Millbrae Train Museum

The Millbrae Train Museum, a project of the Millbrae Historical Society, occupies a two-story colonnade-style depot of standard Southern Pacific design, built in 1907 after fire destroyed its predecessor. Rail service here dates to 1863-64, when the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad opened the adobe 17 Mile House station on land deeded by estate owner Darius Ogden Mills; renamed Millbrae in 1865, the stop passed to the Southern Pacific for its Peninsula Commute trains. When SP proposed tearing the building down in 1976, the newly formed Millbrae Historical Society fought back, winning National Register of Historic Places listing as the Southern Pacific Depot on September 1, 1978; in August 1980 the structure was moved 200 feet south to clear a widening of Millbrae Avenue. After train operations shifted to the modern BART-Caltrain intermodal terminal, the society negotiated with Caltrain to maintain the old depot in exchange for using it as a museum, and the Millbrae Train Museum opened in October 2004. In 2006 the Pullman car Civic Center, built in 1941 for the City of San Francisco streamliner, was placed alongside as an exhibit, and the society has planned to add a locomotive and a stretch of track for excursion runs.