Name/Title
Southern Pacific Oregon Express wreck, May 18, 1908 (Mariotti)Description
A railroad tragedy took five lives in Pinole on May 19, 1908, when the Southern Pacific Oregon Express, train #16, crashed at the foot of what is now Pinole Shores Drive.
The engine, baggage, and express cars left the track and overturned. Three coaches left the track. A small, rocky knoll saved the engine from going into San Pablo Bay.
Dr. Manuel Fernandez, the city’s only doctor for many years, took a handcart from the Southern Pacific depot and pumped himself down the tracks to give medical assistance to the injured on the train.
It is thought that a defect in the engine's running gear caused the wreck. The first section of #16 had passed over a few minutes before. (The first section is a separate train, followed closely by the second section, usually overload from a regularly scheduled run.)
Service on both east- and westbound tracks was disrupted for 14 hours.
The site today is at the north end of Pinole Shores Drive, readily visible from the East Bay Regional Park trail overlooking the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) tracks.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
InscriptionTranscription
Wreck at Pinole, CA, May 19, 1908. B.W. Stevens photo.Copyright
Copyright Holder
Pinole Historical Society
