New Exhibit Offers Glimpse Into Area's Rail History

Long before Foothill Expressway connected north and south Los Altos, trains were a major source of transportation, and a new exhibit  at the offers a peek into that part of the area's history.

“Bells and Whistles: Railroads in the Bay Area,” features books, photographs, and other memorabilia, offered by a partnership of the Cupertino Library as a member of the Santa Clara County Library District, the Cupertino Library Foundation and the Cupertino Historical Society, called the Santa Clara Valley History Collaborative.

The exhibit is open to the public on the second floor of the library at 10800 Torre Ave., Cupertino, during regular hours, January through June. An official kick-off event with the “father of modern transit service in Silicon Valley”, Rod Diridon Sr., takes place 2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28, in the , next door to the library.

“Bells and Whistles” offers insight into the founders of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the Southern Pacific’s connection with, and influence on, Sunset magazine, and the interurban railways, including the Peninsular Railway, according to Cupertino Librarian Mark Fink.

"The Father of Los Altos," Paul Shoup, is credited for his role in the expansion of the Southern Pacific Railway throughout California and the Western United States, his promotion of California through Sunset Magazine, and as one of four founders of Los Altos in 1907, among many other accomplishments.

The Shoup home on University Avenue, near what once was the Peninsular Railway, was placed officially on the National Register of Historic Places——in October 2011.