Nostalgia & History > Drum Powerhouse Tram (Incline railway) #3 of 6

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Photos 1&2.  This rail is dated 1915, but I found some mention of the tram in the PG&E's company magazine as early as 1912, so I'm not sure what the story is with this.  Some have said the railway was build as part of the penstock and powerhouse construction, implying it carried heavy equipment..  but I'm not so sure it ever carried much more than personnel.
Photo 3.  The first time I saw the railway, about 30yrs ago, I had assumed it now ended here (about a 1/4 of the way down)  buried under the 3rd penstock...
Photos 4&5.  But, no, it keeps going- the entire line is still intact.  Here it takes a pretty good plunge and then flattens- for about 20ft.
SR

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According to the book P. G. and E. of California, construction of Dum powerhouse was started 7-1-1912, and it was put in operation 11-26-1913. The dam was raised some 15 feet in 1919. A 110kv transmission line carried the power from Drum to the Cordelia switching center (west of Suisun City), which is till there although the original building itself is no longer used. In 1915, the line was extended around the north end of the Bay to San Rafael and on to Lime Pt, where submarine cables were laid across the Bay to SF.

Great stuff SR. Ken took me there in 2002 but I never hiked down the hill toward the bottom.

Do you have any photos of the Towle Bros. ROW around the corner to the east?

Regards, Jim Evans

I've walked much of the Towle Bros- axcept the part where I started seeing thin fishing line strung between trees at shin level....  
But no photos.

yet.
SR