Key System; S. G. Culver, B. W. Campbell, Joe R. Ong. [Interurban Electric Rail] Proposed Richmond Shipyard Railway Plan of Operation, KEY SYSTEM. Oakland, California: Key System (Unpublished Report), 1942.
Detailed report on project to extend the Key System to the Richmond Shipyard, served as blueprint for project commenced during 1942 and opened early in 1943. Black leatherette (flexible) 3-ring notebook. Cover gilt stamped KEY SYSTEM, Oakland, California. Detailed Table of Contents lists sections: Problem of Transportation of Richmond Shipyard Workers, Key System - Description and Data, Proposed Plan of Operation, Description of New Facilities Required - Itemized by I. C. C. Accounts, Cost of Construction and Rights and Acquisitions Necessary. 70 page text accompanied by 25 plates. Many plates are fold-outs, included are maps, charts, tables, etc. "Plate" 9 is actually 16 b/w photographs of Pictures Taken Along Proposed Route. 9" x 11-1/2". Only minor wear. Bent edges of the notebook, staining to first and last (unprinted) leaves, one fold-out plate mis-folded. Very Good + condition.
This document was the blueprint for creating the Shipyard Railway, used to transport workers from Emeryville and Berkeley to the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond. The project started in 1942 and was opened for use on January 18, 1943. "The Shipyard Railway ran from a specially constructed depot at 40th Street and San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville, up San Pablo Avenue northward (along the Key System's No. 2 San Pablo Avenue line streetcar tracks) to Grayson Street in Berkeley then two blocks west to Ninth Street, then a far stretch north along Ninth (along the recently abandoned Interurban Electric Railway's No. 5 Ninth Street line's tracks), across a bridge over Codornices Creek, then diagonally northwest across Albany Village, a federal housing project for war workers, then up and over a specially constructed trestle above the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Eastshore Highway, thence continuing northwest along the bayshore in Richmond, and terminating in a loop line serving the four massive shipyards of Kaiser." (Wikipedia on the Shipyard Railway). While used to transport thousands of workers each day during the war, the Key System viewed the line as unprofitable, and service ended on September 30, 1945. One copy located by OCLC, at UC Berkeley.
