Bayshore Yard

Unfinished History

Bayshore Yard circa 1920 opensfhistory wnp26.1330.jpg

The Southern Pacific railroad's Bayshore Yard on the landfill on Brisbane Lagoon, c. 1920.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp26.1330

1946 SP Bayshore yard Train heading South, View looking North to Bayview Hill wnp14.3444.jpg

Southern Pacific Bayshore train yard, looking north from south of City Limits, 1946.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp 14.3444

March 8 1905 View north from Visitacion Point Brisbane, View north to Bayview Hill and Candlestick Point (The first hill at center was flattened for bay fill). Southern Pacific Bayshore yards site.wnp27.6366.jpg

March 8, 1905 view north from Visitacion Point, Brisbane. The first hill across the water was flattened for bay fill that became the Southern Pacific bayshore railyards.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp27.6366

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Young men at work for Southern Pacific.

Photo: Regina Alioto

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Northerly view from above San Bruno Mountain with railyards and San Francisco dump in foreground, SF city limits not far north of the bottom of the photo.

Photo: San Francisco Planning Commission

North-view-of-caltrain-tracks-at-Brisbane 20200126 160255.jpg

Northerly view of Caltrain tracks at Brisbane overpass, 2020.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

The Bayshore yard in 1983, with train traffic. Courtesy Reg McGovern. bayshore-yard-info 10-1983 regmcgovern.jpg

The Bayshore yard in 1983, with train traffic, straddling the political boundary between San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

Photo: courtesy Reg McGovern

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In 2021 the old Southern Pacific roundhouse that facilitated train assembly in the Bayshore Yards is the only remnant left. While officially closed, it is not hard to enter the grounds on foot. Southern Pacific had another roundhouse in Mission Bay too.

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Sp-roundhouse-interior 20220119 232616890.jpg

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Old Southern Pacific roundhouse, long abandoned, in Bayshore train yard, 2010.

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From inside the old SP roundhouse, 2010.

Photos: Chris Carlsson