On the way to San Jose, Southern Pacific Peninsula commuter train 122 accelerates out of Bayshore in South San Francisco on September 29, 1970. Thanks to its quick acceleration, Fairbanks Morse Train Master 3023 will deliver its seven 72-foot “Sub” coaches to San Jose exactly on time at 5:49 p.m. SP in 1953 tested two of the big 2,400-hp H-24-66’s, then purchased 14 for freight service on the Golden State route out of El Paso. But desert heat and blowing dust were too much for the opposed-piston prime-movers, developed for Navy submarines. Within three years the road moved all to Peninsula commuter service, where they will remain until they are scrapped in 1975.
Where once there was only one commuter carrier, Southern Pacific between San Jose and San Francisco, today there are three: Caltrain (former SP), Altamont Commuter Express, and the newest, SMART (Sonoma-Marin Rapid Transit).
