mook Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Googling ...
> [www.google.com]
> Point+BART+Station/@38.0191233,-121.9386956,1091m/
> data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x80855c4c91d25efb:0xabdc1
> 90181da2bfc ... looks like the existing tail
> tracks beyond the station were being shortened or
> reconfigured when this photo was taken. Leading me
> to wonder how e-BART will make the connection with
> the existing Bay Point station ... overhead?
> Interesting also ... looks like a wide median
> continues to just south (east?) of St. Regis in
> Brentwood, where the current freeway ends. So it
> might be possible for e-BART to make it to
> Brentwood without shifting over to railroad
> (probably UP) tracks.
>
> For more official information:
> [www.bart.gov]
>
> Side note for the Wherezit crowd: "Railroad
> Avenue" (which will someday maybe get a e-BART
> station) runs at right angles to the existing (and
> e-BART) railroad lines in the area. What railroad
> ran along it, where did it go, and what was its
> primary traffic? Some local knowledge or a few
> quick Googles will provide the answer quickly.

It was known as the "Black Diamond Railroad" (don't know if it was a common carrier) and hauled coal from the mines in the Nortonville area down to the river. Even though SP, ATSF, and SN crossed Railroad Avenue, the name didn't refer to them.
I believe the original design for eBART called for using the UP's Mococo Line right-of-way from West Pittsburg to Brentwood. When that didn't work out, they went to the abbreviated concept they're building now.
Full disclosure: I'm an "anchor baby," as my father jumped the border from Canada in the 1920s. Damn Irish! Sorry...