Electric train

In the first half of the 20th Century, an electric, inter-urban train named The Comet traveled across Lake Temescal. The train took passengers from San Francisco to Sacramento or Chico. The railway was built primarily by Chinese Immigrants.

The Comet ran in the morning and was one of the fastest trains of the Sacramento Northern Railway. Beginning in downtown San Francisco, It traveled along the lower deck of the Bay Bridge; through Emeryville; past Shafter St, HIghway 24, Chabot Rd, Lake Temescal, Highway 13, Thornhill, Moraga Ave, Mountain Blvd; and on to Montclair, Pinehurst, Walnut Creek, Concord, Sacramento, and finally Chico.

The population size of Alameda County doubled after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and Oakland became an more industrialized area. The opening of several automobile factories (General Motors, Durant Motors, Chrysler, and Fageol Motor Company) spurred a 1920s population boom in Oakland. These factories and others drew workers to the area and an increased housing demand followed the general economic boom across the U.S. after World War I. The wide-scale adoption of automobiles changed people's everyday transit, as they moved away from streetcars and walking to cars.

Like many local "interurban" railroads, The Comet was expensive to maintain, and passenger service ended in the 1940s due to the decrease in demand. For a while, the railway made money by shipping freight, especially during WWII. Today, much of this railroad's former equipment is part of the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, California.