The Montezuma Yardmaster Wrote:
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> The above post is the first that I have ever heard
> of a KNIGHT YARD. Can someone tell what and where
> the Knight Yard is and about its history.

Knight Yard was the main yard of the Army's railroad that served the Oakland Army Base (which was a supply depot). It ran parallel to, and along the west side of, SP's Desert Yard in West Oakland. The two yards were separated by a chainlink fence with security lights, and was patrolled. SP used to interchange with the Army's railroad there. The West Grand Avenue overpass crossed over the north end of the yard. The Army railroad's two-stall enginehouse, which is still standing, is about a quarter-mile east of the east end of the yard. There was (and still is) a connection between the Knight Yard and the Oakland Terminal Railway's Baldwin Yard (not sure if they still call it that) that's out near the Bay Bridge toll plaza.

By about 1990, there was very little rail traffic remaining. For a period of time, SP leased several of the yard tracks for car storage, and some of the tracks at the Grand Avenue end were used for automobile unloading for awhile.

Most of the tracks were eventually removed. Some of the remaining tracks are the ones now being used for the lumber transloading operation described in this thread, and some track has been relaid.

You can probably see the yard on a satellite map.