Key System and March of Progress

Unfinished History

A Key System train on the Bay Bridge, depicted in the opening celebratory newspaper.

Before the Bay Bridge the Key System trains ended on the "mole" at the end of the landfill spit where they discharged their passengers who then boarded ferries to cross the Bay to San Francisco.

The Oakland Mole ferry slip in the early 1900s.

Photo: Bancroft Library, 1905.17146-17161

The Oakland Mole in early 20th century, end point for Key System trains until the completion of the Bay Bridge allowed them to roll all the way to the Transbay Terminal.

Photo: Shaping San Francisco

Key System map, early 20th century

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The March of Progress: Tour of the modern interurban trolley system of San Francisco's East Bay and over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Predicts the bright postwar future of streetcar transit, with visionary images of advanced-design railcars. The Key System transbay service was abandoned in 1961.

Video: Prelinger Archive

An advertisement from the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company welcoming the new, modern Bay Bridge.

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