Nostalgia & History > California Nevada Observation Car 1937

Looking for more information on this classic passenger car, owned by the California Nevada Railroad Society, numbered 1937.

ANy information about the car's initial ownership and where it ended up would be appreciated.

 

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UP ownership originally, UP 1536; later owned by California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society; later  jointly owned by California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society and Pacific Coast Chapter-Railway and Locomotive Historical Society.  Later owned outright by Pacific Coast Chapter R&LHS and used this exact weekend in 1969 on the Gold Spike Special en route Oakland to Ogden and return.   Later donated to California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, where it resides today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/25 19:04 by Gold_Coast.

Thanks for the info.

I can't seem to find the car listed on the CSRM Equipment roster. Nor do I recall seeing it.

The museum does have the Southern Pacific 2902, named El Dorado, which was originally UP 1536. I believe this is a diofferent car than the 1937.

https://www.californiarailroad.museum/assets/downloads/pdf/CSRM-Public-Roster-December-11-2023.pdf

Clarfication is sought.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/25 19:15 by Pullman.

I am certain it is the same car, later renumbered 1536 which I omitted.  I am doing this by memory as all my files were donated to CSRM years ago.

This car is still used on the Sacramento Southern excursion trains operated by the California State Railroad Museum. It is now Southern Pacific 2902 "El Dorado". It was donated by Cal-Nev to the museum when it was formed.

So…

The 1937 is a different car.

The 2902 “El Dorado”

The SP retired the car in 1956 and was sold to the Pacific Coast Chapter in 1957 which marked it "Union Pacific" and numbered it "1536" and added the name "El Dorado". The group used it on a number of excursions over the years and that car now is located at the CSRM.

The 1937 was owned and operated by California Nevada and was a contemporary to the 2901/2902 on excursions operated by these groups.

Specifically, the 1937 was used in 1960 on August 22, as part of the WP’s 50th Anniversary train from Oakland to Niles.

Definitely not the 2902.

The 2901 was owned by The Central California Chapter and was known as “The Ferroequinologist”. In late 1910 Pullman lot 3836 was delivered, with eleven cars assigned to Southern Pacific, including SP 2901. These would become some of the last wooden cars received by Southern Pacific. It now resides in Jamestown at the Railtown 1897 State Park.

So… the search continues.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/25 13:48 by Pullman.

Gold Coast is correct -- car 1937 is the same car as UP 1536 and SP 2902.
The overlooked part of the car's history is described in the March 1987 publication by Ed Graham entitled "50 Years, History of the California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society 1937-1987".
At page 16 it states:
"Early in the year [1957] the Society purchased SP open platform observation car 2902 jointly with the Pacific Coast Chapter, R&LHS.  The car's letterboard was relettered "California-Nevada and Pacific Coast" and renumbered 1937 for the year in which the two organizations were founded.  Some years later the Pacific Coast Chapter bought out Cal-Nevada's interest in the car, relettered it to its original Union Pacific 1536 and named it El Dorado."
One clarification: based on photo evidence, the name "El Dorado" was first applied to the car in late 1957 or early 1958, not long after it was acquired jointly by the Cal-Nevada and Pacific Coast Chapter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/25 12:06 by rcape.

The photo attached above is from August 22, 1960.

Other photos of the car from that date do not show any reference to the El Dorado or lettering for either Union Pacific or Southern Pacific.

The car is clearly lettered California Nevada and numbered 1937.

Posted from iPhone

A January 2015 posting by Evan Werkema of Ray Proffer photos of the August 22, 1960 WP special train shows the CN&PC 1937 with what appears to be the "El Dorado" lettering at mid-car.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3620354,3620479#msg-3620479