Sister car 803 on 11/24/48 – Harold Goldsmith Collection

Builder: San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Rys.
Description: Lightweight
Secondary Use: Shed
Type: City and Suburban Streetcars
Year: 1919
Retired from Service: 1948
Acquired by the Museum: 1992
Fund: 716
Sponsor/Manager: None

Key System Transit Co. 804

From Oakland, California

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History

The San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railway built 20 streetcars, including No. 804 in its Emeryville shops in 1919. No. 804 operated on the railway’s local streetcar lines in Oakland, CA. The San Francisco-Oakland also operated interurban service throughout the East Bay area. In 1923, the company reorganized as the Key System Transit Co. It took its new name from the shape of its route map. The streetcar division was renamed East Bay Street Railways in 1930 and then East Bay Transit Co. in 1936. Key’s lines connected with ferries to reach San Francisco. After the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1939, Key’s interurbans ran across the bridge into San Francisco. In 1946, National City Lines acquired control of Key System streetcars and interurbans. In 1948, Key converted the Oakland streetcar lines to buses. The interurban lines converted to buses in 1958. The Key System also provided rail freight service, a portion of which survives as the Oakland Terminal Railway. No. 804 was built with a deck roof. Key modified the roof to the arch design in 1930 along with converting the car to one-man operation. When local streetcar service in Oakland ended in 1948, the Key System sold No. 804 to W. Edgar Black, a walnut grower in Ivanhoe, CA for use as a storage shed. In 1990, a cyclist spotted the car in California’s Central Valley and reported it to the Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista, CA. That museum already had other Key System cars and declined to acquire the car. The Western Ry. Museum suggested that Seashore might be interested. In 1992, Edgar Black’s son, Charles Black, donated No. 804 to Seashore. It now sits on a pair of trucks from an East Boston Tunnel car. Seashore acquired more suitable trucks from Japan’s Hankai Railway which await installation under No. 804. No further restoration or conservation work has been started on this car.

Technical Information

Seats: 56
Control: K-6
Brakes: SME (M-28)
Compressor: DH-16

Trucks

Number: 2
Manufacturer: Brill
Model: 77E-1

Motor

Number: 4
Manufacturer: General Electric
Model: 247

Weight and Dimensions

Length: 48’ 6.00"
Width: 8’ 9.50"
Height: 11’
Weight: 42300 lbs.