Re: Austin Creek tragedy-more details.

I went back and reread that chapter in my very worn copy of "Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods". In 1894 the weekend passenger train from Sausalito would lay up at Cazadero from Saturday evening to Monday morning. Cazadero was 84 miles from Sausalito and the end of the line. Cazadero was a sleepy logging town whose main claim to fame was that Jerry Garcia, the peerless guitarist for the Grateful Dead was born there.
Anyway, on the night of January 14, the train crew and some locals took #9, a 4-4-0 down the branch, supposedly to "inspect" the railroad down to Duncan Mills, a mill town on the Russian River, about 10 miles distant. They left after dark. Austin Creek was in flood stage, and picked up a lot of logs along the bank, pounding the two bridges. The cxonductor got off and inspected the bridge with a lantern and signalled for Arthur Briggs, the engineer, to proceed. To the conductors horror the #9 flipped into Austin Creek, completely swallowed up by the floodwaters.
In the inquiry, it soon became clear that the true goal was to investigate saloons in Duncan Mills, not right-of-way. The conductor claimed it was Briggs' idea, though witnesses at the Cazadero eating house remembered Briggs argued against the plan.
Two of the bodies were never recovered. The engine, which was the "pride and joy" of superintendent, was not salvaged till spring, and was parted out to make another locomotive.
Only two pieces of equipment survived from the old NPC. A side-door caboose is on display at the California State RR Museum. Also there is the beautifully restored NPC #13, a Baldwin 4-4-0 that survived intact on the Nevada Central. One or two passenger cars were sold to the WP&Y, but I don't know if they are still on wheels.