Nostalgia & History > Wednesday Waycar, Crummy, Caboose, Cabin or Hack

Continuing my very short, less than an hour, visit to the McCloud River Railroad in April 1966
that I posted several days ago,

see: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4984938,4985533#msg-4985533

Here are two more. 
The wooden version without visible markings was, I believe, caboose No. 35 built by the Great Northern between
1920-1924 and sold to the McCloud in 1958. Here we see it sitting, out of service, with damaged steps. 
(Thank you, Jeff Moore for the corrections.)
  
The Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture owns a similar car, McCloud caboose No. 34 that they rebuilt and is now
on display in Weed, CA and looks very nice, indeed.  

Caboose 101 is one two International Car products built in 1962 for the McCloud.
Here it is in it's as delivered red paint but I understand
both were repainted to orange after I took this photo.

Charlie




 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/20 14:01 by cewherry.

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Two great caboose roster photos.
Bob

The shorty is a caboose extended vision style we don't see too many of from Int'l Car Co.

Charlie- Nice shots, thanks for posting them!

I'm fairly sure the wood caboose is the #035, all records suggest it was the only former GN caboose still on the property by the time of your visit.  It's not entirely clear but I think I see a "35" when I zoom in on the image.  The railroad had disposed of all the others in 1963-1964, including the #034; Jim Nile bought it after seeing an add the railroad placed in the local paper in 1963, and he moved it to his property very shortly thereafter.  If it is the #035 is is former Great Northern X-548, built by GN sometime between 1920-1924 and sold to McCloud in November 1958.  The railroad started using it on steam excursions in 1964, and not too long after you saw it the railroad rebuilt it into a VIP excursion car, renumbereing it to 553 in the process, and giving it a solid orange paint job.  Sometime later they repainted the cupola white.  McCloud River and then McCloud Railway used it for special events and excursions for quite a few years.  McCloud Railway repainted it to a sold red scheme in the later 1990s, then around 2006 or 2007 it was conveyed to a private party who moved it into their backyard in Mt. Shasta City.  

As for the #101, International built it to a custom short length, it and the #102 are the only such short wide vision cabooses I know of that International built, though Weyerhaeuser later went on to build three duplicates of these cabooses in their Sycan shop for use on the Oregon, California & Eastern and their connecting private logging railroad.  McCloud River did repaint both cabooses in a solid orange with silver roof scheme in 1972.  The #101 remained the principle work caboose on the railroad until 1997 when it was severely damaged in a yard switching accident in McCloud.  A couple memebers of the Shasta-Cascade Rail Preservation Society bought the car in 2007, but they haven't yet moved it out of McCloud.  

Attached are a couple pictures of these two cars later in their life, the #035/553 behind the McCloud depot probably in the early to middle 1970s and the #101 showing its damage in McCloud a few years back.  

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV   

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I see now the '35' about mid-car just to the right of the white mark.
I've edited the original post to reflect same.

Thanks, Jeff.

Charlie

You're welcome, Charlie. 

One question, what does that sign in the bent stairwell of the #035 read?  Looks like something about a scale test car....

Thanks again!

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

JDLX Wrote:
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> You're welcome, Charlie. 
>
> One question, what does that sign in the bent
> stairwell of the #035 read?  Looks like something
> about a scale test car....

Re-scanned it. 
Have no idea why this would be placed here......or what it means.
Hey scalemasters!!

Charlie

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That's funny....I suspect someone swiped it from the scalehouse, which at that time would have been not far away from where that caboose was sitting.  I guess it says to make three spot checks of the scale on the first and twentieth of each month....

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Also extant is caboose 023 (ex-GN X344), preserved in GN colors at the Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista Jct., CA.