San Francisco's Interurban to San Mateo (CA) (Images of Rail) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've read three Arcadia Publishing books and this is my favorite so far, although all three were excellent.
Many of the pictures in this book were taken by the authors, two of which walked the entire 40 line to obtain them, while the railway was still in operation (interesting is that it was still a popular way to travel...a pity it's gone, really, since this was an ELECTRIC railway). Consequently the photos show not only the trolleys but an amazing series of landscapes - amazing how the area has changed from open fields (I wasn't around for the railway but I do remember the Dubuque meat-packing plant being next to Hwy 101 in South San Francisco) to what they are today.
There isn't much text - it is after all a photo history book - and the captions underneath the photos are interesting and informative. There are two essays written in the early 1900's for a newspaper contest and some statistics about the cars used in the railway throughout its existence.
A visit to the Western Railway Museum is now on my mental "to visit" list. Not sure how interesting it would be to people who have not lived in the area but I have been engrossed for the past 3 weeks! Great work, authors and thanks for sharing those photos!

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It's strange to think that an electric commuter rail line rivaling BART in efficiency, speed, and comfort ran over 100 years ago between San Francisco and San Mateo, but run it did. The 40 Line, or San Mateo Interurban, began in 1892 with an initial segment operating between Market and Steuart Streets out to the county limits on San Jose Avenue. Three years later, the line reached Baden in present-day South San Francisco, and by 1903 service was opened all the way to downtown San Mateo. During the line's heyday, there was talk of extending it down the peninsula from San Mateo to Palo Alto to connect with the Peninsular Railway to San Jose. The 1906 earthquake put this plan on hold. Following much the same route as today's Mission Street, El Camino Real, and Caltrain, the San Mateo Interurban carried over four million passengers a year along its main and spur lines until 1949, when the system was shut down amidst much fanfare.

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