(US) Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway

First published in 2009
Updated on April 28, 2025
Copyright © 2025 Funimag – Michel Azéma, Paris (France)

Mount Tamalpais Gravity Railroad

Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway (1896–1930) was located in California on the north side of the Golden Gate.
Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway was a fantastic Gravity Railroad!
A Gravity Railroad is a natural Roller Coaster… passenger carriages which was pushed to the top of the Mount Tamalpais mountain and then the carriages were dropped on the descending slope… moving with only the gravity and only a brake to control the speed!
I am so fascinated about this kind of railway… a natural Roller Coaster!

Le chemin de fer Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway (1896 – 1930) était situé en Californie sur la rive nord du Golden Gate à côté de San Francisco.
Le Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway était un fantastique chemin de fer à gravité (Gravity Railroad)!
Un chemin de fer à gravité, c’était comme les Montagnes Russes mais dans la nature… des wagons de passagers étaient remontés au sommet du Mnt Tamalpais et de là elles étaient relâchées pour descendre de leurs propres poids dans la descente… avec juste un frein pour contrôler la vitesse!
J’ai toujours été fasciné par ce genre de chemin de fer qui a complètement disparu… des Montagnes Russes dans la nature.

Videos

March 10, 1898 films by Thomas Edison:

West Peak Radio Station Incline

Maps

Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway

The “Mill Valley Station” photo actually shows a film crew, not just passengers, in gravity car no. 4. They are the Miles Brothers. This is when they had just finished shooting “A Trip Down Mt. Tamalpais”, in March 1906. Their next film “A Trip Down Market Street”, was shot a few days before the earthquake and fire leveled downtown San Francisco. The negative was on a train to New York when the earthquake struck. Historian David Kiehn’s painstaking research uncovered that story a few years ago. Morley Safer did the story for “60 Minutes”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYHGj19RrF0 — “Tamalpais” is briefly seen in a newspaper clipping in this piece. (Fred Runner)
A detached open air passenger car is on another track to the right of the train. Passenger cars from the Northwestern Pacific Railroad can be seen on the next track to the left of the photo in the shade behind the sheltering structure covering the passenger platform. The station, some houses on the hill and the top of Mount Tamalpais can be seen in the background…

Here below, part of the Miles Brothers film “A Trip Down Mt. Tamalpais”:

The morning train has arrived at Mesa Station, the Double Bow Knot, halfway to the summit of Mount Tamalpais. Here the passengers for Muir Woods changed to gravity cars, seen on the left, to be coasted down into Muir Woods while the train continued up the mountain. Engine No. 4, emanating steam, is at the far left of the photo near the water tank. The small tank car in back of the engine will be filled with water and hauled to the summit by the train. The open air passenger cars are filled with passengers. The gravity train cars to the lest of the photo are empty. The summit of Mount Tamalpais may be seen in the background.

Six guests are seated outside in the courtyard of the Muir Woods Inn. Three hotel staff members are standing in a door way. There is a small sign near the door that says “Cottages for Rent”. There are trees beyond the hotel.

The West Point Inn shortly after its completion in 1904; Railroad passengers would disembark and take the Pipe Line trail to the left to the Mountain Theater; The Tamalpais Conservation Club guest registry is at the foot of the sone walkway.

(Photos Mill Valley Public Library and Alamedainfo and Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Free Library)

Today

All the rails and tracks were completely and definitively removed in 1930 and converted in trails!
Toutes les voies et rails ont été complètement et définitivement enlevés en 1930 et les emplacements du chemin de fer convertis en pistes!

New Gravaity Car Barn

On May 3, 2009… it was the Grand Opening for the public of the new Gravity Car replica barn and Museum at East Peak which is the Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway old top station.
The Barn will be the permanent home of the Gravity Car replica (N° 22) which is part of a was constructed by Jerry Coe in 1996. The Barn has been constructed over a section of the 84 feet of standard gauge track at the historic rail siding of the old top station.

Un nouveau hangar pour la voiture

Le 3 mai 2009, ce fut l’ouverture au public du nouveau hangar musée qui abrite la réplique d’une voiture de l’ancien chemin de fer gravitationnel Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway.
Le hangar a été construit à l’East Peak à l’emplacement exact de l’ancienne gare supérieure du chemin de fer. Il servira d’abri à la voiture (N°22) qui a été construite par Jerry Coe en 1996. La voiture est posée sur une section de 25 mètres de voie ferrée à écartement standard.

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