southern pacific railroad once dominated the railroad service. and the bay area was the heart and soul of sp. >> here is the city of san francisco, hopelessly blocked by snow. >> a massive storm leaves hundreds of passengers

passengers shivering for days. a look inside the carolands estate. all that and more straight ahead on a second look. hello everyone i'm frank somerville and welcome to a second look. sp trains crossed the country and came to dominate development in the golden west over the next century. in 2001, george watson took a look at southern pacific and how it changed the bay area. oakland incorporated as a city in 1864 but would remain a sleepy city until 1869 when the train came. the side of sps western terminus.

the steam locomotive would forever alter the concept of time and distance. now the power of steel and steam forcing over track late across endless prairie through seemingly impossible would altar the course of a nation. here in california, especially in the bay area, by the beginning of the 20th century, the southern pacific railroad was at the top of the pyramid. the rest of america came here on steel rails of the sp. >> it was said at the time in the 1890s and early 1900s that the capital of california was not in sacramento but what was other at the southern pacific's railroad office in sacramento. >> these were people with holdings, tens of thousands of

employees, thousands to tens of thousands of equipment running on a schedule. it's something americans had not experienced before. >> reporter: it would dictate the manner, time and place in which we did practically everything. life adapted to the railroads. >> the first industry where people were prohibited from drinking on the job. the first industry where people were required to have accurate time pieces. the railroads gave us the modern time zones we take for granted today. >> reporter: from 1910 on the railroad as an entity was fighting for its dominance. ill would respond to the automobile by responding every kind of transportation option imaginable. you need look no further than the bay area to see it all happen. >> the southern pacific controlled cable car systems in san francisco. the steam rail way system and across the continent, the electric rail ways in marin

county and the east bay. even the ferry boats on the bay were controlled by the southern pacific. >> some where along the line, the railroad would do more than to find commerce, it would capture and define the big brawling imagine of america conquering its own. the iron horse huge and powerful would take an unexpected step of beauty, grace and glamour. riding the rails on streamline steam became a rallying cry for southern pacific. a railroad would build a new locomotive to redefine itself and it would do so in the teeth of the great depression. southern pacific chose to fight the economic doldrum by building what some say was the most beautiful train ever put on rails. at an unheard cost of $1 million per train, in 1937 sp

built the now famous. >> in the observation car is mod -- modern design. tier are deep soft chairs. >> reporter: from san francisco to los angeles, its was not so much how the daylight traveled, sure 135 miles of california coast could be extended enough. but the way it looked in the sheer romance, rekindled a riders passion. >> the daylights probably were the finest trains sub pacific ever operated. there was a triple unit diner with a coffee shop on one end and a diner on the other. you want the coffee shop there were no table clothes. if you want the diner there was a table clothe. the food was the same just the

ambience was a little different. >> reporter: one of the most powerful locomotives ever built, the cab forward became a symbol of the way southern pacific used trains to at trains -- to adapt to different terrain. their long snow sheds and tunnels. >> standard locomotive, the engineers had to wear gas masks because you have one tunnel almost 2 miles long between norton and the other side of the hill near truckee. >> they said let's put it up front. they can see better. >> reporter: by the 1950s the automobile was king and air travel had put yet another nail in the coffin of train passenger service. also in the 1950s the steam locomotive would give way to the diesel engine. with the steam engine gone, a romantic era in train travel

would come to a sad and quiet end. >> still to come on a second look, there was a time when the area had an elaborate efficient train system that took riders wherever they wanted to go. what ever became of the key system. >> and later. >> for the past two days, the passengers have been overcome by snow. >> stranded in a train in the 1950s.

welcome back to a second look. southern pacific wasn't the only game in town when it came to getting around the bay area. there was a rival system that ran commuter trains on the lower deck of the bay bridge and pretty much carried people all over the east bay. it was called the key system. in 1984, ktvu's george watson looked at&t key system and what happened to it -- looked at the key system and what happened to it. >> reporter: in 1902, parson had turned his career in prospecting into a fortune.

he decided to challenge. borax smith was the largest landowner in the united states. he reasoned that if he built a railroad in that property that property would increase in value. eventually the real estate business drove borax into poverty but that was before this day. >> reporter: this was the berth of the key system. the first train rolled out to meet a connecting ferry boat in october of 1883. 20million 1903 commuters decided the key was the way to go. for the first time the southern pacific had serious transit

competition. the key system pier rebuilt probably reached its peak in 1924 when 800 trains a day brought passengers to the ferry boat. with a third key system local train on a third set of tracks all on the same route. southern pacific stood out to the competition admirably. by 1911, sp introduced the brand new and apply named big red cars. however southern pacific was a giant comglomorate. it flourished then disappeared. the tracks had long since disappeared and the ruins of

concrete almost disappeared. it didn't last for the simplest of reasons it didn't make money. marin didn't really have the people in those day to maintain such a massive system. marin's population didn't take off until 1950. >> a couple of things happen, one it didn't have much ridership. the ferry boats took a long time. the golden gate bridge was a very successful competitor. at the time it was a drain on them. it was probably built too early. the frustrating thing about the marin county operation these electric trains was when they didn't need them they had them. now they need them and they will never get them built. it can really happen again, it happened too soon. by 1939, 1940 when the thing was going to disappear there

wasn't any riders on it. nowadays you would be nutting to get rid of it. >> reporter: but for those who road it, it was a nice experience. >> it was a more easy mode of transportation in fact, when the greyhound took over on march 4 of 41, they kept telling us there was going to be more efficient. and it took 1: 1:40 instead of 1:04 minutes. you had a safe seat, the trains you could move from one car to another. they had a smoking session, nonsmoking session. >> reporter: every commuter train is going to live and die on its efficiency. but the train was more than efficient, it was fun. >> the train had as many as, i would say working inner urban

and the steam going north. sonoma valley. they went to santa rosa local. they had the -- i would say there's 23 to 24 trains a day came through san rafael. passenger trains. like i said, to glen helen or russian river. you get on your bathing suit and your family get the lunch packed and the many a time, in the park when the big bands were there. they all played there. and i saw them all there. >> reporter: by 1941 the ride was over. and greyhound soon took control of the line that disappeared so quickly it's almost like if the train had been an

embarrassment rather than a great commuter train. just weeks before the start of world war ii, cars that could have been a tremendous cause for the war effort were carted off and burned. others were shipped off to south america where believe it or not some of them are still running today. by 1958, it was gone. but it died a slow gradual death. the opening of the bay bridge and bay bridges and the love affair with the automobile led to the demise of the ferry's first then the trains. despite the important role the key system was paying on the bay bridge. the transit lodge was nothing less than tragic. we had a cheap, efficient, practically pollution free system, the nucleus on what

could have been great. >> maybe some of these neighborhoods in oakland that have deteriorated or become industrialized would have stayed at commuter neighborhoods because it would have remained efficient to commute to oakland. >> reporter: in 1939 both the key and pacific began to reduce service. it also marked a critical time for repair and upgrading on other existing key lines. well there weren't repaired but if they had been it's doubtful we would have ever needed b.a.r.t. today. >> even after the trains go into the bay bridge we see the thing in decline. the issue is look at it from the economic and political situation. should decisions have been made in the 1940s to take what was there, which was obviously in decline and rebuild it and modernize it because we all know it's an awful lot easier to fix something that is there than to build something brand

new. there was enough there in 1945 that withed modern equipment both on the street line and on the transbay lines that system could have been modernized, far less than what it cost to. obviously more than it took ever to build b.a.r.t. people were taking to the auto. the two bridges were open. the train needed upgrading but something else happened to speed the demise of the bay area into the urban system. what happened was illegal. and giant american corporations involved were all found guilty by a jury in a federal court of law. in 1949 general motors,

standard oil, mac track, national city bus line, phillips petroleum and others were all found guilty of violating the sherman anti trust law. they replaced the rails with buses, for this they were fined $5,000 each. hardly enough to throw any of the corporations into receivership. when we come back on a second look. >> it's the largest family dwelling in mississippi. >> we'll tour a mansion from a woman who inherented the pacific.

150 years ago the passenger sleeping car was first introduced to american railroads. the pulman car made a fortune for george pulman and in 1915 his daughter decided to build herself a grand mansion in

hillboro. but in 1977 carlman was facing possible destruction when bob mackenzie took a tour. >> reporter: what will become of carol lands. residents have been asking themselves that for decades. after the mansion was passing from one owner to another and remains empty. carl lands is 62,000 square feet of living space built in 1910 as a famous chateau of france. on a scale nobody lives on anymore and that's the problem. the story begins with george mortimor pulman. you may notice a certain

strength in the jaw. she was said to have charm but no money. when the pulman money came into hariett's hands she built herself a mansion. with gardens that stretches for more than half a mile and gardens that supplied food for the staff. we started our tour in the lounge where mrs. carlland held dances. >> not many familys are that large anymore. you need probably 30 or 40 servants. >> she had 130 on staff at one time. >> what's this? >> these are champane fountains. there's one at either end of the dining room. >> a champane fountain. literally they had champane flowing from it. >> yes, it's quite practically when you're entertaining a large group of people. >> reporter: we had a look at the solarium. famous for its floors.

inlaid with marble. so rare it was only found once. >> she had the rest of it that she didn't used pulverized so it could never be used or found again. >> in the world. >> right. >> so she would have the only gold marble room. >> that's correct. >> she did things in style didn't she. >> yes she did. she was quite a lady. >> this is all silver leaf. it's a very fine craftman ship. a beautiful example of the quality that's throughout the mansion. >> this seems to be a slight flaw in the room in the direction of the ceiling there. >> well we did have some water infiltration and we left it that way so one could view the interior structure. >> reporter: actually there's a lot of water damage. the floors on the ballroom are stained and modeled the result of deferred maintenance. in the top story a leaky roof has led to peeling paint and possibly worse in the end.

>> let's be blunt nobody wants this as a private home because it's just so big. >> carolands was eventually bought by the johnsons. the johnsons made it their home but then gave it to the carlland's foundation. a blizzard tracks a pacific train and all those on board in the sierra snow for three days.

the city of san francisco was a state of the art passenger train in 1962 with six 900-horsepower engines she made 90 round trips from chicago to san francisco. but her pride was stuck on the track and its passengers cold

and reeling of cold. >> reporter: almost below the snow, lies the train of san francisco which stalled at donner pass while in route from chicago to san francisco. nurses and other rescue workers board a relief train to go to the aid of 222 passengers and crew members marooned on the liner. the marine train finds the chugging tougher in inspite of a rotary plow in front to clear the way. donner pass was given the name by a previous train that was stalled in the snow.

the forward section can be seen ahead. provisions for the beleaguered passengers are loaded which because of their caterpillar thread can get inside the snow. the weasel is an amphibious train. here is the city of san francisco hopefully blocked by snow drift. it's been here three days with the passengers on board. a news magazine camera man is the first newsreel man there. for the last two days the passengers have gone without heat. 60 were overcome by gas fumes that are taken off on sled stretchers but none suffered serious injuries and they report that spirits were cheerful on the snow bound train. then the monumental task of

digging out the streamliner begins. passengers are on their way home but for two more days the train lies embedded in its prison of snow. >> and that is it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville. see you again next week.

next door neighbor, died. he and luke were pretty close, so we have to tell him. i'm a little nervous about it. i think we should break it to him slowly. like how? well, first we'd say "luke, your friend walt has a cold. you shouldn't go over there." next day--"bad news. walt's in the hospital but he's still cracking jokes with the nurses." next day--"they're trying an experimental drug. fingers crossed." next day--"his body rebelled. he's in a coma." next day--he rallies next day--coma next day--coma, next day--coma next day--eye flutter-- stop. just stop. stop. oh. luke, we have some bad news for you. it's about walt. i'm afraid... he passed away. um, it happened yesterday.