Belveron family unearths piece of Tiburon’s railroad past in side yard

The Corcoran family — John, Nicole, Mason, Tobey, Maya and Brendan — gather beside a length of steel train rail the children found by accident when in the yard of their Venus Court home in Tiburon’s Belveron East neighborhood. (Elliot Karlan photo / For The Ark)

Tiburon resident John Corcoran knew his recently purchased fixer-upper in the Belveron East neighborhood would need some TLC — but he didn’t know a piece of the town’s history was sitting buried underneath the property waiting to be discovered.

Corcoran, a former member of the Planning Commission, and his wife purchased the home a couple months ago. Their four kids were playing in the yard one day and managed to dig up a 4-foot long, 400- to 500-pound piece of rail line that could have been discarded during Tiburon’s days as the terminus and railyard site for the Northwest Pacific Railroad, according to Phil Cassou, a local history buff and longtime volunteer at the Tiburon Railroad & Ferry Depot Museum.

“They got all of their shovels out … and I was just happy that they were occupied,” Corcoran said.

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