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robertrivasplata 's review for:
The Key System: San Francisco and the Eastshore Empire
by Walter Rice
informative
relaxing
fast-paced
Book of photos and the history of the Key System interurbans that ran from the East Bay to San Francisco's Transbay Terminal. Has a lot of interesting facts and great historical pictures of Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont, and Albany. Great for someone who is familiar with the area and has an interest in local history and transit. I was surprised to read how much of the rolling stock was built in Key System's own shops, and also that some of their cars (along with some ex-Pacific Electric cars) were acquired and run by FGCU in Buenos Aires into the 70s. The Key System's story is pretty familiar: originally built as part of a suburban real estate scheme, it was then later run into the ground, before being scrapped, and finally re-built (as BART) from the ground up at immense expense. I wish this book had more about the competing Southern Pacific East Bay Interurban system, and also more about the Transbay Terminal, which outlasted the system it was built for by about 50 years.