Hi Ed (and Jim) --
Pretty neat. You neglected to say the Mole was not just large, but a HUGE
structure much like Grand Central built over water, reaching half way to Mare
Island in the middle of the Bay. It had many tracks inside and a small yard
on the approach, all built on wood pilings. A whole forest went into that
place. If you ever get the chance, the opening scenes of the movie “Pal Joey”
(with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak) were shot with a GS and train in the Mole,
though I have heard the GS was dead. It is one of my favorite movies, with
many great songs, shot in classic San Francisco before the pointy building ever
came into being... I believe the Spreckles mansion was the site of much of
the shooting.
As a kid, I got to ride the Key System electric across the lower level of the
Bay Bridge, and the ferries from several places. We used to look for the
“walking beam” ferries on the bay as we drove across the bridge... Much like
the jets changed public travel, the freeways and bridges, particularly the
turning the lower deck of the Bay Bridge into vehicular lanes, killed all of
the ferries, though BART eventually came around to replace the Key.
One of the benefits of the Loma Prieta earthquake is that it knocked down the
skyway that ran across the original ferry building at the foot of Market in San
Francisco and cleared the Embarcadero as well, restoring the waterfront to its
earlier, esthetic appearance.
Thanks for sharing!
Bill Winans
From: Edward Loizeaux
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2013 9:33 PM
To: List, S scale
Subject: {S-Scale List} SP's Oakland Mole [1 Attachment]
[Attachment(s) from Edward Loizeaux included below]
BASS member Jim Sweeney recently sent some photos of his layout. The one I
liked best is this shot of the Oakland Mole which, for the uninitiated, is a
large wooden structure where westbound trains chugged inside so passengers
could easily transfer to ferry boats for the remainder of their trip across
San Francisco Bay. It goes without saying that Jim's other hobby is steam
boats. He used to own a real one -- not a model. It sounded and smelled a
lot like a steam engine. Wonder why? Enjoy....Ed Loizeaux
