbuilding company more famous for producing railroad freight cars and Reading Company electric multiple units. The monocoque steel bodies were constructed and shipped over to the Emeryville Shops by train, where the Shops' massive spare parts bin was raided to outfit the cars with trucks, controllers, pantographs, and third-rails shoes. In order to provide the cars with the necessary electrical systems to operate to the Transbay, such as cab signalling, the cars were purchased by the California Bay Bridge Toll Authority and leased back to the Key System as leverage. No. 165, a Bethlehem Steel car, was the first to enter service in 1936, while No. 178 performed the first Key System test train over the Bay Bridge to the new Transbay Terminal

A handsome overhead shot of Key System 179 running inbound  to the Bay Bridge, 1940s.
(FoundSF.org)

Shipyard Stragglers and Holman Holdovers

(KeyRailPix)

Though the Bridge Units arrived in time to see America's entrance into World War II, they were not enough to hold over the increased ridership due to the presence of the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond. To handle this, the Key System ended up inheriting not only a fleet of five ex-Sacramento Northern cars from 1912-1913, but also a large number of ex-Interborough Rapid Transit wooden cars from the original Manhattan Elevated. The latter group was the backbone of the Richmond Shipyard Railway and were originally built by the Gilbert Car Company of Troy, New York, in 1887 as steam-hauled passenger cars. By 1942, with the Second Avenue El demolished and the cars up for scrap, the United States Maritime Commission purchased a large number of cars to be refurbished for service in the Bay Area. Still retaining their wrought-iron gates and wood-slat walkover seats but now lacking their center entrances, the cars were hastily converted into overhead electric service using a heavily-braced pantograph on the roof and MacGyvered motorman's controls rewired to take power from the overhead. Due to a shortage of motors and pantographs, the cars were coupled in "married" pairs with one motor (which only featured one motorized truck) and one trailer. After the war ended, the USMC offered the Key the continued use of the Shipyard Railway, but Key turned down the offer. Of the many cars to run on the shipyard railway, only two were saved by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society for excursion service in 1946.

Indian Summers in South America

Ex-Key System 158 (now FCGU 3358) in Argentinian service.
Note the return of the offset headlight.
(Argenriel)

After National City Lines infamously purchased a controlling share in the Key System in 1946, all but the Alcatraz Avenue Streetcar and the Transbay services to San Francisco were left in operation. As the streetcars were converted to buses in 1948, many of these streetcars found new owners in private collections or museums. The Bridge Units soldiered on until April 20, 1958, when the last services across the Bay Bridge were rendered and rail service officially ended in the East Bay. However, this isn't where the Bridge Unit story ends. Following retirement, many of the Bridge Units not scrapped at the Emeryville Shops were sold by the California Bay Bridge Toll Authority to the Ferrocarilles General Urquiza in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There, the cars were rebuilt with opening windows (due to the hot climate), offset headlights to allow for walking in between the trains, and trolley poles instead of pantographs. Together with other redundant Pacific Electric cars, the Bridge Units worked into the 1970s before being replaced by newer, more-dedicated electric multiple units. None in Argentina are known to survive.

Preserved Examples

Key System No. 187 curls around the Rio Vista Junction
curve at the Western Railway Museum, 2008.
(Jack Snell)

Key System No. 187 at the Southern California Railway Museum.
(Myself)

In total, fifteen ex-Key System cars have escaped the scrapper's torch, including one Sacramento Northern car (No. 1005, ending its career as Key System No. 495). Of the fifteen cars, four are Bridge Units purchased directly from the scrap line in 1958 and 1959. One, No. 167, has found a new home at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California, after being purchased in 1958 and is the oldest Bridge Unit preserved. The car ran until the late 1990s, but was soon sidelined for motor issues and also because its insulated-window construction made it uncomfortably-hot to ride in summer time unless the front doors on either end are open. It sits today in the back of Carhouse 7, desperately needing a clean-up from any southland Key System fans. The only Key System car not under the care of the WRM besides Bridge Unit No. 167 is "Lightweight" No. 804, which is now preserved as a body in the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, following fifty years of private ownership from 1948 to 1992.

East Bay Street Railway No. 352 is seen with Peninsular Railway
No. 52 at the Western Railway Museum, with Muni 1003 in the shed.
(California Railfan 101)

The other three Bridge Units are all preserved at the Western Railway Museum (WRM) in Rio Vista, California, the new home of the BAERA. Nos. 182 was first purchased by the Key Route Railway Association and No. 187 was purchased by the Northern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society in 1958, along with No. 186 which was purchased directly by the WRM. The two cars not purchased by them later went to the WRM in 1964 and 1988, respectively. Of the three, No. 182 (in its National City Lines livery) is operated often alongside No. 187 (in its as-delivered Key System Orange and silver) while No. 186 is undergoing refurbishment as of 2011. The other gems in the WRM's Key System collection include ex-Lehigh Valley Transit No. 271 (the only "Lehigh" car to survive), "Lightweights" No. 352 (which was purchased as a body and now runs on occasion at the museum) and 987 (which ran as Portland Traction No. 4011 in the 1950s after being leased by the WRM due to a streetcar shortage in Oregon).  

Key System No. 187 in the WRM carbarn, showing off its MU coupler
and 3rd rail shoe on its Commonwealth trucks.
(CaliforniaRailfan101)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included "The Key System" by Harre W. Demoro, Hayward Area History, Bay Area Railfan and KeyRailPix.org, and the archives of the Southern California Railway Museum, the Western Railway Museum, and the Seashore Trolley Museum. Special thanks also goes to this month's guest editor, Miles Callan of The Interurban Era. I'd also like to shout out Hunter Wood on Twitter just because. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Thursday, we look at the only streetcar war ever fought on American soil! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!