Thanks to Andrew Laverdiere for providing the photos for this article.

The State Belt Railroad begain in 1889 for the sole purpose of handling freight traffic along San Francisco's waterfront. Its name is derived from the fact that waterfront property at the time was owned by the State of California, and not the City of San Francisco. (When California was originally surveryed, the land along the waterfront was underwater, and thus was not included in San Francisco city limits.)

The State Belt Railroad saw traffic from both the North Pacific Coast Railroad and the South Pacific Coast Railroad; as both railroads had different gauges, a majority of the State Belt Railroad's tracks were dual-gauged to accommodate. In addition, interchange with both railroads was done by ferry as the State Belt Railroad had no physical connection with the nation's rail network; this changed in 1913, when SBRR's tracks finally joined with Southern Pacific trackage at a small interchange yard. At the height of the State Belt Railroad, 67 miles of track were in its service.

Freight service began to dwindle as shipping routes started terminating in Oakland, across the San Francisco Bay. In 1969, the State sold the water front property to San Francisco, and the State Belt Railroad was promptly renamed the San Francisco Belt Railroad. 1993 saw the railroad company come to an end, with a majority of tracks already abandoned by this time.

Other Sites and Information

Information on the State Belt Railroad at the Golden Gate Railroad Museum website

This shows the east portal of the Fort Mason tunnel. (June 2008)	This picture was taken from the east side of the tunnel looking towards Aquatic Park and Fishermans Wharf. (June 2008)
This is the rail pier where the rail barges would come in from Oakland, Richmond and Marin County. (June 2008)	This is the abandoned railroad pier, Pier 52, built by the AT&SF, just south of China Basin. (July 2008)
This is the abandoned railroad pier, Pier 52, built by the AT&SF, just south of China Basin. (July 2008)	Five blocks south of Pier 52 in the previous photos is this street-running track on Illinois Street. Locals reported that the area west of the pier had a large rail yard; the yard is now gone and the area gentrified. The line starts at Mariposa Street at this location, and goes all the way to India Basin at Cesear Chavez Street (formerly Army Street). (July 2008)
This is a picture of the tight right-of-way between Pier 24 and 26 underneath the Bay Bridge. (July 2008)

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This line carried many soldiers and much war materiel during WW II. The northern terminus was in the Presidio of San Francisco, a huge Army post, and the tunnel was actually under Fort Mason, an Army post with massive piers from which many troopships departed. The former loading docks, small yard, and warehouses in the Presidio were demolished as part of the "restoral" of Chrissy Field at the turn of the 21st Century.

Eric Artman
Marin County
6/10/2009

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