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Photograph courtesy of Willys Peck
From 1908 to January 1964, Saratogans could board this train at Congress Junction and arrive in San Francisco an hour and a half later.
Saratoga Stereopticon
Popular commuter trains make a comeback
By Willys Peck
Even though the 20th century has another 13 months to go (OK, so I'm one of those iconoclasts who won't acknowledge the new millennium until its actual arrival), I still find myself coining aphorisms about the most significant this-or-that of the past 100 years.
If I'm still around on Jan. 1, 2001, I will have experienced better than three-quarters of said century, all of it in Saratoga except for time away in the Army or at school. So I feel somewhat qualified to offer my nominee for the most significant element of this town's centennial past having relevance today: the passenger train to San Francisco.
It's a topic I've dealt with before in this space--on July 17, 1996, to be exact --but not in this context. And in making the choice, I am obviously passing over the area's wholesale change from agricultural to high-tech economy. Though not of such overall impact, the current subject derives its relevance from our major thoroughfares' growing resemblance to parking lots during commuting hours.
One result is the increased importance of flanged wheels on steel rails and recognition of the advantage of moving large numbers of people rather than large numbers of vehicles. Commuter trains are gaining patronage, as demonstrated by the Altamont Commuter Express, a.k.a. ACE, which is taking some of the load off I-580. Light-rail lines (in my book they're still streetcars) are being extended, and it's kind of like deja vu all over again.
The train service we had from 1908 to January 1964 was along the route currently traversed by the freight train to Kaiser Cement Corp. in the hills behind Monta Vista. Only back then, the tracks continued from Monta Vista northward along the present route of Foothill Expressway, through Los Altos, where train service was credited with opening that community for development, skirted the edge of the Stanford University campus and joined the Southern Pacific main line at California Avenue in Palo Alto.
Saratoga residents boarded the train at Congress Junction, where Saratoga Avenue now dives under both the present tracks and Highway 85, or Azule, where the tracks cross Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. The "Congress" in the first-named station had to do with Congress Springs, the mineral water source that put Saratoga on the map. "Junction" had to do with the Peninsular Railway trolley line tracks that crossed the Southern Pacific rails at that point.
Train No. 129 left Congress Junction at 6:49 a.m. and arrived in San Francisco just over an hour and a half later. On the return trip, Train No. 132 left San Francisco at 5:17 p.m., arriving at Congress Junction an hour and 20 minutes later. Until January 1957, steam power was used, and the hoarse blast of the whistle as the train approached Congress Junction was melodic reassurance that the day was off to a good start.
It would be impossible adequately to mark the site of Congress Junction today, what with the underpass and all, but I think it's a name and place worth commemorating. Some of you may get on my case for not mentioning the "Champagne Fountain" name change that the Paul Masson outfit engineered when its bottling plant was built at the site 40 years ago. OK, I've mentioned it.
There's a lot of lore connected with any rail line, and this route, known variously as the Mayfield or Vasona Cutoff, is no exception. There is also a question as to just how significant a role this particular commuter service would play in solving today's Silicon Valley transportation problems.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
