Third and Townsend Depot

San Francisco
Southern Pacific's Third and Townsend Depot terminal, August 1974
General information
Location	San Francisco, California
Owned by	Southern Pacific Railroad
Line(s)	Coast Line
Construction
Architectural style	Mission revival
History
Opened	August 17, 1874
Closed	1975
Rebuilt	1889 1915
Services
Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Terminus Coast Line via Bayshore Cutoff 23rd Street toward Los Angeles Coast Daylight Palo Alto toward Los Angeles Del Monte 23rd Street toward Monterey Lark Burlingame toward Los Angeles Peninsula Commute 23rd Street toward San Jose Valencia Street (pre-1907) toward San Jose Ocean View Branch (pre-1928) Valencia Street toward San Bruno Suntan Special Burlingame toward Santa Cruz

The Third and Townsend Depot was the main train station in the city of San Francisco for much of the first three quarters of the 20th century. The station at Third Street and Townsend Street served as the northern terminus for Southern Pacific's Peninsula Commute line between San Francisco and San Jose (forerunner of Caltrain) and long-distance trains between San Francisco and Los Angeles via the Southern Pacific's Coast Line. For service for destinations to the north, such as Seattle, and destinations to the east, such as Chicago, passengers generally needed to travel to Oakland, initially on ferries to Oakland Long Wharf, and later on buses to 16th Street Station. It was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by the Caltrain commuter station a block away at Fourth and King Streets.