Nostalgia & History > CB&Q Waycars in Oregon?

Last month the Brooks Historical Society at Powerland Heritage Park in Brooks, Oregon had a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy waycar donated from private owner near Eugene, Oregon. The waycar has distinct Burlington Route look but the only lettering we could find was on the air tank. There is not any other marking on the under frame nor the wood beam trucks. So we do not know the number.
This waycar and an SP were used for a home in a tree farm for about 40 years. It appears it got coat of BN green, but had been repainted to red by the private owner. One source suggested the BN brought these old waycars from Q territory in the midwest out to to Oregon to work on the Oregon Electric District. Can anyone add information and a possible number? I am a member of APMA and Brooks Historical Society so will pass any info on to them. They plan on using it for additional office and storage. Right now it has a modern shower stall in the cupola area as well as modern windows. However the exterior is in rough shape.
The stencils have the distinct CB&Q letters but the number is almost obliterated. It could be that it starts with 14? So that might make it in the 14,000 series.
Any additional info would be appreciated.
Steve Rippeteau



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/17 00:24 by railscenes.

---

---

---

In my experience the best place to look for a number is often inside above the doors (removal of new paneling/wall paper and/or careful sanding of new paint)

Good luck,Luke

Our NHRS chapter in Medford, Oregon has a similar caboose. The number is CB&Q 14446. It was built by the CB&Q at their Aurora, Illinois shop in 1910.

It was a mess when we got it, plus another caboose, SP boxcar and SP flatcar from an estate in Ashland. Originally our CB&Q caboose was used lounge of a restaurant in town called "The Station House". The owners cut a doorway so customers could enter. The interior walls were covered with red velvet wallpaper. (Boy that was hard to look at!)

The first photo shows when we began a complete restoration back in 2001. The second photo was taken after the restoration in 2004. - Tony Johnson

---

---

> The stencils have the distinct CB&Q letters but
> the number is almost obliterated. It could be that
> it starts with 14?
Hello Steve,

Don't know how much help this is, but the first set of stencils appear to show OTT 4 28 7_ Which is probably Ottumwa (Iowa) April 28, 197_. If this was assigned to one of the local or branch jobs in SE Iowa, it should be easy to find a shot of this particular caboose in service.

Take care,

Mark

TonyJ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Our NHRS chapter in Medford, Oregon has a similar
> caboose. The number is CB&Q 14446. It was built by
> the CB&Q at their Aurora, Illinois shop in 1910.
>
> It was a mess when we got it, plus another
> caboose, SP boxcar and SP flatcar from an estate
> in Ashland. Originally our CB&Q caboose was used
> lounge of a restaurant in town called "The Station
> House". The owners cut a doorway so customers
> could enter. The interior walls were covered with
> red velvet wallpaper. (Boy that was hard to look
> at!)
>
> The first photo shows when we began a complete
> restoration back in 2001. The second photo was
> taken after the restoration in 2004. - Tony
> Johnson


Nice restoration, however it is painted the incorrect color for CB&Q. Wood waycars on the CB&Q were Mineral Brown.

Jack, Yes when new they were painted mineral brown. But later in life lots of them were in red for a time and then finally Cascade Green.
I am helping with the restoration of a 1903 Plattsmouth Way car and all the above colors were found on this car.
Steve

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


>
> Nice restoration, however it is painted the
> incorrect color for CB&Q. Wood waycars on the CB&Q
> were Mineral Brown.

wpjones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jack, Yes when new they were painted mineral
> brown. But later in life lots of them were in red
> for a time and then finally Cascade Green.
> I am helping with the restoration of a 1903
> Plattsmouth Way car and all the above colors were
> found on this car.
> Steve
>
> HotWater Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
>
> >
> > Nice restoration, however it is painted the
> > incorrect color for CB&Q. Wood waycars on the
> CB&Q
> > were Mineral Brown.

Sorry Mr. Jones but, REAL CB&Q waycars were NOT painted "red" in regular service, through 1970! The CB&Q did, however have wood waycars painted in other colors for MofW service, etc..

HotWater Wrote:

> > HotWater Wrote:

> Sorry Mr. Jones but, REAL CB&Q waycars were NOT
> painted "red" in regular service, through 1970!
> The CB&Q did, however have wood waycars painted in
> other colors for MofW service, etc..

Along with mineral red cars, we had two or three bright red wooden waycars in daily transfer service when I worked for the Q at Dayton's Bluff from 1962 to 1965. The red ones were the ones most recently shopped.

This picture, posted before on TO, was purportedly taken 6/14/64 by Marty Bernard.

-John

---

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wpjones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Jack, Yes when new they were painted mineral
> > brown. But later in life lots of them were in
> red
> > for a time and then finally Cascade Green.
> > I am helping with the restoration of a 1903
> > Plattsmouth Way car and all the above colors
> were
> > found on this car.
> > Steve
> >

Ours was painted red, albeit the painted was fading when we got it. Scraping down to bare wood only showed red, so that's why we chose the color. We also have an unrestored wooden GN caboose that BN later painted their colors. We'll likely restore it to NP when the time comes.
> > HotWater Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Nice restoration, however it is painted the
> > > incorrect color for CB&Q. Wood waycars on the
> > CB&Q
> > > were Mineral Brown.
>
> Sorry Mr. Jones but, REAL CB&Q waycars were NOT
> painted "red" in regular service, through 1970!
> The CB&Q did, however have wood waycars painted in
> other colors for MofW service, etc..

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wpjones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Jack, Yes when new they were painted mineral
> > brown. But later in life lots of them were in
> red
> > for a time and then finally Cascade Green.
> > I am helping with the restoration of a 1903
> > Plattsmouth Way car and all the above colors
> were
> > found on this car.
> > Steve
> >
> > HotWater Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Nice restoration, however it is painted the
> > > incorrect color for CB&Q. Wood waycars on the
> > CB&Q
> > > were Mineral Brown.
>
> Sorry Mr. Jones but, REAL CB&Q waycars were NOT
> painted "red" in regular service, through 1970!
> The CB&Q did, however have wood waycars painted in
> other colors for MofW service, etc..

So what you're saying Jack is all the Waycars in The Burlington Waycars book that were photoed in the 60's and CB&Q reporting marks and Red in color were not "real" CB&Q Waycars.
Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/17 10:40 by wpjones.

Grab your flamethrowers!
Guys, we come here to share and learn things.
If a following post adds to or corrects the first post, it means we are having a discussion, not an argument.
I am thankful for learning something every day here on TO.

they were all red or silver in the sixties for the most part, i saw, a few mineral red

OK first order of business:
get back on track.
Thank you for the info from the Medford, OR, NRHS CB&Q waycar. Possibly they might be our best source for documents and/or photos of the old wood CB&Q waycars actually working in Oregon and/or Pacific NW especially on the Oregon Electric District of the SP&S/BN that is still operated by the Portland & Western thru Brooks, OR, between Portland and Eugene, Oregon.
Now 2nd item: to avoid covering duplicate answers about the color, etc, i was born, raised and spent many hours photographing the CB&Q since 1947. I do not know it all but have been around the Q long enough to take an educated guess, but still ask if not sure.

And that is the reason for my initial question:
How did these old wood CB&Q waycars come to be assigned to Oregon??
How many old CB&Q waycars were reassigned to Oregon?
On just the Oregon Electric District of the SP&S or on other locations on BN RR?


So with that said let’s stay on track. One source for this info is from Ed Austin, noted rail historian and author from Salem, OR. Ed was also the primary mover and shaker in getting the two 100+ year old waycars donated from private property hidden in a forrest near Eugene, OR. So much credit for his work. The other caboose is also over 100 years old off of the Oregon & California RR but was always lettered for the owner, SP RR. That old wood caboose was moved to the Willamette Valley Heritage Center about one short block north of the Amtrak station in Salem, Oregon.

The main reason for asking is that the Brooks Historical Society based in the SP RR, Brooks, OR, depot (now sitting on the grounds of Powerland Heritage Park or APMA) thought i was nuts for telling them that their new acquisition came from a RR they had never heard of until i showed them the almost legible stencils on the air resevore tank. I also thought it was very strange that the BN would move old wood waycars 2000 miles. But considering the geographically challenged BN, that thought quickly turned into just a big OK. The cool personal thing for me is it brought back a flood of fond memories of watching and riding the CB&Q, including these old wood waycars, and just 10 miles from our new home here in Woodburn, OR.
Also, for the color blind, i have photographed these old wood waycars in both brown and red. I just have not made digital scans of the color slides yet. If you need proof please contact me with the wire and we can schedule a color slide show. I am certain the only Q Waycars painted silver were made of steel, but never say never.
Thank you for the help.
Steve Rippeteau

railscenes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK first order of business:
> get back on track.
> Thank you for the info from the Medford, OR, NRHS
> CB&Q waycar. Possibly they might be our best
> source for documents and/or photos of the old wood
> CB&Q waycars actually working in Oregon and/or
> Pacific NW especially on the Oregon Electric
> District of the SP&S/BN that is still operated by
> the Portland & Western thru Brooks, OR, between
> Portland and Eugene, Oregon.
> Now 2nd item: to avoid covering duplicate answers
> about the color, etc, i was born, raised and spent
> many hours photographing the CB&Q since 1947. I do
> not know it all but have been around the Q long
> enough to take an educated guess, but still ask if
> not sure.
>
> And that is the reason for my initial question:
> How did these old wood CB&Q waycars come to be
> assigned to Oregon??
> How many old CB&Q waycars were reassigned to
> Oregon?
> On just the Oregon Electric District of the SP&S
> or on other locations on BN RR?
>
>
We at the Medford Railroad Park have not found out why this CB&Q waycar got here in the Rogue Valley. It certainly did not get here on it's own rails. The Station House Restaurant has been gone for at least thirty years no so we can't asked where they got them. It, plus a SP boxcar, flatcar, and a BN (ex-GN) caboose ended up on the property of a man in Ashland. After his death it was donated to our NRHS chapter as the new property owner didn't want the "train things" on his property. What a job that was moving the equipment. The cars were on a side of a hill next to an alleyway overgrown by berry vines. We moved everything in about three hours, but spent two weeks just removing the berry vines.

Thank you. Sounds like we have a similar info gap to your waycar in Medford. I’d hazard a guess that some railfan in this area took an interest in these old waycars and hopefully took some photos of them. Trouble is someone old enough to have seen these waycars on the Oregon Electric may be dead or internet challenged like the under signed.
Steve Rippeteau

Posted from iPhone

Apparently some of these CB&Q wood waycars were very-well traveled after retirement; at least three reside in California: two in Yountville in the Napa Valley along with a Northern Pacific wood caboose at the Napa Valley Railway Inn and the other was at a Spaghetti Restaurant in Sacramento off I-50 near Rancho Cordova. I'm quite sure that there are others and that most of these West Coast expatriates were probably trucked to their new owners after purchase.

"Apparently some of these CB&Q wood waycars were very-well traveled after retirement; at least three reside in California: two in Yountville in the Napa Valley along with a Northern Pacific wood caboose at the Napa Valley Railway Inn and the other was at a Spaghetti Restaurant in Sacramento off I-50 near Rancho Cordova. I'm quite sure that there are others and that most of these West Coast expatriates were probably trucked to their new owners after purchase."

Thank you Groundrelay! That is amazing. Your info helps explain this question. Considering this distribution of the old wood waycars was before the massive sell off of almost every caboose in the nation in the late 1980 era, it is possible that they were worth more to haul long distance. Plus these old wood waycars, now over 100 years old have a lot more character than some of the modern steel cabooses. The funny thing is the waycar, now at APMA in Brooks, OR, was modernized with a shower and a real flush toilet for living in.
Also had another person contact me off the wire to let me know in a PM that there were some of these waycars bought and sold by a scrap dealer in the Pacific NW by the name of Purdy. One of their storage/sales lots was south of Eugene at Cottage Grove, OR. We still have not been able to determine the original number, which I believe could be in the 14,000 series.
Steve Rippeteau