Seldon, if ever, has a train met a more enthusiastic welcome than Oakland put on for the first through passenger train on August 22, 1910

Passenger service was not begun until August. On the 22nd of that month, the fine new Oakland station, impressively corniced with eight immense concrete eagles, saw an immense throng gather to greet the first through train, a press special. Promptly on time at 4:15, amid the shrieking of factory whistles from Berkeley to Hayward, engineer Michael Boyle eased her (engine #92) through an Arch of Triumph at Broadway and stopped before the depot.

The trip had seen one amazing welcome after another. Crowds had turned out all along the line, towns were decorated, salutes fired, parades and brass bands were everywhere. Children decked out in their Sunday Buster Brown suits or starched eyelet-embroidered dresses had waved flags and tossed flower garlands, while their elders pressed local gifts of grapes or watermelons upon the astounded passengers.

In Quincy, 68-year old Arthur Keddie had almost wept as he spoke in welcome from the court house steps.

And in Oakland itself, the crowd that surged in Third Street or lined roof-tops and climbed telephone poles for a better view as the train pulled up to the reviewing stand before the station, was as exuberant as it was immense. A parade of welcome four miles long escorted the passengers and railroad officers to a banquet at the Claremont Country Club. In the flowery language of the day, the San Francisco Call proclaimed: "The great heart of the State throbs at the triumphal entry ... through canyons to the waters of the West, the Western Pacific led its iron stallions down to drink."

George Gould was not present to hear the nice words of welcome to his new railroad. But soon thereafter his cushy business car Atalanta (white tie and tails customary at dinner) came West on the rear end of the Overland Express. Gould, with his pretty ex-actress wife and children, was aboard on a tour of inspection. The multi-millionaire railroad magnate made a hit with the "rails" when he took part in an impromptu baseball game at Portola.

Ref; Joseph R. Knowland collection. Photograph depicting celebration at station, 3rd west of Broadway. The locomotive, numbered 92, is 4-6-0 type. The image was published in Oakland, California, pub. for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce by the Sunset Magazine Homeseekers' Bureau, 1911.

Please Note: This is a large and heavy item and as such will require special handling & freight shipping. Buyer is responsible for all arrangments and costs associated. Pick-up and delivery is available for local bidders (please inquire).