According to Bob Ford's book, the SP ordered 15 62 ton Class D B-W locomotives in 1912. 10 went to the PE as 1601-1610, three to the PE&E as 100-102, one to the Peninsular as #4, and one to the OAB Lines as CP 200. Eventually the PE&E 100-102, PRy 4, and CP 200 wound up on the PE (CP 200 became PE 1611). He says that it was used only at West Alameda "for a short period of time" because the BLE contract prohibited its use in switching service. Being familiar with the SP Pacific Lines contract, this doesn't make sense, unless it was a SUNA thing (Switchmen's Union of North America). Vernon told a similar story, but didn't mention anything about the contractural non-usability for switching. One of the five non-PE ones wound up on the Iowa Terminal, where it "perished" in a fire c1970-1985. The CP 200 was cut up in 1956.

The Ward St yard may have had to do with the proximity of the junctions of the Ellsworth St and California St lines with the Stanford/Shattuck Ave line. Its function being for storage of passenger equipment between runs because there was just such a yard (2 or three tracks) at Rose and Henry in Berkeley. I'm not certain.

Right up until the 1996 UP takeover, there was Rule 14 1/2 (I may be off on the number but not the "1/2" -- it's been a while) which covered motor car service. This came about because in 1910/1912, the SP was going to consolidate all it's electric passenger operations (PE&E, OAB, Peninsular, PE) into the PE agreement, which essentially is a transit agreement (hourly) rather than a freight agreement (mileage) -- there are other fine print considerations too. Since this would have meant a drastic pay cut, the BLE sued and won, thus preventing this consolidation. The BRT and ORC may have sued too; don't know. When I started on the SP at Oak, there were still a few guys around from the "red electrics".

There was a lot of plans for electrification on the SP. For example, all the PG&E substations built between 1910-1920 on the Peninsula are spaced the optimum distance for electrification of the SP, as are several power plants on the American River. Knowledgeable types told me years ago that PE&E and the OAB lines were the first step in electrifying between Oakland and Portland. I've seen a GE proposal for 1200 volt underruuning 3rd rail locomotives for Donner, complete with cyanotype pictures and drawings. They were to have dynamic braking even if 3rd rail power failed, and one configuration bore a striking resemblance to the Milw Bi-Polars. In the 1920s, the SP and PG&E were discussing electrifying all the switching in the Oakland area, but the SP wanted PG&E to put up and maintain the wires, which it didn't want to do.

The biggest knives in the coffin for electrification were the flooding of the Colorado River, Harriman dying of Cholera, and Julius Krutschnitt. From the benefit of hindsight, 1200 volts DC isn't very economical for heavy main line use.