Editing Key System (section)

== Legacy ==

[[File:Key System 187.jpg|thumb|upright|Key System car #187 preserved at [[Western Railway Museum]].]]
[[File:Piedmont Avenue former train station.jpg|thumb|The former Key System train station on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland]]
Signs of the system still remain:

*The south wall of the lower level (today's eastbound lanes) of the [[Yerba Buena Tunnel]], connecting the two spans of the Bay Bridge, still contains the as-built "deadman holes", regularly spaced refuge bays into which railway workers could duck whenever a train came along.<ref>[http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/tollbridge/SFOBB/EastSpan/012024/MaterialsHandout/cd1/asbuilt/Yerba%20Buena%20Crossing%20%28Contract%20No.%2004-5%29.pdf State of California, Dept. of Public Works, Tunnel Section and Details, Yerba Buena Crossing, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, June 1934, Sup. Drawing No. 19A, PDF p.28]</ref><ref name=findit>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/bay-area-key-system-transit-remembered-18214791.php |title=Key System was the Bay Area's original BART, and then it vanished. Here's how to find it. |newspaper=SF Gate |date=July 26, 2023 |first=Bill |last=Buchanan |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref>
*The eastern end of the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] sits on landfill which was added to the northern edge of the causeway which carried the Key System railbed to the ferry piers.<ref>[http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1933_dec.pdf "'Great Fill and Wall for Bay Bridge Approach", ''California Highways and Public Works'', Dec. 1933, p.13]</ref>
*The tunnel that Key System trains used to cross under the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] (now [[Union Pacific]] and [[Amtrak]]) tracks to the mole and later the Bay Bridge still exists. It is visible from the [[Alexander Zuckerman Bike Path]], the ramps of the Macarthur Maze, and at the southwest end of the Target store property in Emeryville, a locale that was once part of the Key System yards and shops.<ref>[https://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/661/Emeryville-Comes-of-Age-1930s-to-1960s "Emeryville Comes of Age – 1930s to 1960s", City of Emeryville]</ref><ref name=findit />
*A stretch of road in [[Albany, California|Albany]] that was built with a wide median for a planned extension (never constructed) of the "G" [[Westbrae, Berkeley, California|Westbrae]] line is named ''Key Route Boulevard''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/08/07/key-system-served-albany-commuters/ |title=Key system served Albany commuters |newspaper=East Bay Times |date=August 7, 2008 }}</ref>
*The Claremont Hotel, built by a Key System affiliate company, The Realty Syndicate, survives as the [[Claremont Resort]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003 |title="Claremont Hotel", Registration Form, National Register of Historic Places |url=http://www.claremontpreservationcoalition.org/uploads/5/3/1/6/53165937/nrhp_regstration_form_for_claremont_hotel_ocr-compressed4.pdf |website=Berkeley/Oakland Neighbors of the Claremont |pages=40–41}}</ref>  It was the terminus of the "E" transbay line.<ref>{{harvnb|Demoro1|1985|p=33}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Demoro2|1985|p=217}}</ref><ref name=findit />
*The Realty Syndicate Building at 1440 Broadway was built in 1912 and housed [["Borax" Smith]] and [[Frank C. Havens]]'s Realty Syndicate that created the Key System.<ref>{{harvnb|Allen|Clausen|2005|p=32}}</ref> It is listed on the National Historic Register.<ref>Downtown Historic Oakland – National Historic Register #98000813</ref>
*The Key System's subsequent administrative headquarters building, built as the [[Security Bank and Trust Company Building]] in 1914, exists at 1100 Broadway in downtown Oakland and is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oakland California Landmarks |url=http://oaklandmarks.blogspot.com/ |access-date=April 2, 2010}} See also [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California]].</ref> The building suffered some damage in the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake]] and is as of June 2020 unoccupied, although there are plans for the building to be rehabilitated by a developer constructing a larger new building adjacent to it.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://hoodline.com/2017/07/developer-hopes-to-restore-key-system-building-build-18-story-office-tower |title=Developer Hopes To Restore Key System Building, Build 18-Story Office Tower |publisher=Hoodline |date=July 11, 2017}}</ref><ref name=findit />
*A building which has been converted for restaurant use at 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue in Oakland is the partial remnant of what was formerly a covered stop for trains on the C-line. (The tracks followed 40th Street, crossed Howe Street and curved through the parking lot behind Piedmont Avenue shops, then merged onto Piedmont Avenue at 41st Street and headed toward Pleasant Valley Avenue.) Old photos of the Key System are on the walls of the restaurant, as well as a partial mural (painted in 2005 and partially removed in 2014) of Key System images on one of its outside walls.<ref name=findit />
*The old Key System Piedmont shops building at Bay Place and Harrison is now a [[Whole Foods Market]] retail store. This building was originally built in 1890 as the powerhouse and car barn of the Piedmont Cable Car Co. In the 1920s, it was substantially remodeled and used as a [[Cadillac]] showroom which closed in the mid-1990s. The building sat vacant until 2003, when Whole Foods initiated a radical interior redesign while retaining and restoring much of the facade.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2013/12/05/site-of-oaklands-whole-foods-has-complex-history/ |title=Site of Oakland's Whole Foods has complex history |newspaper=East Bay Times |date=December 5, 2013}}</ref>
*The bus yards of today's AC Transit in Emeryville and Richmond were originally the bus yards of the Key System.  The Richmond yard was also previously the site of the Northern Carhouse of the Key streetcar system.<ref>[http://www.actransit.org/2017/01/27/ac-transit-hosts-grand-reopening-open-house-and-tour-of-richmond-division-3-bus-facility/ ''AC TRANSIT HOSTS GRAND REOPENING, OPEN HOUSE AND TOUR OF RICHMOND-DIVISION 3 BUS FACILITY'', AC Transit press release, January 27, 2017]</ref>
*Several streetcars and bridge trains from the Key System are preserved at the [[Western Railway Museum]] at Rio Vista Junction in [[Solano County, California|Solano County]], as well as a Bridge Unit at the [[Southern California Railway Museum]] in [[Perris, California]] and a streetcar at [[Seashore Trolley Museum]] in [[Kennebunk, Maine]].<ref>[http://www.bera.org/cgi-bin/pnaerc-query.pl?sel_allown=Key+System&match_target=&Tech=Yes&pagelen=200 "Key System in Preserved North American Electric Cars Roster"]. Retrieved on August 18, 2009.</ref>
*One of the 0-4-0 [[Steam locomotives]] used to push the trains during power outages is on display at the [[Redwood Valley Railway]]. It had a brief stint on the currently re-constructing [[Virginia and Truckee Railroad]] in [[Virginia City, Nevada]]. Here, the mountain grades proved too taxing for the little locomotive. It was later replaced by 2–8–0 Steam locomotive No. 29.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com/ |title=Virginia & Truckee |website=Virginiaandtruckee.com |access-date=2013-07-15}}</ref>
*Although built by the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], the Key System inherited the [[Northbrae Tunnel]] right-of-way, which it operated from 1942 through 1958. It was converted to street use and opened to auto traffic on December 15, 1962.<ref>[http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1963_marapr.pdf ''California Highways and Public Works'', March-April 1963, pp.61-64]</ref>
*Located at the former [[Oakland Army Base]] site, The Interurban Electric Railway Bridge Yard Shop Building, was used as a maintenance facility for the Key System electric trains. Today, the building is now known as the Bridge Yard Building and is used as a venue for events as part of the [[Judge John Sutter Regional Shoreline]]. A substation located at the site also provided electrical power to all the Key System trains.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=October 18, 2020 |title=Oakland's new Sutter Regional Shoreline park now open |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/park-it-oaklands-new-sutter-regional-shoreline-park-now-open |access-date=October 31, 2020 |newspaper=East Bay Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
*A footpath between York Drive and Ricardo Avenue, which provided access to the Holly Place stop on the C line, is still in use.<ref name=findit />
*Abandoned tracks on Louise Street and Poplar Street in Oakland, used by the A and B lines, were rebuilt in 1958 and used for freight until 1999.<ref name=findit />