#5/6 - Why EMY instead of OKJ?

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

NativeSon5859

Conductor
Joined
Aug 6, 2003
Messages
1,057
Location
NOLA
I’ve always been curious about this. Why do 5/6 terminate/originate in EMY as opposed to OKJ? Isn’t the servicing yard in Oakland? I seem to recall that OKJ was the end terminus in the past. Thanks!
 
It did use to be OKJ at one time.

The yard is between EMY and OKJ. However when it was terminated at OKJ, it necessitated a long backup move - including many blocks of street running! So the terminus was moved to EMY.
 
I’ve always been curious about this. Why do 5/6 terminate/originate in EMY as opposed to OKJ? Isn’t the servicing yard in Oakland? I seem to recall that OKJ was the end terminus in the past. Thanks!
Never mind. Folks with better knowledge than I have responded.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I liked it much better when the old OAK station at 16th and Wood was still the terminus. I guess the big earthquake ended that for good...
 
I liked it much better when the old OAK station at 16th and Wood was still the terminus. I guess the big earthquake ended that for good...
And 880 freeway rebuild and line relocation that put a freeway between the railroad and that station (which is still standing, btw).
Yeah...just took a glance at it on Google maps...looks rather sad, what's left of it, compared to it's golden era....
default_sad.png
 
I’ve always been curious about this. Why do 5/6 terminate/originate in EMY as opposed to OKJ? Isn’t the servicing yard in Oakland? I seem to recall that OKJ was the end terminus in the past. Thanks!
I don’t think the CZ ever used the Oakland Jack London station. It used to terminate in the old Oakland 16th Street station, which was east of the Oakland yards, as is EMY. 16th st station was severely damaged in the 1989 earthquake, so EMY became the terminus and 16th st station was permanently closed.
 
I’ve always been curious about this. Why do 5/6 terminate/originate in EMY as opposed to OKJ? Isn’t the servicing yard in Oakland? I seem to recall that OKJ was the end terminus in the past. Thanks!
You need to look at the location relative to the yard. Others have mentioned that there was a brief period when that backup was attempted, and before then when the 16th Street Station (OAK) was used as the endpoint.
 
Barely on topic, but the SF Ballet put the old Oakland 16th Street Station to good use as the backdrop for their In Countenance of Kings promo video a couple of years ago. It might be of interest to some of you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTv_Y0Zrl4
Interesting....the station looks pretty decent on the inside, obviously crying for a restoration, but still relatively clean and debris free, with no sign's of vandalism...
 
Barely on topic, but the SF Ballet put the old Oakland 16th Street Station to good use as the backdrop for their In Countenance of Kings promo video a couple of years ago. It might be of interest to some of you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTv_Y0Zrl4
Interesting....the station looks pretty decent on the inside, obviously crying for a restoration, but still relatively clean and debris free, with no sign's of vandalism...
It also served as the "hotel" in the HBO movie "Hemmingway and Gellhorn" movie fairly recently.
 
Barely on topic, but the SF Ballet put the old Oakland 16th Street Station to good use as the backdrop for their In Countenance of Kings promo video a couple of years ago. It might be of interest to some of you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTv_Y0Zrl4
Interesting....the station looks pretty decent on the inside, obviously crying for a restoration, but still relatively clean and debris free, with no sign's of vandalism...
I don't think anyone broke in, but even with fences the outside looks pretty bad.

 
When I rode the CZ in May 1994 via Thruway bus from San Francisco, the station for OAK was apparently at 1701 Wood St. (according to the Museum of Railway timetables copy). The place we boarded the train was right on the water. There is a footnote in the timetable that the stop will be moving, and that in the future the bus connection to San Francisco would be made at Emeryville.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
When I rode the CZ in May 1994 via Thruway bus from San Francisco, the station for OAK was apparently at 1701 Wood St. (according to the Museum of Railway timetables copy). The place we boarded the train was right on the water. There is a footnote in the timetable that the stop will be moving, and that in the future the bus connection to San Francisco would be made at Emeryville.
Emeryville Station was already open by then. Not sure why they wouldn't have used it as the terminus almost immediately. OKJ wouldn't have been operating yet.

That address is the 16th Street Station more or less. If you look at the layout now, there's a road where the tracks used to be.
 
When I rode the CZ in May 1994 via Thruway bus from San Francisco, the station for OAK was apparently at 1701 Wood St. (according to the Museum of Railway timetables copy). The place we boarded the train was right on the water. There is a footnote in the timetable that the stop will be moving, and that in the future the bus connection to San Francisco would be made at Emeryville.
Emeryville Station was already open by then. Not sure why they wouldn't have used it as the terminus almost immediately. OKJ wouldn't have been operating yet.

That address is the 16th Street Station more or less. If you look at the layout now, there's a road where the tracks used to be.
 
Well, I guess my memory is failing me about boarding the CZ near the water. I see a wye in the tracks on Google maps, but it is a ways from the station and across the freeway from the water. I also seem to remember the train backing into the boarding area.
 
And before the Middle Harbor Road bus connection to San Francisco, the original CZ continued to water’s edge at the Oakland Mole where passengers rode a ferry across the bay to San Francisco.
 
Here's a video by jreichel1 from April 1997 showing the California Zephyr getting towed to the yard from the Jack London station by a switch engine.

 
Back
Top