Western Railroad Discussion > WRM MUNI Maintenance Of Way Motor Unit #0305 Questions

Hello,
I recently did a tour of the Western Railway Museum and started looking for more information on some of the different cars I saw while there.

I ran across videos and photos that included many shots of the Marmon Maintenance Of Way Motor Unit MUNI #0305A performing switching duties. I was intrigued by this "little engine that could" that does so much work for WRM, but seems to get no interest.

I would like to know more about it it. I would be most appreciative if someone could share their knowledge of it.

Thanks,
Wayne

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4080/4927740838_983fdf9f62_b.jpg

I don't know the dates but, probably in conjunction with the construction of the Muni Metro subway, the 0305 was built by a company that builds mine equipment to power an overhead lines service train. There are two other cars, one that can carry a reel of wire and one with a platform. (The 0305 itself had a platform on the roof for working on the overhead in the subway.) The 0305 was apparently a failure on the Muni - it derailed, it was slow, it was very noisy inside... The story is that after one trip it was sidelined and replaced with (I think) a high rail line truck. Somehow the three cars found their way to a junk yard in Southern California. We bought them perhaps a decade ago thinking that they would make a good replacement for our aging line car - Key 1201. We didn't have the derailment problem, but the noise and speed were problems. Also, our efforts to modify the platform car to one high enough to reach our wire led to a platform with a lot of sway. But, we found that, with hearing protection, the 0305 makes a good shop switcher, and so that's what it does. (And, like the Muni, we bought a high rail line truck.)

And, last time I checked, 0305's predecessor, 0304 is still part of the Muni non-revenue fleet. 0304 started out as a Market Street Railway passenger car, and was rebuilt into a line car about 100 years ago. It's been rebuilt several times since then, but as far as I know, it still runs.

.And, last time I checked, 0305's predecessor, 0304 is still part of the Muni non-revenue fleet. 0304 started out as a Market Street Railway passenger car, and was rebuilt into a line car about 100 years ago.

URR funeral car. I sort of recall that it can't be used in the subway for some reason.

THank you very much Wayne for sharing this very charming story with us.
You are very right that the WRM (Rio Vista JCT) does have a ton of amazing history at the museum.
This place is quite the refreshing change from todays giant cookie cutter mainline railroads.
--- Daniel

She's cute! I never knew the WRM had
that unique car. And they had to get a
hi-railer, too. I know their wires are high.

Joe and DNRY --
Thank you very much for that fascinating info.
I have not been to the WRM for a long time, so
I don't know what has been going on there recently.
At lest they found a good use for the cute little 0305. :)

We also have a speeder donated to us built for BART. You know what the gauge (gage) is??

Don---Napa in the fog !!

Thanks all!

Any specs on this car? What engine it uses, and transmission? How it operates? Any quirks?

SN1005 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We also have a speeder donated to us built for
> BART. You know what the gauge (gage) is??
>
> Don---Napa in the fog !!


Yup -- 5'6"! Are you folks gonna re-gauge her?

And I, too, would love to know how she works.
Specs would be interesting -- with an explanation
of how she differs from other similar critters --
if such exist. TIA!

There is a picture of 0304 here;
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1896762

And mention of it here as possibly being retired;
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1625220