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Gallery 883: Around the World in Trams Special - Southern California Railway Museum 1981-2002


Key System 'Bridge Unit' no. 167. The Key System was an interurban that ran on the East side of San Francisco Bay, the principal towns were Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda. Originally all the routes terminated at a pier that extended 16,000 feet out into the bay from Oakland, there was a frequent ferry service from the end of the pier to San Francisco. In 1939 the ferries were replaced by a new bridge known as the 'Bay Bridge', this was built with a lower deck for rail vehicles which terminated at the Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco. The Key System (along with Southern Pacific and Sacramento Northern interurbans), extended their routes to San Francisco. These articulated cars were built for the opening of the bridge, the original livery was yellow and silver, no. 167 is in National City Lines livery, NCL acquired a majority shareholding in 1946.

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