1953 House & Locos (below)
1959 House & Locos (below)
1959 House Interior
1953 & 1959 Ancillary Buildings
Mission Bay & Bayshore Turntables
Map of Mission Bay Locale


Mission Bay (flower) Garden & Club

Squeezed into a small bit of real estate between a hill, a wye and a steel company, Mission Bay Roundhouse was constucted in 1906 as a place to perform inspections and light repairs on locomotives that arrived/departed/switched the China Basin area of San Francisco. Passenger power constituted the majority of its customers. After steam bowed out in January, 1957, such extensive facilities were not required. The roundhouse closed on February 12, 1960 (last loco serviced: Train Master 4812), and its remaining functions were moved to the old coach RIP tracks at Seventh and Townsend Streets, which came to be known as the Seventh Street Diesel Shops.


All of the photographs on this page, are from the collection of George Solimine Jr. THANKS, GEORGE! The actual photography was done by Fred Cribbins (see page bottom) and an as-yet unidentified fellow.
The photo of C-9 #2598 further below was by George Solimine, Senior. Thanks to both Georges!

Circa September, 1953
(above) GS-4 with turntable and roundhouse in background.

(above) Four GS-4's and a Pontiac.

SP's only surviving GS-4, the 4449, and mates 4456 & 4454. Jim Cribbins, undated photo.

(above & below) Shown here is another steamer that survives in operating order today, 4-6-2 # 2472, now owned by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum located at the former Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard.

A few years back, I several times was lucky enough enough to work GGRM excursions / ferry moves as a pilot and ride the 2472's deck plate. My favorite of these was on December 16, 1994, when the 2472 was coupled ahead of my diesel in San Francisco for Train 74.
This quite-unannounced ferry move was the first time that steamhad run on a regular Peninsula plug since January 20, 1957. Though I didn't ride the steam engine that day, it was quite a treat to sit back in the diesel and enjoy the experience... and the faces of the passengers.

(Then Peninsula) Engineer Bill Stetler did the honors (as always) at the 2472's throttle and kept 74 on time with only a little boost out of the stations from me. Bill left Amtrak a couple of weeks later and now heads CP Rail's steam program. He still comes down for 2472 runs, though. The last time he gave me full instruction on how to re-flue a boiler. A fountainhead of talent and knowledge, he is.

C-9 #2598 in the garden, mid 1950's; George Solimine, Sr.

October 14, 1959
(above) Train Master 4813 sits on the table, framed by SD-9 5362 and passenger Geep 5623, as seen from the garden. The Pacific Metals building behind the roundhose is still there under a different tennant.

Mission Bay's Turntable was shorter and of a different type than the Bayshore turntable. For a look at both tables, see the San Francisco Turntables page. Here, we see PA 6041 and two Alco cousins in the garden area.

Overall view of the roundhouse garden and several leads that end at the turntable, facing NNW. Fred Cribbins photo.

Flowers in the garden. Fred Cribbins photo.

Note that the upper left portion of this photo is prominently employed elsewhere. The gentleman shown here is Fred Cribbins, one of the two photographerss whose work is shown above. The other fellow's name is lost for the time being.
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