Now I continued my walk around the grounds.
Union Pacific Stock Car 43009 built by the railroad in 1964. This and others were especially built for Union Pacific's high-speed DLS (Daylight Livestock Special) which carried hogs from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles in 27-30 hours, complying with federal law requiring stock be unloaded, fed and rested every 36 hours. The hogs went to the Farmer John Brand Meats Division of the Clougherty Packing Company, which bought them in the midwest and shipped them live to its slaughter house and packing plant in Vernon, California. (Most processors slaughtered their hogs in the midwest and shipped frozen carcasses or processed pork to the west coast). In 1976 the train was renamed CLS (California Livestock Special). It was discontinued in 1985, and the stock cars were added to the railroad's hotshot Chicago-Los Angeles CSLAZ trailer train at Salt Lake City.
This stock car was renovated at Albina in 1976 to allow in-car feeding and watering of the hogs. Shutters were installed on the sides to control inside temperatures all year and permit the elimination of straw bedding in the winter and allow sand bedding all year round. It was one of two UP stock cars seen at Rogers, Nebraska on September 22, 1989 by a museum Board of Trustees member. In an unusual coincidence, when the Union Pacific donated a stock car to the PSRMA in December 1989 after a request for such a donation by the museum's Acquisitions Director, it was one of those cars! 43009 was brought to Colton by the Union Pacific and to San Diego by the Santa Fe. It was moved by the SD&IV to San Ysidro and stored outside its engine house there until brought to Campo in February 1990 by the SD&IV on :Great Freight III".
Northwestern Pacific tank car 849 built in 1918. It served on NWP's northern California lines in the "redwood empire" between Sausalito, Tiburon, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Willits and Eureka. Eventually it was reassigned to maintenance-of-way service and its lettering was changed. The NWP was a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company.
Sometime after 1961, probably around 1967 or 1968, the tank car was transferred to another Southern Pacific subsidiary, the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway, which built a new engine house in its Commercial Street yard in downtown San Diego about that time. NWP MW 849 was placed on a special track and used by the SD&AE to store diesel fuel for its locomotives. Fuel level marks were painted on its ends, but the car was not repainted.
In 1979 the SD&AE was sold by the SP to the Metropolitan Transit Development Board of San Diego County, and in 1984 Rail Tex, using the name San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad, became the freight operator for the MTDB-owned SD&AE. In 1991 the SD&IV moved its operations to San Ysidro and recommended that the no-longer-needed tank car be given to the Museum. It was donated by the MTDB, moved to San Ysidro and taken to Campo by the SD&IV on "Great Freight IV" on July 12, 1991.
United States Navy crane 84-00412 built by American Hoist & Derrick Company in 1944. It was placed in service at the Naval Shipyard at Hunter's Point in San Francisco in December 1944. When the yard closed in 1966, this crane was selected from a group of a dozen for transfer to the United States Naval Station at 32nd Street in San Diego, because its diesel had recently been rebuilt and had less than 100 hours of service on it. Sent to San Diego by ship, the crane worked along the ships' piers most of the time. Later it was rigged with a clam shell and worked in the base salvage yard.
It was donated to the PSRMA on February 2, 1980 by the Navy then later that month, was moved through the Navy yard by a museum crew; through the Santa Fe yards by a Santa Fe crew to the SD&AE transfer tracks; and by the museum crew again to the SD&AE yards. It was stored there for three years, during which it was tested and repaired by museum volunteers in February 1981. In July 1983 the crane's boom was taken apart by museum volunteers and loaded into the museum's gondola, as idler cars were not available for use behind the crane when it was taken to Campo on the museum's first "Great Freight" in July/August 1983. The boom was reassembled at the museum in Campo.
USN 84-00412 is currently in use as needed at the museum, primarily in lifting museum cars off their trucks for maintenance. It has travelled under its own power on the mainline to Miller Creek to assist museum crews in track laying, and was used by the Walter Barber Construction Company, contractors for the SD&IV, during the replacement of two fire-destroyed trestles in the Carrizo Gorge in early 1990. It is maintained in operating condition and will be further repaired and repainted in its original colors as time and funds permit.
San Diego and Eastern flat car MW 1215. The original number and history of this car are unknown. Lettering on its sides show it was last weighed and painted at their shops in Sacramento in November 1962.
Sometime after that date, the flatcar was transferred by the SP to its San Diego & Arizona Eastern subsidiary for maintenance-of-Way use and re-numbered SDAE 1215-MW. When the Metropolitan Transit Development Board of San Diego County purchased the SD&AE from the Southern Pacific in November 1979, the flat car was included in the purchase. For many years, it was kept at Campo by the SD&AE but about 1986, it was moved inside the musuem's carbarn to protect its wooden decking from the elements.
In 1991, small shed-like structures were built on top of the old MW car by PSRMA workers to house pieces of Museum equipment that had to be moved out of the Museum carbarn but required protection from the weather. The car was then moved out of the carbarn and 1215-MW is now being stored in the Museum's yard.
General American Transportation Corporation tank car 34569 built in the 1930's. It was later used for many years by the Southwestern Portland Cement Company at its plant in Victorville and on its 15-mile Mojave Northern Railroad to its rock quarry in the mountains. It was numbered SWPC 138 during this service.
In June 1984, SWPC 138 was donated to the PSRMA by the Southwestern Portland Cement Company together with other SWPC rolling stock and equipment. It was taken to San Diego by the Santa Fe and then to the Grossmont industrial spur in La Mesa by the SD&IV. Stored there for two years, it was repaired, partially repainted and re-numbered GATX 34569 by volunteer museum workers, who uncovered that number during cleaning. The tank car was taken to Campo on "Great Freight II" on February 28, 1987. It was again cleaned, stripped and repaired in July 1987, and repainted black and relettered in early 1988.
Santa Fe gondola 72312 built by General American Transportation Corporation in 1958. It was used by the Santa Fe to haul all types of bulky and odd-shaped miscellaneous materials for over 21 years. Heavily worn, torn, battered and badly dented, it was retired and donated to the PSRMA in September 1979 by the Santa Fe Railway.
Delivered by the Santa Fe to the Museum’s storage track at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego, the gondola was sandblasted and repainted by Museum volunteer workers in March 1981. It was moved to the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway's downtown San Diego yard in August 1981, where it was further serviced by the Museum’s members and stored for two years. In July 1983 the extremely large disassembled boom of the Museum's locomotive crane, USN 84-00412, was loaded into the gondola. It was taken to San Ysidro by the SD&AE and then brought to Campo on the Museum's first "Great Freight" in July/August 1983. The crane boom was unloaded, and the crane was reassembled.
Repainted again and relettered in August 1988, ATSF 72312 is now displayed and maintained in operating condition near the depot and is used on Museum work trains and for equipment storage.
Santa Fe box car 276594 built by Pullman-Standard in 1947. Santa Fe's boxcars & refrigerator cars at that time had the slogan "Ship and Travel Santa Fe All the Way" painted on the cars' right sides, and one of four other slogans on their left sides: "Grand Canyon Line" (replaced in 1948 by "Texas Chief"), "El Capitan", "Super Chief" or "Chief". Santa Fe divided most car classes into four groups, assigning left-side slogans in the above order, from lowest-numbered group to highest. However, all 250 Pullman Bx-52s had "Grand Canyon Line", while 250 each of 750 similar Bx-51 cars built by General American Transportation carried one of the other three slogans.
After 32 years of service, 276594 was retired and donated by the Santa Fe Railway to the PSRMA in September 1979. The Santa Fe also delivered it free of charge to the museum's storage track at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Miramar in San Diego. In July 1983, the car was moved to San Ysidro by the Santa Fe and the SD&AE and to Campo in July/August on the museum's first "Great Freight". It was cleaned and sandblasted in March 1985, and sanded and repainted Mineral brown (about halfway between Boxcar red and Tuscan red) in 1987. The car's lettering and Santa Fe emblems were repainted, but not its slogans. These will be reapplied when time & funds permit. It is displayed in operating condition where it is used to store museum equipment.
Unknown flat car.
Department of Defense flat car 38128 built by Magor Car in 1953. It was declared surplus in late 1990 and stored at the Barstow Marine Corps Supply Center's Annex at Yermo. At that time, the museum was in the process of acquiring surplus Pullman flatcar DODX 39106 from the Annex. When extra couplers, trucks, re-railers and switch stands were also made available, the museum requested the donation of a second flatcar to transport them to Campo, and DODX 38128 was selected.
Because the car was Army-owned, it had to be transferred on paper from the Army Rail Service Division office in St.Louis to the Department of Defense Rail Service office in Bayonne, New Jersey before it could be donated. This took several months due to a hold on the disposal of military railroad cars during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf operations. The paperwork was completed in July 1991, y then the equipment to be shipped on the car had been scrapped and the car was delivered empty. In October 1991 it was taken free of charge by the Union Pacific from Yermo to Barstow, by the Santa Fe to San Diego, and by the SD&IV to San Ysidro, enroute to Campo.
DODX 38128 will be placed on display at the museum and used to store and transport large, bulky and heavy items. When repainted, the flatcar will be given back the original USAX 38128 lettering it carried for most of its operational career as an Army car.
San Diego and Arizona coach 254, ex. Erie Lackawanna 3584, nee Delaware, Lackawanna and Western multiple motor unit 2584 built by Pullman and General Electric in 1930.
San Diego and Arizona coach 253, ex. Erie Lackawanna 3585, nee Delaware, Lackawanna and Western multiple motor unit 2585 built by Pullman and General Electric in 1930.
The Tom Larry Speeder Repair Shed.
Southern Pacific GP-9 3873 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959 as St. Louis-Southwestern 830. It was re-numbered SSW 3651 in 1965 then rebuilt in Sacramento and became GP9R 873. On April 22, 1994, it was in a derailment while enroute from San Jose to Oakland. It was donated to the museum in 1997, being acquired for use on the SDRM's SD&A demonstration railway, so has been painted in the 1950s SP "Black Widow" scheme, which it never wore.
San Diego and Arizona coach 250, ex. Erie Lackawanna 3586, nee Delaware, Lackawanna and Western multiple motor unit 2586 built by Pullman and General Electric in 1930. Beginning September 3, 1930 these cars worked the 70 miles from Hoboken to Montclair, Gladstone,and Dover (via Summit) in a 54-year service of legendary reliability. The Erie Lackawanna became part of Conrail on April 1, 1976. On December 10, 1979, state-owned New Jersey Transit became owner of the commuter lines, although Conrail continued operating the trains. Vinyl seats replaced the rattan ones; 3583 was repainted green and 3581 and 3586 were painted red with white trim but were not lettered. Maintenance cutbacks and impending retirement caused the cars to become dilapidated. On August 24, 1984, NJT changed to an AC-current system and the DC cars were replaced by "Jersey Arrow" ones and stored at Mahwah, New Jersey, where many parts were stolen from them.
In January 1985, the five motor cars and a trailer car were purchased by the PSRMA for use as coaches on its excursion trains. Their age, sturdy construction, openable windows and rollover seats made them ideal for this vintage service. Leaving Mahwah March 12, 1985, they were taken free of charge 3,536 miles by Conrail, Missouri-Pacific, Union Pacifi, and Santa Fe, arriving in San Diego May 29th. Museum workers removed pantographs and other equipment not needed for their museum service at the San Diego Trolley yard.
Union Pacific/Southern Pacific Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator car 300010 built by the company in 1950. Pacific Fruit Express was created as a joint venture of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads in the very early 1900's by Edward H. Harriman, who controlled both railroads, for the more efficient and faster transportation of perishable fruits and vegetables across the country. The PFE existed as a jointly-owned company until dissolved in March 1978. Southern Pacific retained the Pacific Fruit Express name, while the Union Pacific named its half Union Pacific Fruit Express.
PFE 300010 was assigned to the Union Pacific and relettered UPRX 300010. It was not repainted and retained the large PFE lettering and both UP and SP emblems on its sides. In June 1985, the car was donated to the PSRMA by the Union Pacific Railroad, its first donation to the Museum. Brought to Colton by the Union Pacific, it was taken to San Diego by the Santa Fe and to the Grossmont industrial siding in La Mesa by the SD&IV free of charge in September 1985. In February 1987, the SD&IV moved it to San Ysidro, and it went to Campo on the Museum's "Great Freight II" on February 28, 1987.
Eagle Mountain Railroad caboose 1905 built by Kaiser in 1953. This unusual and home-built bay-window car from an industrial mining railroad is the museum's only air-conditioned caboose.
When Kaiser built its blast-furnace steel manufacturing plant at Fontana, California in 1942 and opened its Eagle Mountain Ore Mine 120 miles east to provide iron ore, it was the first fully-integrated steel operation on the west coast. The 51-mile Eagle Mountain Railroad, Kaiser-built in 1946-47, was opened in 1948 to connect the desert mine with the Southern Pacific mainline to Fontana at a junction and yard named Ferrum (Latin for "iron") below sea level on the inland Salton Sea.
Kaiser had two home-built cabooses on the heavy-duty freight-only railroad. In the 1970's, "original" KS 1905 was being rebuilt after major frame damage, when work was halted. Shot up and vandalized, it was later sold and is now displayed at Ragsdale's Desert Center Cafe in Desert Center, California, 12 miles south of Eagle Mountain. The other caboose KS 1918 had been stored at Ferrum and vandalized and was moved to Eagle Mountain and rebuilt by Kaiser shop workers and re-numbered "new" KS 1905.
KS 1905 operated on the mainline and at Eagle Mountain yard and was well-maintained. It was usually at the rear of trains from Eagle Mountain to Ferrum, and just behind the locomotive on northbound return trips of 100-car trains of empty cars. A PSRMA excursion visited the Eagle Mountain Railroad in 1982. In 1983 Kaiser Steel closed down its Fontana plant, the mine and railroad due to foreign steel competition, and the museum sought KS 1905. The caboose was donated by Kaiser Steel in June 1984 and on January 28, 1985, it was taken to Campo by truck, as Eagle Mountain no longer had rail service. Now on display in operating condition, KS 1905 served as SDRM's primary work-train caboose, due to its sturdiness, excellent visibility and air-conditioning. In 1987 it even carried revenue passengers.
United States Army RSX-4 / MRS-1 2104 built by American Locomotive Company in 1953. USA 2104 was sent new to a storage facility at Marietta Air Force Station in Marietta, Pennsylvania as the Army no longer had a need for it. It was on a 1960 New Cumberland MRS-1 roster and was sent to Loring Air Force Base near Caribou, Maine in May 1975. In July 1977, it was sent to Hill AFB near Clearfield, Utah. In January 1979, it was put back in operating condition for transfer to the Air Force, renumbered USAF 2104, and painted Air Force blue with yellow trim, black underframe, and white letters. On January 26, 1979 it was sent to Vandenberg AFB near Lompoc, California to replace EMD MRS-1 USAF 1809 (now also museum-owned). USAF 2104 was operated by Chemical Systems Division of United Technologies, a civilian firm, and moved Titan missile part shipments two or three times a year from the Southern Pacific mainline near Surf, California. By 1986 USAF 2104 was no longer needed at Vandenberg, and was to be sent to Loring AFB but was declared surplus in 1987 then donated to the SDRM in March 1991.
Santa Fe rolling gantry crane at this unique museum. For many years this giant crane was used by the Santa Fe at the south end of its team tracks south of the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego, near the intersection of Market and California Streets (the latter a dirt street along the Santa Fe tracks in downtown San Diego). In early 1984, the redevelopment of the Santa Fe's property in the area made much equipment surplus. The rolling gantry crane, related equipment including the wooden trolley poles, three switches, two sheds, a motor generator and a half-mile of rail in the downtown area were all donated to the PSRMA in March 1984 by the Santa Fe, after requests by PSRMA Executive Director Jim Lundquist.
Coos Bay Lumber 2-8-2T 11 built by American Locomotive Company in 1929. The locomotive went new to Coos Bay Lumber Company of Powers, Oregon. It was used in timber operations and along a 45-mile Southern Pacific branch between Powers and Marshfield (now Coos Bay), via Myrtle Point and Coquille in southwest Oregon. It was retired from log-hauling in early 1951 and used mainly in yard operations. In July 1956, Coos Bay Lumber was purchased by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, becoming its Coos Bay Timber Division. Diesels then replaced steam, and CBL No. 11 was used only in standby service. It pulled its last train at Myrtle Point's Centennial in July 1962. In November 1967, CBL 11 was donated by Georgia-Pacific to the PSRMA. It left Powers June 17, 1968 on its own wheels, but when it derailed three days later and was declared "untrackworthy" by the Southern Pacific, it was loaded on a depressed-center flatcar and carried to San Diego, arriving August 3rd. It was unloaded at Santa Fe's Marine terminal by Owl Company cranes. Later moved to the Miramar Naval Air Station, it was repaired and repainted by museum volunteers, and named for John A. "Nick" Nichols, their spirited leader. In 1976 it became part of the Museum's Bicentennial exhibit at B Street and Harbor Drive, and in October 1976 was used with two Museum passenger cars in filming Universal Pictures' "MacArthur" with Gregory Peck at the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego. Moved to San Ysidro by the SD&AE, CBL 11 was brought to Campo in July/August 1983 on the museum's first "Great Freight". The engine was rehabilitated by Museum volunteer workers and steamed up for the first time in 22 years on Memorial Day 1984. It has since had more repairs, a 1985 repainting/relettering, and has been steamed up on other occasions. CBL 11 is now displayed in the Museum's yard, and is currently under restoration.
DODX flat car 39106 built by Pullman-Standard in 1952. In early 1990, the museum applied at Yermo for the donation of a 100-ton capacity flatcar. One was selected, but due to an error it was sent to Base Maintenance and its deck used as a loading ramp. DODX 39106 was selected a few months later. As the car was Army-owned, it had to be transferred on paper from the Army Rail Service Division office in St. Louis to the Department of Defense Rail Service office in Bayonne, New Jersey before donation to the museum.
While the paperwork was being processed, the car carried its final military cargo from Yermo to the Naval Weapons Station at Seal Beach in September 1990. It was then sent to the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego where it was kept for months, due to a hold on the disposal of military railroad cars during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf operations. Donation papers arrived at the Imperial Beach office in May 1991 and the flat car was moved to the SD&IV yard at San Ysidro, and on July 12, 1991 the SD&IV took it to Campo on "Great Freight IV".
Union Pacific hopper car 7801 built by Pressed Steel in 1949. In 1959, it became Union Pacific 17801, then was later retired and sold to the Southwestern Portland Cement Company at Victorville. Numbered SWPC 34 and later SWPC 101, it was used as a ballast hopper at the cement plant and on SWPC's 15-mile Mojave Northern Railroad to its quarry in the mountains, acquiring a thick coat of gray cement dust.
On May 17,1984, SWPC 101 was donated to the PSRMA and it was trucked to Fallbrook and loaned to the Mitchell Company as a ballast hopper in rebuilding trackage on the Naval Weapons Station Annex. In 1985 SWPC 101 and museum-owned DAFX 89429 were moved south on Santa Fe's Fallbrook branch and stored on the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, first at Stuart Mesa. Taken to San Diego February 28, 1987 by the Santa Fe, they missed "Great Freight II" by a few hours. Moved to Matanuca, Baja California by the SD&IV, they were brought to Campo in March 1987 on the museum-operated "Great Freight II 1/2".
General American Transportation tank car 79923 built by the company in 1927. The service history of this tank car is unknown but in 1969, it was donated to the PSRMA by the General American Transportation Corporation. It was brought to San Diego by the Santa Fe and stored for 12 years at the Miramar Naval Air Station. In August 1981, it was moved to the SD&AE yard in downtown San Diego where it was stored for another two years. In July 1983, the car was taken to San Ysidro by the SD&AE, filled with water and used as a back-up to the locomotive tenders on the museum's first "Great Freight" to Campo in July/August 1983.
Arco Products 40 ton switcher SH-2300-2 6920 built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton in 1954. The locomotive was delivered new to the Richfield Oil Company's No. 2 facility at Watson, in what is now Carson, California, just north of Wilmington on the Pacific Electric Railway (later Southern Pacific, then Union Pacific). Initially numberless, it was later assigned Richfield Oil 2, which it carried when Richfield merged with the Atlantic Refining Company to form Atlantic Richfield Company, abbreviated ARCO. It was later re-numbered and re-lettered ARCO 6920. In 1988 the little switch engine ended its career where it had worked for 34 years, at what had become the ARCO Products Company Refinery at Wilmington (but was located in the city of Carson!)
In 1988, the switcher was donated to the PSRMA and was shipped by truck from Carson to Campo, arriving at the museum in October 1988.
United States Gypsum hopper, number, builder and date unknown, is the Museum's only rolling stock from a narrow-gauge railroad, though built as a standard-gauge car.
Painted silver, this side-dump car was used to carry gypsum ore from a quarry containing an estimated 25,000,000-ton gypsum deposit in the Fish Creek mountains of western Imperial County to a processing plant at Plaster City. The plant was established in 1920 by the Imperial Gypsum & Oil Company and the three foot gauge, 26-mile desert railroad connecting the plant and quarry was completed in 1922. The Pacific Portland Cement Company purchased the property in 1924. The U.S. Gypsum Company (now USG) acquired the plant, quarry and railroad in 1946.
Plaster City is on the mainline of the original San Diego & Arizona Railway (after 1933 the SP-owned San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway), and is 64.2 railroad miles east of Campo. The line west of Plaster City is still owned by the SD&AE, now a non-operating subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board of San Diego County, with freight service to be provided by the San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad upon completion of the current rebuilding of the now-blocked line through the Carrizo gorge. The former SD&AE east of Plaster City is owned and served by the Southern Pacific Company.
The hopper was donated to the Museum by USG and then brought to Campo without trucks in the late 1980's. It is now displayed in the Museum yards.
Occidential Chemical Corporation {HOKX} tank car 2037 built by American Car and Foundry in 1964.
Santa Fe refrigerator car 21335 built by American Car and Foundry in 1920. Beginning in mid-1947 Santa Fe used four slogans on the left sides of reefers and boxcars: "Grand Canyon Line", "El Capitan", "Super Chief" and "Chief", with "Texas Chief" replacing "Grand Canyon Line" in 1948. Each car class was divided into four groups and slogans were assigned in the above order, from the lowest-numbered group to the highest. In 1953, the meaning of "SFRD" was changed. "SFR" was retained, but different fourth letters described various refrigerator car types. As "D" stood for ice bunker or mechanical reefers without load dividers, this car retained SFRD lettering.
In April 1957, the renumbered SFRD 21335 had "Route of the Chief, Chicago-Los Angeles Streamliner" lettered on its left side, and "Ship and Travel Santa Fe All the Way" on its right side.
When mechanical refrigerator cars replaced the ice-type ones, SFRD 21335 became a maintenance-of-way car. In April 1966 it was repainted dark red and renumbered ATSF 205073-MW and sent to the yards in San Bernardino in 1983 for use as a storage car by Santa Fe's Bridge & Building department.
ATSF 205073-MW was donated to the PSRMA on September 27, 1983 and brought to San Diego by Santa Fe. Moved to the Grossmont siding in La Mesa by the SD&AE, its MW numbers & red paint were removed and SFRD numbers and Santa Fe emblems repainted by museum workers. It was taken to San Ysidro by the SD&IV and to Campo February 28, 1987 on "Great Freight II". The car is in operating condition and is used for storage on the museum's "Reefer Row".
San Diego & Arizona baggage car 6700 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1960. The car was bought by the Southern Pacific and served on many of their trains, including the Los Angeles-San Francisco Coast Daylight. It was retired about 1986 and stored in the West Oakland yards where it was bought from the railroad by a private individual. In 1987 it was purchased by Rod Basich, former Vice President of the El Toro Materials Company, and also President of the local chapter of the Private Passenger Car Association. He had the car moved to East Los Angeles and used it for the storage of parts for modern cars.
Knowing the musuem had long wanted a baggage car to replace USAX guard car G-10 on museum trains as a service car, museum trustee Bill Niedrich located Southern Pacific 6700 and donated $5,000 to the museum to purchase the car, which was done in November 1994. After being emptied of its contents, the baggage car was taken to San Diego by the Santa Fe on April 12, 1995 and to Campo by the SD&IV in May 1995. Following months of roof and other repairs by museum volunteers, the car was painted Pullman green, re-designated SDA 6700 and then placed in service on the museum's SD&A trains as a refreshment and restroom car in December 1995. Other work on SDA 6700 included lettering, replacing its missing diaphragm and adding a generator to provide electricity for lights and future service equipment.
Pullman "Robert Peary" built by Pullman in 1927, one of six cars in the Explorer series. The car was operated by the Pullman Company for private-party use, and was hired with three stewards for a daily charge (in 1939 it was $105), plus railroad charges for moving and parking. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the car 34 times in 1934, 1935 and 1936. Others reportedly using the Robert Peary in the 1930s included opera star Lily Pons and screen stars Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. In June 1944 this car was sold to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, renamed "Blackhawk" for an 1830s Native American Sauk chief, and assigned to the Burlington Board Chairman, Ralph Budd, until his retirement in 1949. "Blackhawk" continued as a business car with the CBQ, which modified it in 1951 and it operated until the mid 1960's when it was retired.
In September 1966 the car was purchased PSRMA Life Charter member Jack Stodelle on behalf of San Diegans John Cuchna, Charles Pratt and Steve Sourapas, who had its exterior painted dark blue and the interior decorated in Victorian style, with cream and gold paint, red velour drapes, mirror tiles and four 1920s Louis Icart lithographs, at a cost of $60,000. The car was named "Victoria" after Pratt's wife. It was used as a party car around the United States and Mexico, and in 1973 was used in filming "Executive Action" with Burt Lancaster & Robert Ryan. In October 1974 Cuchna and Sourapas (who had bought out Pratt) donated the car to the PSRMA. "Victoria" was used on PSRMA Amtrak excursions and from 1976 to 1984, was the centerpiece of its Bicentennial exhibit on Harbor Drive at B Street in San Diego. In October 1976, "Victoria" was used in filming "MacArthur" with Gregory Peck & Dan O'Herlihy, and in 1980 was painted Pullman green and renamed "Robert Peary". In 1984 it was moved to the La Mesa depot for display. It went to Campo on "Great Freight II" on February 28, 1987. It is now on display, used on museum specials, and is available for charter on many of the museum's trains.
Amtrak baggage/dormitory/lounge car 1500, nee Santa Fe 1380 "San Miguel" built by Budd in 1937. Itt had an upper berth and crew lavatory in the baggage room; a barber shop with shower; a buffet section seating 16 passengers that converted into eight sleeping berths for the dining car crew at night; and a 14-seat lounge with bookcase & writing desk. It had a vestibule at the rear and sliding baggage room doors at the front end. The car was always positioned at the head of its train.
This was one of six such cars built for the famous Chicago-Los Angeles Chief when it was converted into an all-streamlined train inaugurated January 31, 1938 and served on it ten years. Beginning February 29, 1948, it was assigned to Santa Fe's flagship Chicago-Los Angeles Super Chief. It returned to the Chief for 17 more years on January 28, 1951, when the Super Chief received new Pleasure Dome lounge cars.
In June 1956, "San Miguel" was converted to a baggage/dormitory car with 24 bunks, two showers and two lavatories when the Chief received Big Dome lounge cars. The Chief was discontinued May 13, 1968 and "San Miguel" was placed in storage until assigned to the Chicago-Amarillo-Oakland San Francisco Chief in October 1968. On May 1, 1971 the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak, took over most United States passenger operations. ATSF 1380 "San Miguel" was briefly assigned to the Chicago-Houston Texas Chief and then to the tri-weekly San Diego-Los Angeles-Oakland-Seattle Coast Starlight. Renumbered Amtrak 1500 in May 1973, it was last serviced on August 7, 1981 and retired shortly after, the oldest car then in Amtrak's fleet.
In 1982, Amtrak 1500 was purchased by Kyle Railways, Inc., freight operators of the MTDB-owned SD&AE Railway. Brought to San Diego for maintenance-of-way service, it was kept unused in the SD&AE's downtown San Diego yard, with sheet-metal covers on its windows & doors. Kyle ended its SD&AE operations in 1983. In February 1984, the car was sold to PSRMA Board of Trustees member Dan Marnell, moved by the SD&AE to the Grossmont industrial siding in La Mesa and stored for three years. The car was taken to San Ysidro by the SD&IV and to Campo on the museum's "Great Freight II 1/2" in March 1987.
Union Pacific box car 498769 built by Pullman in 1966. Retired in April 1984, it was given to the city of La Habra on Union Pacific's Orange County branch for use as a La Habra fire department storage car, and kept on a siding in the adjacent city of Fullerton. The planned use did not work out and hearing of that, the PSRMA sought to acquire the boxcar. On August 20, 1986 La Habra’s Acting Fire Chief authorized Union Pacific to release the car to the PSRMA, and the Museum accepted the donation from La Habra on August 22nd.
Although UP 498769 was only four miles from the Santa Fe's Los Angeles-San Diego mainline through Fullerton (where the Union Pacific and Santa Fe cross and briefly use the same tracks), the two railroads had no interchange there. So the car was moved over 70 miles east by the Union Pacific to Colton, where it was turned over to the Santa Fe and taken to San Diego, passing within four miles of its former storage site enroute! It arrived in San Diego in January 1987 and was stored in the downtown San Diego SD&IV yard until brought to Campo on the Museum's "Great Freight II" on February 28, 1987.
Now on display in operating condition outside the Museum's carbarn, the box car was fitted out by Museum volunteers with storage shelves for the use of the Museum's Steam Team in its restoration work on Southern Pacific steam engine 2353, next to the boxcar. It iss used as a storage car for tools, parts and equipment being used in the restoration of the big ten-wheeler, as well as a place to temporarily store various parts of the locomotive.
Santa Fe diner/lounge/observation 1509 built by Pullman in 1926. In April 1947, the interior was modernized and the car was designated a cafe/lounge, and on June 14, was painted aluminum with black shadow striping to blend with new fluted-side stainless steel cars. It was later repainted all-gray with a black roof. On September 28, 1950 it was painted two-tone gray with black roof.
The car has three four-seat and three two-seat tables in its dining room. The cocktail section contains a wardrobe, linen locker, crew lavatory, small stainless-steel bar, two four-seat tables, and two vinyl settees with smoking stands. The lounge area has eleven upholstered armchairs and a writing desk with chair.
It is believed the car was used on the Kansas City-Tulsa Oil Flyer, Chicago-Los Angeles Grand Canyon and Fast Mail & Express and the Phoenix-Los Angeles "Bankers' Special", via the Parker cutoff. It also ran on excursions, including all Santa Fe's 1950s Farewell to Steam California specials and charters, including Pacific Railroad Society trips from Los Angeles to San Diego and Cushenbury, California and 37 Golden West Rail Tours trips to Carlsbad, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Barstow, Los Angeles harbor, and other places. In October 1967, it was sold to GWRT (owned by Dick Ritterband and Ed Cheetham) and was based at Santa Fe's Redondo Junction yard in Los Angeles where it was used on excursions to Bakersfield and other destinations. In 1972, it was "cornered" and damaged by a switch engine in Los Angeles.
In 1973, ATSF 1509 was purchased by the PSRMA then from November 1974 to August 1978, it was restored and painted Pullman green with black roof and cream and blue interior at the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot and the Miramar Naval Air Station, and used on museum Miramar Chief trains, a 1976 Fallbrook trip and on Amtrak trains to Los Angeles and Las Vegas at speeds up to 90 mph. In 1976 it was used in filming "MacArthur" at San Diego's Santa Fe depot. A truck smashed into and damaged its rear steps right after that.
From 1978 to 1982, the car was in the PSRMA's Embarcadero exhibit in San Diego at Harbor Drive and B Street, except when on excursions. Moved to La Mesa depot, it was used on trips to El Cajon and Lemon Grove. In July 1983, it served as a crew diner on the first "Great Freight" to Campo. Used as a lounge car on trips to Miller Creek, San Diego, Jacumba and Carrizo gorge, ATSF 1509 was in the 1987 film "A Time of Destiny" and is now being renovated for further service.
Akron, Canton and Youngstown outside-braced wooden box car 3024 built by Mather Stock Car Company in 1941. It was leased to and lettered for Ohio's Akron, Canton, & Youngstown Railroad by its builder. Many small railroads like the AC&Y, which originated much off-line traffic in smaller industrial cities, found leasing boxcars met their needs better than purchasing, both operationally and financially. After years of railroad service, ACY 3024 was no longer needed and reverted back to the leasing company. As Mather had meanwhile been merged into the North American Car Corporation of Chicago, the car was relettered MCAX 3024, using that number until retired.
In October 1969, the North American Car Corporation donated MCAX 3024 to the PSRMA. Brought to San Diego, it was stored at the United States Naval Air Station at Miramar until taken to Campo in July/August 1983 on the museum's first "Great Freight". During its restoration in the first six months of 1986, MCAX 3024 was taken down to bare wood and metal by museum volunteers, an unusually difficult task because of its outside steel bracing. It was repaired, restored and repainted Boxcar red with its original AC&Y markings.
Of the hundreds of AC&Y boxcars that Mather built, only seven others (five without trucks) exist, all at the Mid-Continent Railroad Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin. The February 1991 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine featured a color photo of restored ACY 3024 and used it as the subject of its HO-scale model drawings.
Union Pacific coach 576, nee Union Pacific 1266, built by Pullman in 1931. In 1948, UP 1266 was one of 22 cars modernized, making it similar to the newer lightweight streamlined cars. It was remodeled with 10 mostly wide-view windows with adjustable blinds per side and 22 double reclining/revolving seats, all with adjustable footrests. Overhead baggage racks with individual light switches and blue night lights were added, plus luggage locker, mirrored restrooms, and new conductor's desk with rolling swivel chair. It was re-numbered 576.
Its seats were later arranged in facing sets unable to revolve, making the footrests unusable. It served mainly on secondary Union Pacific streamliners. When rail passenger service declined in the 1960's, the coach was removed from service and stored in Los Angeles and was bought by the PSRMA and moved to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego by the Santa Fe the next day.
UP 576 was cleaned, repaired and in mid-1977, re-painted Pullman green, because no supply of the Armour yellow paint was available. In late 1980 it was again refurbished and repainted Armour yellow. It was moved to La Mesa depot in September 1981, exhibited and used on the La Mesa Cannonball May 23, 1982, the museum-operated first passenger train on SD&AE's El Cajon branch in 54 years. It went to Campo in July 1983 on the museum's first "Great Freight", on which it unexpectedly served as an overnight coach. It was used on the first museum SD&A excursion trains starting January 4, 1986. In 2013, UP 576 received some much needed body repair and a fresh coat of Armour yellow paint and is now serving as one of the first class cars on the Museum's North Pole Limited trains.
Modesto & Empire Traction 70 ton switcher 613 built by General Electric in 1955 as Southern Pacific 5119. 5119 was finally retired from the SD&AE in October 1967, spending a brief 14-month stint switching passenger cars in Oakland during 1962-63, and eventually was sold back to G.E. at Oakland in 1968 and held for resale. When retired, the 5119 and its older sister, 5101, were the last 70-tonners on the SD&AE. In June 1975, 5119 was sold to Oregon's White City Terminal & Utility Co. Railway near Medford, used as a backup to an SW1200 switcher. In 2005, 5119 was sold to Central California's Modesto & Empire Traction Company, a five-mile long family-owned shortline at Modesto, where it joined 11 other 70-tonners until replaced by new 2,000 h.p. Railpower Technologies RP208D genset units in December 2008. M&ET repainted 5119 in its crisp red & white color scheme and renumbered it 613. After a lengthy two-year process, the switcher made it to Campo on July 14, 2011.
Trackmobile 3.
Southern Pacific wooden caboose 644 built by the railroad in 1917. It was built during World War I with a sloping-side cupola and rebuilt during World War II, when steel priorities prevented the replacement of wood cabooses with safer, structurally sounder steel ones.
It was rebuilt in Sacramento in 1943 then received a new vertical cupola and safety glass in 1950 and had its ends painted Daylight orange July 18, 1956. It was leased to the Southern Pacific-owned San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway from June through September 1944, which gave it another link to this region. It was retired and sent to the Purdy scrapyard in Sacramento on November 16, 1960 and was later sold again. Eventually the old wooden caboose became the property of Patricia Hammond-Buck and was stored for many years on her property at the Tropico gold mine near Rosamond in the Mojave high desert.
Following an inquiry by the Museum, Mrs.Hammond-Buck donated the caboose to the PSRMA on February 10, 1984 and it was trucked to Campo. Museum members initially rehabilitated and repainted 644's faded exterior. Following an appeal by the Museum, money was donated for the restoration by friends and architectural-profession associates of Harold A. Johnson of Del Mar, a PSRMA member who died in 1984, and to whom the car restoration was dedicated. New Southern Pacific fusee racks, cupholders, formholders, period toilet and an old kerosene lamp were installed, and the caboose interior was renovated and repainted "Institutional" green. Its wood exterior siding was later completely replaced and repainted Mineral brown (without orange ends), and will be re-lettered when time and funds permit.
644 is now on display in 1950-56 operating appearance, near the SD&AE line it once operated on.
Dardanelle & Russellville Railroad coach/observation car 14 built by Jackson & Sharp Company in 1899. This open-platform car has narrow-board siding, a finely-detailed wood interior and translucent glass clerestory windows with three-dimensional designs. It originally had five double-center oil lamps and two restrooms. The classic car went to the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railway, a 686-mile system linking Buffalo and Rochester, New York with New Castle and Emporium, Pennsylvania as one of five cars. Formed in 1887, the WNY&P was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1901.
The car's early numbers and history are unknown. In April 1916 it was on the Marshall & East Texas Railway, a 92-mile line to Elysian Fields, Texas as coach 5. In 1920, it was sold for $1,000 to the five-mile Dardanelle & Russellville Railroad, an Arkansas shortline opened in 1883 and still in business. It arrived in North Dardanelle on December 4, 1920.
Rebuilt in April 1921, it was placed in service as DR 14. A restroom and four seats were removed from one end and end windows added on both sides of the door to create a 20-seat observation room separated by a partition with a door from the other 40 seats. Half-high partitions and six mahogany-finish, leather-upholstered armchairs also were installed in the observation room. The rebuilding provided the D&R with private accommodations for officials and guests when needed in lieu of a business car.
In 1938, DR 14 was rented by 20th Century-Fox to film "Jesse James" on the Kansas City Southern near Neosho, Missouri. Some sequences became "stock" footage and were later used in "Belle Starr", "Gunsmoke", "The Big Valley", "Buffalo Bill" and other films. D #14 was retired in December 1944 and sold to Fox for $1,200. It left Russellville June 8, 1945 and arrived at the studio lot in West Los Angeles on July 24th. It was used from 1946-72 in many movies, including "Centennial Summer", "The Raid", "Love Me Tender", "The True Story of Jesse James", "The Second Time Around", "Powder Keg", "Walls of Jericho" and the "Nichols and Bearcats" television series. It was last lettered "B&H Central RR" and "Southern Pacific Lines". Fox removed and sold the car's lamps and moved it to a Malibu canyon ranch in the late 1950's and sold it to Short Line Enterprises for tourist railroad use in 1972.
DR 14 and RSS 3 were traded to the PSRMA for an 0-4-0T locomotive in April 1976, trucked to Poway June 7-8 and displayed seven years at Old Poway Village, where roof and other repairs were made by museum members. Trucked to Campo February 10, 1983 and placed in the carbarn February 12, they were the first museum passenger cars to arrive there. DR 14 is being preserved "as is", and when time and funds permit, will be repaired, refurbished and displayed as a historic artifact.
Santa Maria Railway Express Railbus 9 built by Fairmont in 1932. It was the first piece of rolling stock acquired by PSRMA, and the first to arrive at its Campo Facility.
Although designed to carry twelve people on two six-seat padded side benches, the car was purchased mainly for mail and express service by the Santa Maria Valley Railway, which numbered it SMV 9. An iron safe was placed in the car which was so heavy that if not in the center when the car was turned on its jackscrew, the car might topple over! It ran on SMV's 18-mile line from a Southern Pacific connection at Guadelupe to Santa Maria & Gates Station
9 never ran faster than 35 mph or carried revenue passengers, though it reportedly transported undocumented workers to pick vegetables and fruits. In strawberry harvest season, it often pulled one or two four-wheel trailers. SMV 9 also served as an inspection car and auxiliary section car. It was retired from regular service about 1936, painted orange and used in some maintenance-of-way service until 1962, when sold because of excessive engine repair costs to the Valley Pipe & Salvage Company of Santa Maria for scrap. Its radiator, drive shaft and some other parts were removed and sold.
Following a museum request, the railbus was donated to the PSRMA by Valley Pipe & Salvage owner Sam Berkowitz in May 1965. Trucked south, for 16 years it was stored and worked on in many PSRMA members' yards and garages in La Mesa, Lakeside (Walt Hayward), San Diego and Spring Valley (Dick Pennick), until brought to Campo in July 1981. Because many "unobtainable" missing parts had to be replaced or specially made and museum funds were limited, the railbus restoration was not completed until April 1991, 26 years after its acquisition.
Painted orange with a silver roof in August 1967 when restoration was thought to be 80 percent complete, in 1991 it was painted Beaver brown & tan with black roof, pilot, radiator and underframe with a lacquered wood interior. The railbus made its public debut from May 3-12 in Sacramento, at the California State Railroad Museum’s RailFair '91, where it received much attention. It was also displayed August 8, 1991 at San Diego's Santa Fe depot. SMV 9 is now on exhibit in beautifully restored condition in the Museum's Campo carbarn, and is occasionally operated.
I rode this vehicle on the Coronado Belt Line.
San Diego & Arizona Railway coach 255, nee Delaware, Lackawanna and Western 311 built by Pullman in 1925. It was later converted to "Low Roof" M.U. Trailer 1930.
Another view of RS-2 2098.
A view any Santa Fe lover would love to see in 2012. Now it was time to walk back to the station and ride the train.
