Apr10 Written by:Tom Farin
4/10/2008 4:50 PM
Wow, what a trip.
On August 3, I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge at 6:00 AM. I took my time driving to the north end of the NPC line, planning my trip back. By 9:00 AM I was in Cazadero. Then I spent the rest of the day driving as close a route to the old road bed as possible. At each major NPC stop, I stopped, took pictures and when available talked to people about railroad history. I concentrated on the North 3/4 of the line knowing I could come back and revisit the southern stops along the line.
On the 4th, my daughter and I came back over the bridge and visited Mill Valley (lunch in the Northwestern Pacific train station), and drove to the top of Mount Tam, stopping on the way up for a 2 mile hike through the redwoods.
On the the morning of the 5th, I visited San Anselmo and Sausalito. In total I have over 200 photos. I also picked up books documenting history of Mill Valley and Sausalito. Since I have returned I also ordered books on San Anselmo and san Rafael. These books are important because the present day communities have almost no historic structures remaining. On the other hand, communities on the northern portion of the route are much more locked in time. The trip yielded both highs and lows.
The lows: In the southern most cities (San Ansalmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Point Reyes Station) there is little evidence the NPC ever existed. A NPC station in Point Reyes, a building called the Flat Iron in San Rafael, and some historic buildings in Sausalito, Mill Valley, and San Anselmo are all that is left. Of course there is a MT&MW RR Gravity Car in the Old Mill park in Mill Valley.
The highs:
1. The yards in Cazadero are now occupied by a guy that specializes in Willys jeeps. But it at least looks like a yard. And there is a saw mill structure in the yard that I wasn't aware existed. And there are a number of historic buildings. And a lady that gave me a lead to a person who sells historic photos of the area. I saw a number of the photos.
2. I leaned over the highway bridge and took pictures where the Austin Creek trestle (where the tragedy occurred) used to cross the river. Talked with a nice lady who knew the history.
3. In Duncan Mills, I walked the highway bridge that crosses the spot at the Russian river where the Howe Truss bridge used to be. There's an old NPC depot, a NPC passenger car, a NPC Caboose as well as two non-NPC wood box cars. There are also a number of historic structures.
4. In Occidental, the yards are now a parking lot and city street. Old hotels, shops and houses are on both sides of the street.
5. In Freestone sits an old NPC wood water tank.
6. Tomales also boasts some old historic buildings.
7. Marshall is a little fishing villiage on Tomales Bay. Had a great cup of clam chowder in the restaurant. Took photos of a number of historic buildings. Just North of Marshall along the Keyes Estuary there are pilings from one old NPC metal bridge, and another complete metal bridge now used to cross the river that obviously was once a RR bridge.
All in all, a great experience. After running the route I can see why many have said the railroad shouldn't have been built. Once out of Point Reyes, even today, population is sparse. And the terrain is very difficult.
I achieved my objective. I have a good sense for the terrain with lots of photos showing terrain and structures where I had limited previous photos. And I have dimensions for two NPC stations and a significant number of historic buildings with accompanying photos from multiple angles.
I plan on spending spare time in the next week building out the research section of my Web site. There are way too many photos and way too much material to post here. I'll post a link as soon as it is ready to go.
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