In my neck of the woods, I've always been intrigued with the numerous railroad car ferries that transported engines, freight cars and entire trains back and forth across the San Francisco Bay. There are a few relics still standing along the Bay waterfront. This last Saturday my wife went out on a lunch date in San Francisco. We went to a restaurant called the Mission Bay Resort. We had a wonderful lunch in 85 degree weather! The restaurant is located in an industrial part of San Francisco that used to be part of the Port of San Francisco. There are many old industrial buildings and the old type harbor freight cranes. We had to walk off that big lunch and we hiked along a new path that goes north of the restaurant into the Mission Bay/China Basin area of San Francisco. Out in the water I saw this huge dock complex with railroad tracks on it. I recognized it as a railroad ferry dock, but I wasn't sure which railroad used it. The first four pics I took of the dock as it exists today. I wish I could've accessed and explored it!
I did a little internet searching at home and learned that it was the freight car ferry dock for the Western Pacific Railroad. The ferry would take cars between San Francisco and Oakland. I also found the remaining photos. They were taken by a railfan (I couldn't find his name) who got permission to ride on and photograph the WP "Las Plumas" rail car ferry in 1967. It was the last rail ferry to operate on the San Francisco Bay. The captain was an old salt named McFarlane, who was from Scotland. These are my pcis and some cool photos that the railfan took. Enjoy! Matt
