Restoration underway on Locomotive No. 9
Train moved from Scotia to Marin County in 2018
A lot has happened since Locomotive No. 9, the last remaining full-size piece of the historic Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway in the Bay Area, was removed from Scotia in November 2018.
Currently stored at an undisclosed ranch location in Sonoma County, the restoration process of the historic locomotive is underway.
Coordinating the restoration work is a nonprofit organization called Friends of No. 9.
“We are a band of people who love Mount Tamalpais and what No. 9 stood for,” said chairman and executive director Fred Runner, “and we knew that No. 9 needed to come home. This is the only surviving piece of a very cool thing.”
During its operation, the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway carried over a million people from Mill Valley to the top of Mount Tamalpais, and then down into Muir Woods.
Restoration work is presently underway on locomotive No. 9’s tender, which carried the water to generate steam to power the engine. The tender was removed on Aug. 25 and taken to the Millerick Brothers metal shop in Sebastopol. The tender made two trips to Delta Sandblasting in Alameda, before repairs began and the plan is to keep as much of the original metal and rivets as possible.
“Jeff and Don Millerick have been working in metal for over 50 years,” Runner said.
Repairs to the tender will also include applying an interior epoxy coating to prevent future corrosion and priming the exterior. The cost of this stage of restoration is being covered by a generous donation of more than $30,000 from Jeff and Celeste Craemer of San Rafael.
The next step will be restoring the metal cab, where the locomotive’s operating crew worked and replacing the gauges that were in the cab. Runner said the original gauges and other instruments were removed at some point by what he called souvenir hunters while on display in Scotia.
“If anyone knows where to find original pieces,” Runner said, “we’d love to have them back on No. 9. The cab work is not funded yet.”
Donations are being accepted and can be made online through the nonprofit’s website or by mailing a check to the Novato address of the organization.
The first step to restoring locomotive No. 9 was the removal of asbestos, which was completed in July 2020. Friends of No. 9 contracted with Central Valley Environmental, a local hazardous waste materials removal company to complete this work. When the locomotive was built in 1921, it was common to use asbestos to insulate the boiler to keep the steam generated inside from cooling back into water. During the asbestos removal, it was determined that the locomotive’s boiler was rusty, but in good shape.
The complete cost of restoration is anticipated to be around $250,000 and if donations come in to cover the costs associated with this process, the hope is to complete the project in two years.
“The final location (for display of locomotive No. 9) is still in the works,” Runner said, “but we want to put it where it worked 100 years ago, somewhere on (Mount) Tamalpais or in Mill Valley.”
Locomotive No. 9 was built at Heisler Locomotive Works in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1921. It was used on the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, also known as the “crookedest” railroad in the world, until 1924. The locomotive was used for logging in Humboldt and Siskiyou Counties until 1950. In 1953, the Pacific Lumber Co. bought the retired locomotive for display next to the Scotia Museum. With the highest bid submitted, the Friends of No. 9 organization purchased the locomotive from the Scotia Community Services District in 2018.
In April 2021, Friends of No. 9 held an online centennial celebration for the locomotive, which first arrived in Mill Valley, CA on April 18, 1921. This celebration can be viewed on the Friends of No. 9 YouTube channel.