5:45pm is correct. Train 146, which had the last steam operation as mentioned, was the 5:45pm departure. That was the same basic schedule as train 140, which lasted until the Caltrans era. It was the next departure after the every-3 minute fleet, and made all the local stops except South San Francisco. After SP started eliminating a few trains, the renumbered the trains to fill in the gaps. 146 because 144, and then became 140.

The 5:14pm departure was #130 that ran non-stop to California Ave. That was not associated with the last steam powered commute. It was dieselized earlier. It was the first train to get the ten gallery cars ordered in 1955. All ten ran on train 130 (until the second batch was ordered in 1957). I believe it always had 2 GP9s or a Trainmaster after 1955.

I think the reference to the 5:00 and 5:30 departures were back when they adjusted the schedules for Daylight Savings Time (e.g. train 130 then left at 4:14, not 5:14). There were departures at 5:45p, 6:00pm and 6:30pm. They were numbered 146, 148 and 150 until around 1958 when one of the three-minute trains was eliminated. Then, they adjusted the train numbers so they were 144, 146 and 148 (until 1964 when a few more trains were elimated and the numbers were adjusted again, so they were 140, 142 and 144 up to the Caltrain era).

So from about 1958-1964, the 6:00 and 6:30 trains were 146 and 148 - which were 5:00 and 5:30 during Daylight Savings. So this Bob Church was partially right.