Nostalgia & History > A gathering of Plymouths

In addition to the red/white/blue unit I posted on this thread on July 4 at 15:47, four more Plymouth locomotives were present at the Lummis Railroad Materials yard in Richmond, CA on that day in August 1976. Although often overlooked by fans, these critters can be interesting and sometimes historic as shown in the first two photos--
1. Parr Terminal was a small switching road that was the predecessor of today's Richmond Pacific. Their #1 had been Nevada Copper Belt #6. Too bad the Nevada State Railroad Museum didn't obtain it so they could recreate the photo on page 219 of Myrick's Railroads of Nevada Vol. 1, since they have the caboose and the Wabuska depot.
2. Parr's #3 was ex-Hetch Hetchy Railroad #1171, used on San Francisco's enormous Hetch Hetchy Dam and water project. It even pulled an R&LHS excursion (using a Sierra coach) in 1947.
more...  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/20 20:02 by wpamtk.

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The Lummis Railroad Materials company also had two more Plymouths, but I have no idea of their heritage.
3. One was un-numbered.
4. The other carried the number 7.
5. Mr. Lummis (with whom I had a nice chat) also owned this heavyweight observation, named "Pioneer."
All long gone now...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/20 20:03 by wpamtk.

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wpamtk Wrote:
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> 5. Mr. Lummis (with whom I had a nice chat) also
> owned this heavyweight observation, named
> "Pioneer."
> All long gone now...

Actually, the "Pioneer" still exists and it has an extraordinary history.  Entering service on September 11, 1917, the Pullman Company car "Pioneer" was built for Pullman's executive lease fleet.  Think timeshare business jet for the 1910s.

After being renamed "Davy Crockett" in the 1930s, it was sold to the Western Pacific in 1942 as their Eastern Division Superintendent's car 106.

In late 1950, it was pulled from officer service and named "Charles O. Sweetwood".  From January 1951 to November 1953 it roamed the rails of the Western Pacific, DRGW and several other railroads collecting blood for the Red Cross to send to Korea in support of the troops injured in that war.  Sgt. Charles Owen Sweetwood was a former Western Pacific employee in Elko (he took care of the 106 among his other duties) who became an army medic and who was killed in action saving a wounded solider one week shy of his 21st birthday.  He was the first WP employee and first Nevada resident killed in action in Korea.

The Sweetwood Blood Procurement Car gathered tens of thousands of pints of blood.  The Red Cross estimates the lives it saved were in the thousands.  The WP paid all operating fees for the car while the Red Cross provided all medical supplies.  When the program ended, the car was decommissioned with a full military honorguard from Charles' own unit.

The 106 was later used as bedrooms on the car ferry "Las Plumas" when it was delivered to the San Francisco Bay from its builder in Seattle.

Mr. Lummis purchased the car about 1960 and used it as his office.  It kicked around a few more owners before coming into the care of the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, CA.  The car was rededicated as the "Charled O. Sweetwood" in late 2017 in a ceremony attended by the Sweetwood Family, the last living Red Cross nurse who worked the car, Julia Rigutto (Pagan) and Marty Lummis' daughter.

Currently, the museum is researching grants and possible private donors to perform a complete operational restoration on the car and return it to its 1951-1953 condition.  There is even a chance it will be used for blood service again.  The goal is to have the car support veteran's programs as well as blood donation programs as well as serving as a historical artifact and honoring the sacrifice of Charles Sweetwood and the medics of the Korean War.

https://www.wplives.org/gallery/WP_106_History.html

Great to see a picture of the 106 in Marty's yard.  Haven't seen too many.

Z

NCB Plymouth #6 still exists, too.  After Parr Terminal was done with it, it went to the Pacific Locomotive Association, then to the Lyon County Museum in Yerington, NV.  The museum gave it a cosmetic restoration and displays it indoors:

https://lyoncountymuseum.com/Page5.html

Great to hear about both of the above. I didn't realize that "Pioneer" and "Sweetwood" were the same car. And I love that NCB #6 is back in Yerington, although it would be neat to have it go to NSRM in Carscon City for a visit.