It has a 2.5 inch working surface and is 4.25 inches from the working surface to the bottom where a standard rail may be six inches to the ground with a three inch working surface. The first trains in the area were of the narrow-gauge variety. Thomas Crawford McBride had a son also named Thomas Crawford McBride. He had met Martha Ann Brink when his father was preaching at Rock Fort Township. They married in 1835 and came overland in 1847, the same year that Thomas, Sr. left Missouri.
Evidence is good that they left for Oregon at the same time.
Like his older brother James, young Thomas was a physician as well as a preacher. He and Martha settled near present-day Corvallis, but tragedy soon struck. Thomas had been preaching on the east side of the Willamette River and was returning home with a yoke of oxen. Night had fallen before he reached the ferry. When the ferry boat started to move, the oxen were frightened and gored McBride's horse, causing horse and rider to fall into the Willamette River.