It's a Heritage Railroad Today

This train line through Niles Canyon near Oakland, California, was part of the Transcontinental Railroad. It was eventually abandoned by the Southern

Pacific Railroad. Today, it is a heritage railroad.
The tracks were laid by the first Western Pacific Railroad Company (formed in 1862 - there was another one formed in 1903). They started construction from San Jose towards Sacramento. They built twenty miles of track that reached into Alameda Creek canyon in 1866. The first passenger excursion entered the canyon on October 2nd of that year. In September, 1869, four months after the famous golden spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Central Pacific Railroad completed the transcontinental rail link between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay, finishing the track through the canyon. The Central Pacific had acquired the Western Pacific and other local railroads and built track to connect them at a waterfront terminal at Alameda Point. The Central Pacific constructed a freight terminal at the west end of the canyon and a town quickly sprang up around it. The town was named for Addison C. Niles, a prominent judge and former railroad attorney. The Southern Pacific Railroad purchased the Central Pacific and slowly, over many decades, finally abandoned this part of their line through the canyon. They gave the right of way to Alameda County. Then, on May 21, 1988, almost 122 years after the first Western Pacific excursion, the Pacific Locomotive Association brought railroad passenger operations back to life in Niles Canyon. Presently, Niles Canyon Railway provides train rides to the public year-round between Sunol, California and Niles in Fremont, California. The above information is gleaned from: https://www.ncry.org/about/

The former Southern Pacific route from Oakland to Tracy via Niles Canyon is now abandoned, except for the portion from Sunol to Niles Station operated by the heritage railway known as the Niles Canyon Railway. This line was the original westernmost section of the First Transcontinental Railroad from Sacramento to San Francisco Bay (by way of Stockton and the Altamont Pass). It was completed in September 1869 by the Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870), but lost its transcontinental traffic in 1879 to a shorter route through Benicia. The Southern Pacific tracks in Niles Canyon are on the north side of the canyon. Southern Pacific, being the first railroad in the canyon, chose the best route. The Union Pacific Railroad (formerly Western Pacific Railroad) has an active mainline on the south side of the canyon. The Altamont Corridor Express runs along this line on weekdays. This information was taken from Wikipedia.

This post card

continues the Edward Mitchell series (though not on purpose on my account) of post cards in this blog.