Remnant of Oakland Paving Company railroad

Oakland, California (CA), US

Between 1873 and 1923 a 3' gauge steam railroad operated here, between a quarry in north Oakland and a rock crushing plant closer to downtown Oakland. It was originally built by the Oakland Paving Company and later operated by the Blake & Bilger Company. After abandonment in 1923 the right-of-way was filled in by housing, but you can easily see where it was by the non-aligned orientation of the houses. The old quarry is visible to the north-east - it is now a reservoir, next to the Pleasant Valley shopping center.

Remnant of Oakland Paving Company railroad

Oakland, California (CA), US

Historical, Transportation - Rail
By: jef

Nearby:

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

Boxing Ring

Ambulances

Pilates Reformers

Movies at Piedmont Cinema

Original Kasper's Hot Dogs

Temescal Street Festival (June 9, 2007)

Bakesale Betty's

Ambulance

Summit Medical Center

Claremont Country Club

Children's Hospital

Comments

kjfitz

@ 2006-08-07 21:45:24

Welcome back!

Anonymous

@ 2012-12-12 19:21:40

I'm pretty sure this information is incorrect. Though I'd love more information on the quarry's narrow gauge railway, the old right of way shown in the map was laid out by the Key System predecessors (this was to become the "San Jose" line, but track was never laid.

No maps from the 1900 to 1920's show any track there, although property maps show the right of way.

I hope I'm wrong - it seems like a logical route for the quarry railway and maybe the Key system bought it from Blake & Bilger, but I can't find anything to validate that conjecture. Do you have a source I can check?