Notes on Our Collection
These notes are a work in progress and
are subject to change as more accurate information becomes
available. If you have
Passenger Cars [back
to Equipment List] [Go to gallery on PBase]
Southern Pacific 1010 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go gallery on PBase]
Car 1010 was built by the San Joaquin &
Sierra Nevada Railroad in their shops near Lodi, California in 1882. The
car's original number is unknown at this time. Originally built as a
coach, the car was later converted to a combine. The SJ&SN was sold to
the Southern Pacific in 1885. The SP merged the SJ&SN into its
Northern Railway subsidiary where the car was numbered 1010. In 1904 the
SP standard gauged the the line and the car was transferred to the SPC,
where it was used until 1907. It was then sent to the N&C where it
became car 16. In late 1913 the car was set aside at Mina, Nevada and
converted to a house for railroad workers. It was purchased by Richard
Datin in 1960. He sold it to our group in 1990. The car was then equipped
with Miller Couplers, restored for operation and featured at
Railfair 99 in Sacramento, California. The car had an estimated 25,000
visitors walk through or ride the car during Railfair. The car now again
needs additional repair and restoration of the car's metal roof.
Arcata and
Mad River Smoker 2 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery on PBase]
Oakland Railroad 2 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery on PBase]
This single truck horse car was built
for the Oakland Railroad, a SPC subsidiary. It was built by J.
Hammond's California Car Works of San Francisco in 1887. Later the car
was used on a Berkeley horse car line where it was numbered 8.
Eventually it was converted to a child's playhouse. It was saved by
Bay Area rail historian Louis Stein, who restored the car and donated
it to our group. Its running gear was lost when the car was scrapped
and it was replaced with rubber tires. So equipped, the car was used
at BART's opening in 1970. Pattern work to restore its railroad
undergear is complete. This car is currently under restoration and is
off display in our carbarn.
South Pacific Coast 47 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery on PBase]
This is the car that started it all. 47 was built by Carter
Brothers in their Newark shop in 1881. While 47 looks like a passenger
car, it was considered to be a caboose and was used as such. As a
caboose, the car was equipped with link and pin couplers instead of
Miller Couplers like the passenger cars. Like many other SPC cars, 47
was sent to the N&C in 1907 after the 1906 San Francisco
Earthquake and the subsequent standard gauging of the SPC. On the
N&C the car was renumbered 455. The car was set aside in 1915 in
Keeler, California. The body of the car was brought back to Newark in
1975. The car is currently stored in the carbarn. It is being
surveyed and cleaned to determine what the next steps are with this
car.
Excursion Car 5 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery on PBase]
Originally built by WSLCo around 1919 on an existing 24' log
frame as a caboose. Renumbered to WSLCo 5 in 1940 and used as a backup
caboose after 1949. The caboose went into private ownership and was
then acquired by the Northern Queen Inn in Nevada City. It was first
cut down to a flatcar and then converted to an excursion car for use
on the Inn's railroad-the Nevada County Traction Co. Ultimately the
excursion car was purchased by B. Rother and was leased to the SPCRR
in 2016. The car was refurbished, painted, and numbered as 5 by the
SPCRR in 2018. This car is used as one of our scheduled passenger
cars.
Excursion Car 318 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery on PBase]
This history is unverified at this time. It is believed that this
car was built from parts gathered from other WSLCo flatcars by the
Northern Queen Inn's Nevada County Traction Co. tourist railroad
in Nevada City and numbered WSLCo 318 (using the next unused number on
the WSLCo. flatcar roster). The car was subsequently converted to an
excursion car for the NCTCo. Ultimately the excursion car was also
purchased by B. Rother and leased to the SPCRR in 2016. The car was
refurbished, painted, and numbered as 318 by the SPCRR in 2018. This
car is used as one of our passenger cars for scheduled operations.
Boxcars [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery on PBase]
Southern Pacific 10 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go to gallery
on PBase]
This 28' 20-ton box car was
built in 1880 by the Carter Bros. for the Oregonian Railroad as number
246. The car was transferred to the South Pacific Coast as car 492 in
1899 and to the Nevada & California as car 445 in 1907. The car was
rebuilt to 20-ton capacity and renumbered SP 10 in the late 1940's. The
car survived in service until 1960 when the SP abandoned the last of its
narrow gauge operations. Car 10's 80 year service life may be a record
for a wooden American railroad freight car.
The last shop date "RPKD OYO1 11 60" was still
legible on the car in 2000. (Repacked OWENYO 1-11-1960)
This car is currently used to house our
MOW and restoration tools.
South
Pacific Coast 472 [back
to Equipment List]
[Go to gallery
on PBase]
This is a standard Carter 28'
10-ton box car. It was built for the Oregonian Railroad in 1880 as car
230. The Oregonian RR was acquired by the Southern Pacific (as were many
other west coast narrow gauge lines) and it was transferred to the SPC
in 1899, where it was renumbered 472. It was transferred again in 1907
to the Nevada and California Railway (still another SP property.) Here
it became 443 (this number is visible inside the car). It was scrapped
in 1928 and eventually ended up as a shed in Sparks, Nevada. Our group
acquired it in 1983. After some basic repairs, it was used as our first
general store. Formal restoration began in 1993. This car sits on 24
inch wheelsets cast by the SPCRR using a NARF grant.
Today the car houses our photo displays, it
was repainted and re-lettered in 2015 and is currently having it's roof
replaced.
South Pacific Coast 444 [back
to Equipment List]
{Go to
gallery on PBase]
This is a 28' 10-ton combination box car.
These cars were built for fruit service and were equipped with two
sets of doors, one solid wooden set for regular service and a second
set made of iron bars to allow ventilation. It was built for the
Oregonian Railroad in 1880 as car 170, was sent to the SPC in 1899 as
car 444 and finally went to the N&C as car 426 in 1907. The car
was set aside in the 1920's and was used as a farm shed in the Reno
area from where it was rescued by the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
They declared it surplus to their collection in 1992 and gave it to
us. Although this car is currently on trucks, it does not have brakes
and is considered not operational.
Nevada Central 253 [back
to Equipment List]
This is a 24' long 8-ton box car that was
built in 1874 as part of the Carter Brother's first order of cars. It was
built for the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad. When the car was
built, the Carters didn't have a car shop. Instead they went to the
customer's site and built the cars there, so this car was built on the
beach in Monterey. The Southern Pacific took over the M&SV in 1881 and
immediately sold the narrow gauge equipment to the then building Nevada
Central Railroad where our car was numbered 253. When the N&C was
abandoned in 1939 our car was spared, ultimately winding up as a roadside
billboard for the Gold Strike Inn in Boulder City, Nevada. Our group
traded the car for a replica in early 1992. The car is currently stored
off display. This car is nicknamed the “Craps” car because of the casino
advertising painted on the side of the car.
This car has been identified as being the oldest surviving wooden boxcar
in the western USA. It may be the oldest remaining wooden boxcar in the
world. The car is currently being evaluated and documented as a
candidate for restoration.
Pajaro Valley
Consolidated 215 [back
to Equipment List]
Car 215 was
one of 26 boxcars owned by the Pajaro Valley Railroad. It was
built in 1894, by San Francisco railroad car builder J. S.
Hammond. This car was acquired by the SPCRR in January 2004
from a home near Gonzales, California, where is was used as a
storage shed. This car is currently stored in the car barn on
'loaner' trucks and is considered non operable as it has
neither brakes nor draft gear.
Flatcars [back
to Equipment List]
Diamond and Caldor 64 [back
to Equipment List]
This 15-ton 24' flat car was found near Placerville,
California, where it had been abandoned by the Diamond and Caldor
Railway. On the D&C it was numbered 64. While this car is typical
of cars built by the Carters, and it carried Carter journal box
covers, we have no evidence that they built the car, nor do we think
it was owned by the SPC. This car was restored in 1983 and was the
first car used for passenger service on our railroad. For many years
the car was numbered as shown below as South Pacific Coast 439.
The car was redecked and repainted to D & C 64 in 2001.
This image demonstrates that one of our
horses can easily move a loaded flat car
North Shore 1725 [back
to Equipment List]
This 15-ton 28' flat car was built by the Carter Brothers about
1887 for the South Pacific Coast Railroad. The car's SPC number is
unknown. In 1906 the San Francisco earthquake destroyed the SPC, and
the car was sold to the North Shore Railroad in Marin County, where it
was numbered 1725. Two years later, in 1908, the Northwestern Pacific
took over the North Shore and with it car 1725. In about 1910, NWP
rebuilt the car which was now 20 years old and probably worn out.
During this rebuilding, the car was renumbered 5499. The car was
retired in 1930, when the NWP abandoned its narrow gauge operations.
The car was then sold to the Westside Lumber Company in Tuolumne,
California where it was numbered 8 and was converted to a "camp car"
with the addition of a house like body. The car was acquired by our
group in 1985, and entered service in 1989 following a two-year
restoration. This car is our primary wheel chair accessible
operational car.
NS 1725 was converted to a covered picnic
car in 2004 using 1880 photographs of NS picnic cars at the wharf
in Sausalito. This conversion was funded by
a grant from George and Karen Thagard.
Since 2024 the car is once being rebuilt and the
picnic car roof has been removed.
West Side Lumber Company
222 [back
to Equipment List]
This is a
lumber flat purchased in 2002 from a collector. This is one of
last 45 flatcars in service on the West Side Lumber Company’s
railroad in Tuolumne. The Society for the Preservation of Carter
Railroad Resources restored this the car during the summer of
2002. The bulk of the assembly was done over 3 days as a
demonstration of traditional railroad and industrial skills at our
Washington Township Railroad Fair.
This
car was converted in to a representative gondola hiding passenger
benches in 2023.
West Side Lumber Company
205 [back
to Equipment List]
This car suffered widespread extreme dry rot and had to be
dismantelled. The iron and new lumber are being used to do a full
rebuild of the car.
West
Side Lumber Company 308 [back
to Equipment List]
These West Side 24; 15-ton flats were donated to The SPCRR
by Henry Sorenson. They are movable but are in storage.
South Pacific Coast 4 [back
to Equipment List]
This 12' long, four wheel flat car is a replica of a car
used on the Centerville branch. It was built in the fall of
1994. The car is called the "Mary Jane". This car has wooden
bearings.
Mt.
Diablo & San Jose 21 [back
to Equipment List]
This 15-ton capacity, 18' long ballast hopper
is not historic. It was built under Brook Rother's supervision
in 1989. It uses trucks, couplers and other parts salvaged
from the Westside Lumber Company's shops. It follows typical
design standards used by the Carter Bros. and Westside Lumber
Company, but is not a copy of any known car.
In 2008 this car had a deck fire during steam operation
and is under repair. During the repair it was determined to
have severe dry-rot in the sills and the car has marked as not
operable. It is currently on trucks and is in storage.
Other Cars
[back
to Equipment List]
Additionally the SPCRR has a replica of a Carter Bros.
pump car, a restored Buda pump car, a Leslie Salt Steel Side
dump, two logging disconnects, two 1890's Buda push cars
from the NWP on loan from Sacramento Valley Historic Railways
and a third non-historic push car.
Leslie Salt 4 [back
to Equipment List]
Bear River Log truck [back
to Equipment List]
West Side
Lumber Co connected log car [back
to Equipment List]
"SPC'
Hand Car [back
to Equipment List]
Not really Carter, but based on a c 1870 photo of a SPC
Handcar. This is a modern Car built in the 1960's by Brook
Rother. The car is used to give visitor rides during
special events and is also used for track inspection.
The car is no longer varnished but is finished in a more
period looking oil stain.
BUDA PUSH CARS [back
to Equipment List]
[Go
to gallery in PBase]
We have two
c 1890s Buda push cars on loan from the Sacramento
Valley Historic Railways. These cars were
completely restored in 2000 and are frequently
used for maintenance of way.
Motive
Force [back
to Equipment List]
Draft
Horses. [back
to Equipment List]
For 30 years the SPCRR used Belgian Draft Horses to pull
our narrow gauge trains 3 days a week in an interpretation of
the Centerville
Branch of the SPC.
In July of 2015 the horse drawn operations were
discontinued by the SPCRR. This ended an era. The horse drawn
operations were discontinued when they became too expensive to
operate at Ardenwood.
The Belgian Draft horses that were used weigh about 2,000
lbs. and were between 18 and 20 hands high. Although
theoretically each horse could have pulled up to six cars, our
operating rules prohibited it. Although the horses could have
pulled the cars, we were not certain we could have stopped
multiple moving cars with hand brakes quickly enough to avoid
injuring them.
Belgian Draft horses are particularly well
suited to railroad work. They are sturdy even tempered animals
capable of working long hours without strain. Belgians can
work from the time they are 5 years old until they retire in
15 to 20 years. All of our horses were geldings.
Because of the low rolling resistance of
steel wheels on steel track and our level track, train hauling
was considered 'light' duty for these animals. The breed was
developed to pull plows and wagons in the muddy fields of the
low countries of Europe.
One of our standing jokes was to refer to
these horses as 1-1-1-1 NG articulated hay burning
locomotives.
In addition to pulling the train, our "all
terrain locomotives" had been used to pull rotted ties, drag
track, drag wheelsets from the boneyard and to occasionally
grade using a Fresno scraper.
SPCRR 1 [back
to Equipment List]
A 5 ton Plymouth gasoline powered
locomotive with a hydraulic transmission. It is a modern
industrial locomotive used for operations, switching,
and maintenance of way. This engine was purchased by
the SPCRR in August 2004 after leasing it for several years
from a member.
It is nicknamed 'Katie'.
After a few years of service, the yellow
paint was starting to show it's age and a 'guerrilla' spray
paint job of rust red primer was applied and the engine was
renumbered SPCRR 1
this By 2016, the 'guerrilla' paint job had
deteriorated badly and in the winter of 2016 this engine was
refurbished, stripped to bare metal, painted, and lettered
as SPCRR 1.
During the winter of 2018 The gasoline
engine was replaced with a diesel and air brake controls and
pump were added to allow State air braking requirements for
the passenger train. In 2020 then engine was renumbered #581
History
CN6663
10/1968 36" HSG B 5 ton D/H
US ARMY #581 > #C0268 Badger Ammunition Plant, Baraboo WI
Olin Corp #OB-588, Badger Ordnance Works, Baraboo WI
Sold to Brook Locomotive Works, Georgetown CA
Sold to SPCRR, 2004, Renumbered #1 then #581
Kauai
Plantation Railway 10 [back
to Equipment List]
A 14 ton
Whitcomb diesel powered locomotive (Builders number 40081,
Model 12-DM-30)
with a hydraulic transmission originally built as a 12-ton
switch engine in 1939 for the ASARCO refinery in Selby,
California where it was numbered ASARCO 2. The engine had approximately
2 tons of steel plate ballast added at some point by
either during construction of by ASARCO. The
engine was sold to a scrapper in
1971
when the ASARCO smelter closed. It was sold in 1973 to
Paramount's Great America in
Santa
Clara, California where it was used in building the
narrow-gauge park railroad. So far as we can determine the
engine was never numbered at Great America. It was stored
there in 1984 for unspecified mechanical problems.
Paramount Great America donated the engine to the SPCRR in
1996. The engine ran at Ardenwood for a under a year or so
and was then placed into storage because of a derailment
caused by knife-edge flanges on one side and problems
overhauling the transfer case.
Photo by Robert Lemuth 2002
The
locomotive was sold to the Kauai Plantation Railway (KPRy),
in Lihue, Hawaii in 2004. After a complete rebuilding for
the KPRy by Brooks Locomotive Works the engine was shipped
to Kauai. At
the KPRy the engine was numbered 10.
Photo by Rich Nealson
In
2010, the engine was sold to the Roaring Camp and Big Trees
Railroad in Felton, California and moved to the mainland.
The engine was sold by RC&BT RR to a private individual.
The engine was then acquired by Brooks Locomotive
Works In 2017, the SPCRR leased the engine for use at the
Railroad Museum in Ardenwood. It is currently being
overhauled for use in passenger operations.
Uncredited photo
The Argent Lumber Company #5 is a 26
ton 2-6-2 Prairie Steam Locomotive built bythe Lima Locomtive
Company in 1910. This entry is under construction.
The Argent Lumber Company 5 was the
only narrow gauge 2-6-2 Prairie type locomotive ever built by
Lima.
1910 – Locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works of Ohio.
Originally built for Williamson and Brown
Log and Lumber Co. in Cerro Gordo, North Carolina as their
locomotive #3.
Sold to Butters Lumber Co as #6 in Hub,
North
Carolina.
1920 - Sold via Southern Iron &
Equipment Co. (a resale company) in Atlanta, GA to Garysburg
Manufacturing Company in Hardeeville, South Carolina—reportedly
numbered the 3. Garysburg
Manufacturing was owned by the McNeal family who also co-founded
Argent Lumber Company. They later
numbered her 5. She was known as number 5 until her retirement
in 1957, and the engine was never
operated again.
1960 – Argent 5 was sold to Stone
Machine Co. in Daisy, Tennessee.
1967 – The locomotive was sold to
George Roose and moved to the Cedar Point and Lake Erie tourist
rail-road in Sandusky OH. They never used the locomotive in
service. However they did keep the tender and used if for
many years (it was dismantled in the late 1980s).
1986 – The locomotive was sold to Ken
Carlson of Cottage Grove OR. He had the engine moved and stored
at Kirtland’s Silverbend, a Christmas tree farm and attraction
near Clarksburg, CA.
1989 – The locomotive was sold to Roy
Ramey. Ramey started restoration of the locomotive in Nevada
City,
but there were important parts missing. The Ramey family got
creative and tried to track down the
original missing parts. They found a Hancock Inspiratory
injector in New Mexico, and when they
cleaned up the dirt and grime they found it stamped “Argent
Lumber Company”!
The biggest piece missing was the three-part steam dome casing.
The Ramey’s had read a magazine
article in 1966 showing a photo of the Argent 5 in a warehouse
in Ohio. In the picture was a Porter
locomotive behind the Argent. It just so happened that when the
Ramey’s received the Argent’s parts,
along with it was a Porter locomotive’s steam dome casing. Ramey
wondered if the dome casings had
been mixed up at the warehouse, so they placed a call to Dave
Barnhart, the locomotive re-seller mentioned in the article.
They asked Barnhart if he could send someone to the old
warehouse where the Argent had been stored (which was several
hundred miles away). When Bernhart’s employee got to the
warehouse, he found it totally empty. He did notice a shed
behind the warehouse so he looked inside, but no dome casing.
Before leaving he decided to take a look behind the shed.
Against all odds, there on a pallet behind the shed was the
Argent’s dome casing!
The Ramey’s finished restoring the locomotive in 1992 and
operated it at the Northern Queen Inn in
Nevada City, CA for just a few years.
In 2022, two SPCRR members purchased
and moved the Argent 5 to Ardenwood.
Kiso Forest
Railway No. 9 [back
to Equipment List]
The Kiso Forest Railway
No. 9 is a Baldwin 0-4-2RT 6-10 1/3C built in June 1928.
The locomotive ordered by "Japanese Imperial Forestry Bureau"
as engine No. 17 and exported to Japan for use on the Kiso
Forest Railways, a 30" railway system in the Kiso Valley
located in the Nagano Prefecture, where it hauled cypress
lumber.
In its time in Japan, the locomotive had several modifications
performed such as an extended fuel bunker and a modified stack
to more efficiently arrest the sparks from burning wood.
Throughout the 1950s, the use of diesel locomotives slowly
phased out steam on the railroad. Several of the steam
locomotives were scrapped, luckily the No. 17 survived and was
re-numbered to No. 9. Surprisingly in 1959, the No. 9 was
fully rebuilt at the Agematsu Shops before steam was fully
retired just one year later.
In the 1960s, the locomotive was purchased by a railroad
engineer and historian, Henry L. Sorenson. The locomotive was
brought back to the U.S.A. arriving at the Port of Alameda
near the site of the original South Pacific Coast Terminal. It
arrived with another locomotive Kiso Forest Railway No. 7
which is currently also in California with a private
collector.
The locomotive was brought to Mr. Sorensen's home at Humboldt
County to be used on his private railroad. There the
locomotive went through several modifications; It became the
Humboldt Northern No. 11; was re-gauged to 36"; and received
several appliances, such as a bell, a front cowcatcher, and
front and rear running boards. The locomotive later became the
Humboldt Northern No. 6, as he had acquired an original No. 6
Baldwin Number Plate from a friend. Later, it was repainted to
it's original Baldwin factory paint scheme, and was
re-lettered "Kiso Forest Railway No. 6".
In 1999 the locomotive was brought to California State
Railroad Museum's Rail Fair '99, and was subsequently donated
to CSRM in 2004.
In May 2024, California State Railroad Museum transferred the
ownership to the Railroad Museum at Ardenwood. At Ardenwood
the locomotive was renumbered to No. 9.
SPCRR
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