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This is film footage from 1898 of the “Crookedest Railroad in the World” heading up to Mount Tam to West Point Inn. You can see the train backing up the cars up the mountain.
No, the film is not going in reverse. You’ll also notice that it was filmed by none other than Thomas Edison, only three years after the Lumière brothers premiered their first train films in Paris. They certainly liked to film trains back then!
This is a recently published film on the history of the railroad has great footage of the train steaming up the mountain. Grab a cup of coffee and we hope you enjoy watching this twenty-three minute film.
Historic photographs & more
 West Point Inn #1 c 1904It is the summer of 1904 and the new Inn has just opened for business. Engine No. 3 makes a brief stop before heading to the the railroad's grand Tavern of Tamalpais at East Peak. It is amazing that this simple Inn still exists. Threatened by fire and eras of neglect, today it is the only place to spend a night high on the slopes of Mt Tamalpais. Rustic hospitality for over a century. Collection of Jim Staley |  West Point Inn #8West Point was the westernmost point of Mt Tamalpais's Scenic Railway. In early notes and plans it was called West End or West Loop. Here the tracks finished their westward climb, made a tight turn in a 252º arc on a narrow ridge, and pointed east toward the mountain's summit, almost 2 miles away. Collection of Jim Staley |  Looking toward SF, c 1905The West Point Inn was built on windswept ridge in 1904. Amazingly, the Inn has changed little in a century. The nights are still lit by gaslight and an old clock ticks on the mantlepiece. It is still possible to spend the night on Mt Tamalpais in the simple, rustic accommodations of the Crookedest Railroad in the World. (Note ruts in stage road from that day's stagecoach to Willow Camp.) Putnam & Valentine Photo, Anne T. Kent California Room Collection, Marin County Free Library |
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Historic films, photographs & more
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