History
Orinda's ‘rheumatic locomotive,’ 1881 – c. 1900
A look back at how a stretch of unnamed rancho land became one of the East Bay's most distinctive small cities.
"We have found that a railroad train is very convenient even if it is not always on time. And that a railroad not on time is better than no train at all.”
— Hayseed Siftings, Orinda Park, CA, April 1893
In 1881, a company was set up to establish the California and Nevada Railroad: a narrow-gauge line that promised investors a route beginning in Emeryville, continuing all the way to the silver mining camp of Bodie, and then on into Nevada and possibly even Utah. By 1897, almost 23 miles of track had been laid. Orinda boasted three stations:
- Orinda Park Station — just south of Bear Creek Road
- De Laveaga Station — near Miner Road
- Bryant Station — slightly south of where the Orinda Theatre stands today
And that's where the tracks petered out. Although a rail bed was cut along present-day Moraga Way, the entire enterprise was beset by so many disasters from the very start that the tracks never made it past Orinda. By the turn of the century, the dream of reaching Nevada had been abandoned entirely.
The California-Nevada Railroad at Bryant Station, near present-day Theatre Square.
In the few years the line actually ran (and it was almost never on schedule), this "rheumatic locomotive" was much beloved by day-trippers picnicking in Orinda's leafy spots. It was also genuinely useful to local farmers transporting their harvests to the Emeryville docks. The trouble was that sparks from the wood-burning engine set hayfields on fire at least once a week. The crew got so used to derailing at the notoriously swampy "Frenchman's Curve" that they kept blocks on hand, along with a 20-foot lever, so the wheels could be jacked back into place, usually with the assistance of half the passengers.
The line crossing the Lauterwasser trestle, 1895. The wood-burning engine was notorious for setting fires.
The last of the Orinda depots, the lovingly restored de Laveaga Station, sits at the corner of Bates Boulevard and Davis Road. Preserved by the de Laveaga family on their Bien Venida property for many years, the little station house was graciously presented to the City of Orinda in 1999 and designated an Orinda Historical Landmark in April 2000.
The de Laveaga Station, restored and designated an Orinda Historical Landmark in 2000.
Browse railroad photos in the Photo Archive →
Hayseed Siftings, Orinda Park, CA — April 1893
The OHS newspaper archive
Internet Archive: Orinda Theatre and Railroad oral histories
