A from-above view of this burned out Bay Area SP roundhouse.

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/sh ... hoto/68748

Ah, another hoped-for rail museum. Well, what would that museum need to have/do to become viable, to make sense? What kind of land would be required around this museum to support it doing that? Is the city (not San Francisco) going to go for that?

Here are recent developments and some heartening news about the Bayshore roundhouse. For the last several years San Francisco Trains (http://www.sanfranciscotrains.org) has been storing the partially restored State Belt #4 (Vulcan, 1911) at the former rail yard. A small part of the yard lies in San Francisco County and the larger portion lies in San Mateo County. Recently a team of interested people have joined to work to nominate the Roundhouse to the National Register of Historic Places and to help with plans for its future.


The Roundhouse is in Brisbane, a small town of 4000 people between San Francisco and South San Francisco (blink and you miss it!) The ‘Bayshore’ line was a faster route to and from the City of San Francisco and constructed in the early 1900’s on landfill, as was the Railyard and Roundhouse, all in an area later incorporated as Brisbane. Abandoned by the Southern Pacific in 1982, a developer purchased the Bayshore Railyard and adjacent landfill and has been formulating plans to redevelop the yard. The city of Brisbane is considering several alternatives for the site consistent with its interest in community and protecting the environment. The developer has refined their plans for the Brisbane development and the city government has held a number of community workshops and stakeholder meetings. The developer's plans have moved further along in that part of the former yard that lies within the border of San Francisco.

The Bayshore roundhouse is one of only 4 surviving roundhouses in California, and all of the others are from shortlines. There are few surviving mainline railroad roundhouse in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Additionally, it is both the only SP and the only standing brick roundhouse in California.

The roundhouse is viewed as a historic resource by the city of Brisbane and as a historic asset by the community. In the project alternatives it is indicated that the building is likely to be saved, but no exact plans have been suggested for its use. In the meantime, we are working to develop a good relationship with the community and the developer to ensure that the building is treated with the respect it deserves.

Any questions please contact me at cris.hart@comcast.net or 415 254 7931

I have a bit of local knowledge on this one...

Cris has done a wonderful job of working with the local government and with the developer to preserve the Bayshore roundhouse and its associated railroad buildings and history.

In California, large developments need parks and other amenities. Cris has the everyone looking at how the roundhouse can be the center piece of a heritage park. I doubt it will look like what most of us think a railroad museum should look like... but the building will likely survive, house some railroad equipment, and be viewed as a benifit to the community. That's more than most of us can say about our projects.

I have corrected my phone number in the post above. Apologies to anyone who may have tried that number.
Cris Hart
cris.hart@comcast.net 415 254 7931