Steam & Excursion > This Is Perhaps The Most Unusual Protest By Any Railroad EVER!!

You must be thinking - "What the heck is this"?  This photo took me by surprise as well when I first came across it.  Fortunately there were notations on the negative sleeve and with some additional research there is a story to be told here.

This car belonged to the 3' gauge Eureka Nevada Railroad that ran in Northern Nevada between The junction with the SP and later the WP at Palisade, Nevada and then 84 miles south to Eureka, Nevada.  Originally formed in 1873 as the Eureka & Palisade Railroad Company the line served the rich mining district of Eureka until they played out.

Besides mining products and passengers the line depended on the contract it had with the U. S. Post office for handling mail on all points along the line.  This contract was very important to the little railroad as mining shipments were down and the mail contract money was needed to make the lines payroll.  In 1917 the Postal Department of the U.S. Government had become very lax in when and how much they paid the Eureka-Nevada RR and finally the postal department was far in arrears with the little shortline.  This car is what the railroad President John Sexton came up with as a protest of the government action.

The shop forces were told by Sexton to paint this E-N box car in a bright yellow paint scheme and with this red lettering and to then park the car on a short siding next to the Southern Pacific tracks at a spur called Sexton (named after the lines colorful president), where the 2 lines ran briefly parallel.  Also, it was to be carried next to the E-N locomotive that came out to meet the Overland train.  The intent was for the passengers on the SP passenger trains to see the car and to take back stories of it back home so as to put pressure on the Government to pay the delinquent quarterly mail payments owed to the little railroad.

Sexton had chosen the language on the side of the car to reference California's Anti-Alien Land Law that was quite controversial at the time. Sexton's plan worked as there was a newspaper man on one of the passing Overland trains on the SP one day.  He snapped a photo of the bright yellow car and the photo made it's way back to Washington D.C.  The protest caught the eye of the government who sent an agent out to speak with Sexton.  Sexton's plan had worked.  He now had the ear of a government agent and explained to him that the car was simply a new service of the line to make up for the loss of money from the Mail contract payments being withheld.  Soon the mail check came in from Washington and normal trains resumed without the bright yellow car.  Shortly thereafter, the car was taken back to the E-N car shops at Palisade and repainted back to the usual red/brown color of the E-N work car fleet and put back into normal freight service.

Thus ended one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Western Shortlines.

Martin



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/15 06:25 by LoggerHogger.

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Way too subtle and deep for me -- what does the inscription on the car have to do with back payments to the railroad???

Sorry, but I don't get it.

Hi,

The full story of the car and it's purpose has been published. I am away from my
library to check out where.  If I recall, it may have been published in Gilbert Kneiss's Bonanza Railroads
book; and also was in a Nevada magazine (Nevada Historical Society ?).  I don't recall if Myrick's book
RR's of Nevada Vol.1 had much/any on this incident. 

The just of it was that Sexton wanted the State Dept. to put pressure on the Post Office to pay his
bills.  Sort of blackmail.

John Sexton was a very 'interesting' character.  He had quite a few other episodes that brought
him fame too.

Don

hazegray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Way too subtle and deep for me -- what does the
> inscription on the car have to do with back
> payments to the railroad???
>
> Sorry, but I don't get it.

The last paragraph is the most relevant . . . the slogan was to get the gov't's attention, didn't have anything to do with the real issue.

I might have to make a 1" scale car like this.....

Since both my wife and I have worked with people who were caught up in the "Japanese Relocation" hysteria in 1942, I would be reluctant to duplicate the "protest" lettering on a model RR car, even if it is part of Nevada history.

DNRY122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Since both my wife and I have worked with people
> who were caught up in the "Japanese Relocation"
> hysteria in 1942, I would be reluctant to
> duplicate the "protest" lettering on a model RR
> car, even if it is part of Nevada history.

Agreed. The car, for what ever the purpose, is quite derogatory.

SantaFeRuss

Sometimes history has a tendancy to be offensive to the people of later generations. As I recall the decision to intern Japanese Americans was made less than 48 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor and based on at best, sketchy reports from Pearl about what transpired. FDR's decision was made, with little if any accurate information and unlike today's 24/7/365 news coverage, his decision was a poorly informed one, but based on the best information he had.

The history of that incident may not need "recreation" in a model today, but certainly the car reminds us of the nature of the times shortly after December 7th, 1941.

John

Actually, Executive Order 9066 that authorized the internment was issued in late Feb 1942, so more than 2 and a half months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It was based on hysteria that had been whipped up over the following weeks after the attacks, rather than being made in the dark in the hours following the attack.

But I certainly agree with your conclusion, sixbit, and is an interesting piece of history for sure!