Santa Fe Railway - Oakland

passenger station, 1911 ¹

The Santa Fe Railway (the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, or AT&SF) was one of the railroads directly serving Oakland with rail service beginning in 1904. The passenger and freight depots were at 40th Street near San Pablo in Emeryville, and there was a ticket office at 1112 Broadway (1220 after renumbering). Santa Fe passenger service on the "San Francisco Chief" ended in 1971 when Amtrak began operations. ²

The line ran east and then up Adeline Street to Lowell then along Sacramento Street, along the western side of the namesake Santa Fe neighborhood.

public domain, c.1907-1915 ²1911 Sanborn excerpt

ticket office ¹ticket office ¹T.A. Rigdon ¹J.J. Warner ¹

Beginning

Passenger service to and from Oakland by the Santa Fe had been available since c.1887 and they had a ticket office in Oakland, but travel between Oakland and Mojave, CA was on Central Pacific trains. Beginning in 1888, J.J. Warner was the ticket agent.

In July 1900, the Santa Fe reached Richmond via Stockton. But as Greater Oakland said, "Coming to Richmond, however, was not coming to Oakland." ¹In 1902, Santa Fe announced that they were taking over the property of the California and Nevada Railroad (which Joseph Emery had been president of) and would convert the tracks to standard gauge. The Santa Fe was coming to Oakland. ⁴

So on May 16, 1904, thousands of people turned out for a parade and celebration to welcome Santa Fe trains to Oakland and Emeryville. It represented increased competition to the Central Pacific railroad, but also Oakland's growth. Along with a front page photo, the Tribune dedicated more than 2 full pages to the coverage of it. ³

May 16, 1904 ³