🚂 What if a mountain had a railway?

In California, across the bay from San Francisco, there's a big green mountain called Mount Tam. Long ago, a train climbed all the way to its top! What if a mountain had its own railway? Before most families had cars, people in the town of Mill Valley climbed aboard. A little steam engine pushed them up from behind. The track couldn't go straight up, because the mountain was too steep. So it curved back and forth, around and around the hill, like a ribbon.

Try drawing a zigzag in the air with your finger. That's how it went! It had so many curves that people called it the Crookedest Railroad in the World. At the top, riders could see the bay and the city far below. Then came the surprise. To get down, they climbed into open cars with no engine at all! So how did they move?

Gravity, the pull that makes your ball roll downhill. The cars rolled down the mountain all by themselves. A brakeman, the person who works the brakes, rode along to keep them slow and safe. It was like the world's curviest slide, but you got to sit in a chair! The trains stopped long ago. But the crooked track is still on Mount Tam, now a trail where people walk.