The SP commute schedule was indeed a fascinating study; especially the skip-stopping in the afternoon.

It was an Ingeniously choreographed ballet! One that squeezed extra capacity (3-min headway) out of a very ancient and rudimentary two block "Overlapped" ABS system, that otherwise could barely have supported 5 minute headways. This skip-stopping ballet had several trains depart SF every 3 minutes, far exceeding the ABS capacity; followed by a 6 or 7 minute lull. The first of each "fleet" went all the way to Redwood City before stopping, the 2nd not quite as far, the 3rd a little less yet; and so on. The last one made all stoops. Fast trains out first, followed by slower, and then still slower. . . .

This ingenious scheme took advantage of the otherwise annoying fact; that each station stop adds a couple of minutes to the "time in block", trashing track capacity through that block. A closely following train (3 minutes) will inevitably hit yellows, or even reds before the 1st train gets off the station block.

But not if the 1st train skipped that stop! Skip stopping spread out the trains as they traveled, each stop separating the train behind by a couple of additional minutes. Hence the skip stop scheme not only sped up the service overall, it also squeezed more trains through per hour. Even more remarkable - that they did it with a very minimal capital investment in a very simple train control system on a pre-1911 patent!

So yes Virginia, there was a day when the SP actually did know how to run a railroad! - and a day where you actually got your money's worth.

OPB