Reply To: Marin Rail History (from original forum archive)
that barrel might have been a water tower for refilling the boilers on the engines.There were quite a few of them strategically located throughout the line for just that reason.
After me saying the alleys were a half block off Tamalpais Dr , then realizing the book entry I printed said the train ran 1 1/2 blocks up, I drove by and there is more alley I didn't know about a block up, so I guess the book is right. The section just west of Oakdale has has a house built since then but it looks like the alley was moved to the south about 30 ft. FYI
Hey Rich---Yup, sounds about right. I'm rather amazed at the old drainage pipe the guy talked about. Built like a barrel with chamfered edges, so it becomes cylindrical when assembeled, probably had hand-worked steel(or iron) hoops to hold it together, every four feet or so. Yow! Something like that would have held up for, maybe, fourty years if it was made from a hardwood, and coated with asphalt, or something, but probably the one they found was redwood. So, here I am on a tiny rock, in the smack middle of the Pacific Ocean, doing major building addition/ remodel project. I've got good guys working with me, so it's going along OK. Learning LOTS ! Good stuff. Material costs are considerably higher here. BUT....labor is less. So, it kinda pencils out. I'll be here till around the first of Dec. I've got my first booking for the guest cottage arriving on the third, so the project has a kinda short fuse. Gotta work fast. My old bones protest.
So it must have turned on to Meadowsweet just after the top of Alto summit where 101 is today, it ran right along the top of my old home below Meadowsweet, and may explain some of the 'V' cuts & the old trestle site I talked about. That route must have been abandoned after the Chapman tunnel was put in.
Sounds like you guys are thinking it was a spur from the Tiburon, through the tunnel, then running behind the Village shopping center line, but that came later according to this.
from A History of Corte Madera (c) 2002 Corte Madera Heritage and History Group. ...from page 46
"The North Pacific coast's original narrow gauge railroad...along a route linking Sausalito and Tomales, beginning in 1872"
"The NPC train wound it's way from the Sausalito ferry terminal north along the shore of the bay to a point near Gate 5, where it crossed a 4000 foot wooden trestle to Strawberry Point, then climbed up and over Alto Hill, which was called Collins Summit at the time"
"When it reached Corte Madera, the train rolled through the Meadowsweet area, winding around the hills and knolls, then traveled over tracks that lay between today's Manzanita and Oakdale Avenues (the alleys), ariving at Corte Madera station by crossing a trestle where Willow Avenue is now."
Growing up riding dirt bikes at Strawberry Point, eating at Jon's Food To Go, hitting the record store over there, and hanging out at friends houses, I have no idea where tracks could have been. Anyone have a clue ?
Aloha from the Island of Kauai- A few years ago, I was speaking with long-time Corte Madera resident Russ Strittmater, and he told me about that Meadowsweet NWP spur. At the time, I couldn't really visualize what he was telling me. Now it all makes sense, as the puzzle pieces fall together. I know those alleys behind the houses on Tamalpais Dr. They ran behind Fogarty's and Kelly's houses.
According to Fred Codoni the first line ran from B street in San Rafael to San Quentin point where a wharf was located, it followed what is now Andersen Drive. I am aware of the old Meadowsweet line also, my neighbor has a portion of it in their upper yard where a trestle crossed a gulch. There was also a sign over by Koch luggage on the old NWP line to Tiburon that said 'Meadowsweet' & I believe that is where a spur took off and crossed what is now 101 near the top of Alto hill where it followed present day Meadowsweet Drive down to the dairy. In the 1980's when the town of Corte Madera was doing some drainage work along Meadowsweet somebody located a very old drainage pipe on the side of the road that is made of redwood planks held together like an old fashion wooden barrel, it is thought that this pipe was installed by the railroad. I asked Fred Codoni about the Meadowsweet spur when I talked to him yesterday after the event & he did not have specific knowledge of it, but did say that there were many spurs along the NWP.
Rich, You mentioned "the first". What was the first ?
A really old one many people don't know about is the one that ran along Meadowsweet Dr, turning by the dairy, and passing behind the Corte Madera library (100 yrs earlier than it!) and on up along those alleys that are still there running a half block south of Tamalpais Dr.
Attended a great presentation on rail history in Marin yesterday in San Rafael, Fred Codoni of Fairfax was featured speaker at the event sponsored by a group of NWP buffs & Marin Historical Society. Railroads in Marin covered everything from the first line, the San Rafael & San Quentin, the Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods, the electric commuter trains, & more. Fred spent many years working fro NWP & is a wealth of knowledge on the topic, there is also a great exhibit currently at the historical society museum at Boyd Park, artifacts of NWP, Mt Tam & Muir Woods, & other local operations are on display there, anybody interested should drop by & check it out.
