Nostalgia & History > SP Passenger Car 1865 @ Colfax

Anyone who has photographed Donner Pass over the last 40-plus years has seen SP 1865 in Colfax. I shot this photo on October 20, 1979. My questions is, who can tell me the history of this car?

Thanks in advance

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The Placer-Sierra Railroad Heritage Society might be able to help you. Sorry I could not find a facebook page or e-mail address for
them. The SP passenger car 1865 is still their by railroad street.

Ex-Santa Fe car.

I'll take a stab at it...
The car came to Colfax in the late 70's. It served as a bank branch for 10 or 15 years. They out grew it, and passed it on to the local C of C, who moved it about a block to where it sits now.
As to heritage...
Bill Fisher (ret SP signalman & local author- "Baggage car With Lace Curtains" 30 Years Over Donner) showed me a snap shot of it years (and years and years) ago. It showed the car on a flatbed truck being delivered to Colfax. The car was painted in what must have been an intended Bicentennial red, white, & blue scheme- however, the blue was more a turquoise. It had no lettering, and it did not have the open rear deck- the bank added that.
So where did it come from? No one seemed to know.
My guess: The Apache Railway.
Why? It has a ATSF "look" (they connect with the Apache, and would be a logical source if the Apache wanted such a car), the turquoise color, and somewhere along the line I think I saw a photo of a 3 car tourist train on the Apache from years ago- Maybe in one of Myrick's books?

But, I'm only guessing. Someone who really knows the Apache (I sure don't!) could go a long way in confirming my guess- or shooting it out of the water..
SR Bush
Dutch Flat



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/14 18:47 by BoilingMan.

You know.. a guy to ask would be Ken Yeo. I haven't seen Ken around in several years, but not much goes on (RR wise) up here that he doesn't know SOMETHING about.
SR

Hi,

As near as I've been able to piece together this cars history:

I think this car originated on the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, as a coach.

It was later used on the White Mountain Scenic RR, which operated over the
Apache RR at Snowflake, Arizona . They had a string of x MKT heavyweight
passenger cars, along with Sierra RR 2-8-2 #36, and Santa Maria Valley 2-8-2
#100.

At some point one vestibule was converted to an open platform. Not sure if
this was done by MKT or WMS.

When the WMS ceased operations in the early 1970's the passenger cars got scattered,
a few ended up in private ownership in central California. The two locos are now part of
Fred Kepner's collection near Klamath Falls, OR. One other passenger car went to the Yuma Valley RR,
and is now on the V&T in Virginia City, NV.

I believe that the car in Colfax came from the private owner in CA. CSRM's Sacramento Southern RR
has two MKT heavyweight coaches 642 & 644 and I think these also came from the same private
owner in CA, via WMS.

I'd love to know if this is the correct story, along with further details, #, etc.

Don

Interesting!
Now that you mention it, I did hear MKT somewhere once.
But I thought sure that the photo Bill Fisher had didn't show an open vestibule. Either I got that wrong (No Way!! Well, OK, it WAS about 30yrs ago... ) or maybe this wasn't the home made Obs on the Apache- maybe it was one of the other Apache cars?
It makes sense that the car came though a local source- that would fit better with it's having arrived in Colfax by truck. Trucking it all the way from AZ always seemed a bit of a stretch to me.
SR

Years ago, when the paint was getting pretty rough, I tried to talk the bank into repainting it two-tone gray. I offered to over-see the project for free. They wouldn't go for it... sigh.
BTW: The bank numbered it 1865 because that was the year the CPRR reached Colfax.
BTWW: I was the one who restored the NWP lettering to the Colfax caboose in about '83 or so (it had sat unlettered for several years). I used stencils I borrowed from Bill Waste who had them made by the SP paint shop (Mr. Waste KNEW people!) in Sac for his NWP 16 here in Dutch Flat.
The group that's working on it now (Colfax caboose) plans to letter it SP, as I understand it.
It's not. It's NWP 28.
sigh..



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/14 08:36 by BoilingMan.

It's truly amazing how much good information comes to light on this forum.
Thanks to all of you.
Ron W

Thanks everyone for your responses