Oakland Terminal Railway
Encyclopedia
The Oakland Terminal Railway is a terminal railroad
Terminal Railroad
Terminal Railroad or Terminal Railway may refer to:*Terminal railroad, a railroad that operates a terminal facility*Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks*Terminal Railway of Buffalo, predecessor of the New York Central Railroad...

 in West Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

. The OTR was jointly acquired in 1943 by the Western Pacific Railroad
Western Pacific Railroad
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California...

 and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...

 to take over the Key System
Key System
The Key System was a privately owned company which provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when the system was sold to a newly formed public...

's freight railroad known as the Oakland Terminal Railroad. Today, the OTR operates on 10 miles of track and handles about 1,600 cars per year (1998 figure). It is jointly owned by the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

 and BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...

. The railroad operates in the industrial area around the Oakland Army Base
Oakland Army Base
The Oakland Army Base, also known as the Oakland Army Terminal, was a former United States Army base in the San Francisco Bay Area of California...

.

The OTR interchanged with the ATSF near the Southern Pacific 16th Street Station
16th Street Station
The 16th Street Station is one of three original train stations that served Oakland, California at the start of the 20th century. The building was designed by architect Jarvis Hunt who was a preeminent train station architect at that time and the facility opened in 1912...

 in Oakland. The OTR also interchanged with the Western Pacific via trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....

 over the Key System from Emeryville to the Sacramento Northern (a WP subsidiary) terminal at 40th and Shafter Streets in Oakland.

Oakland Terminal Railroad

The Oakland Terminal Railroad was the predecessor of the Oakland Terminal Railway. The Railroad was formed in 1935 by the Railway Realty & Equipment Company, Ltd. to handle the Key System's freight customers. The Railroad operated over Key System's A, B and C lines and the Key Systems freight-only tracks on 26th Street and along the waterfront. In 1943 the Key System sold the Oakland Terminal Railroad to the Western Pacific and the Santa Fe Railway. The Oakland Terminal Railroad was renamed the Oakland Terminal Railway. Because it operated over some of the Key System, some of the switching was performed by electric locomotives.

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