Sonoma-Marin rail (#0005)

SMART train coming southbound into San Rafael.

The tracks/roadbed here are of the former Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Like many railroads, the NWP was an amalgamation of many short lines that developed and then were absorbed or died in the area. At one time there was rail service from Sausalito all the way to Eureka with branches running to other parts of the coast and inland. The demise of much of the NWP (and its permutations) was due in part to the usual villain of increased car and truck use, but also due to significant problems with maintaining a rail line in the coastal range north of about Willits where washouts and flash floods repeatedly caused disruptions and sometimes major reconstruction efforts. Fortunately the portion in Sonoma and Marin county was less vulnerable and in the 1970’s the state of California had the foresight to preserve the right-of-way for potential future use such as the SMART system.

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_Pacific_Railroad
Wikipedia plus interesting videos from the past: www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Northwestern%20Pacific%20Railroad