The Berkeley Branch Railroad was a 3.84 mile long branch line of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) from a junction in what later became Emeryville called "Shellmound" to what soon became downtown Berkeley, adjacent to the new University of California campus. The line opened on August 16, 1876. The initial terminal point was at Shattuck and University Avenues in Berkeley. In 1878, the line was extended north along Shattuck to Vine ("Berryman's Station"). The line connected at Shellmound with commuter trains headed to the Oakland Pier and ferries to San Francisco. Eventually, Berkeley Branch trains proceeded directly to the pier. External link Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum Categories: Corporation stubs | Historical stubs | Defunct railroad companies of the United States | California railroads | Nevada railroads | Utah railroads | Historic civil engineering landmarks ... The city of Emeryville highlighted within Alameda County Emeryville is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern California, in the United States. ... The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... The Oakland Long Wharf was a massive railroad wharf and ferry pier (mole) in Oakland, California. ... The Pride of Rotterdam, One of the P&O Ferriess Flagships operating the Hull-Rotterdam Route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. ...

The line was constructed in no small part because of heavy lobbying by prominent local citizens like Francis K. Shattuck and people connected with the University of California. Francis Kittredge Shattuck was the most prominent civic leader in the early history of Berkeley, California, and played an important role in the creation and government of Alameda County as well. ...

The Berkeley Branch Railroad was used under lease by the Central Pacific until 1885 when it was leased by the CPRR's affiliate, the Southern Pacific (SP). In 1888, the SP consolidated the Berkeley Branch Railroad into its subsidiary, the Northern Railway. Although the corporate Berkeley Branch ceased to exist at that time, its trackage continued to be called the "Berkeley branch line". In 1911, the line was electrified for commuter service, becoming a part of the SP's East Bay Electric Lines. When SP ceased running its electric commuter trains in July, 1941, the trackage up to Ward Street and Shattuck Avenue remained in use for freight and was referred to as the "Berkeley Lead". Until the early 1960s, the SP Ward Street Freight Depot was the Berkeley terminal point. Beyond that, the tracks were turned over to the Key System for its F-line commuter trains which ran unil April 1958. The Key System had previously used its own tracks, shared with streetcars (until 1948), along the east side of Shattuck. The Berkeley Branch tracks had always run along the west side of Shattuck south of University Avenue. The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark SP) was an American railroad. ... The East Bay Electric Lines was a division of the Southern Pacific Railroad which operated a system of electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. ... The Key System (or Key Route) was a company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from the 1900s until 1960 when the system was sold to a newly formed public...

The Berkeley Branch route began at Shellmound where it was connected to the main line of the CPRR and its successor, the SP. A switching tower existed there, the Shellmound Tower. The tracks then curved onto Stanford Avenue, then Adeline, then Shattuck into downtown Berkeley.