The Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society has accepted the donation of a wooden railroad coach currently serving as a residence.  Based upon published information, photographs, measurements and a car number over one door, the Society members who examined the car believe it may be a post-Civil War-vintage, former NWP /Central Pacific coach.

Several years ago, in his first visit to the car, Jeff Millerick found the number “29” above one door.  During our visit last December, Jeff and Don Millerick and Lauren Williams exposed what appears to be “123” below a side window.  Fred Stindt, in his classic book about the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, lists NWP Coach 123 as being built by the Wason Manufacturing Company in 1861, sold to the Central Pacific as their Coach #29, renumbered to CP 1121, then sold to the NWP, and later converted to MW 241.  Several NWP record sources include data for Coaches 120 to 125.  According to these records these coaches were “built by the Central Pacific” and “built or purchased in June 1912”.  

The donated car is situated on private property near a public road and adjacent to the property’s driveway.  A shed roof was added to protect the car and a bed and bathroom lean-to addition was built onto the car when it was converted into a house.  It has been repainted.  Structurally it is nearly intact.  In this article we will call the end of the car near the driveway the “A” end. The other end then is the “B” end.  The side towards the road will be called the right side, and the other side will be the left side. 

  

 

Photo 2: Coach 124, purportedly a sister car to 123.  Note the 15 windows, their trim, the side wall end panels and the “dropped” letter board ends.  Right side view, with the A end to the right and the B end to the left.  Photo from NWPRRHS Stindt Collection, #92-012-1031b.

 

 

 

Photo 3: NWP Maintenance of Way 241, supposedly ex-Coach 123, in Tiburon.   This view is of the left side, with the A end to the left and the B end to the right.  There are 14 windows with a wide panel at the B end, similar to the donated car.  The letter board ends drop down, as in Coach 124.  The car roof and clerestory have been covered with tar paper or tarred canvas.  The donated car appears to have the same roof treatment beneath the shed  roof.  Photo from NWPRRHS Stindt Collection, #92-012-0889.

 

 

Photo 4: This is the left side of the B end of the donated car.  The white window is original to the car but the brown window probably was added by the home owner.  The spacing between the original window and the rounded corner post appears the same as in the photo of MW 241, as does the spacing of the rails above and below the windows.  The letter board ends do not drop down, but are straight.  Photos 1 and 4 by the author.

The donated car has an inside length of 44’ 2”.  Its length, width, roof end, doors, siding, trim and windows are consistent with examples of Wason coaches.  Several candidate NWP cars can be eliminated from consideration based upon photographs, measurements and roster data. 

• NWP coach 29 (ex-San Francisco & North Pacific 29) was a “home-built” picnic car with arched roof and an inside length of 50’ 10”. 
• NWP coaches 17-22 (ex-SF&NP 17-22; later NWP 234-239), were built by Wason, but had interior lengths of 47’ 9”.
• NWP coaches 3, 4 and 16 (ex-SF&NP 3, 4, 16), also were built by Wason, and had interior lengths of 48 feet with an extra window on each side.
• NWP coaches 23-24 and 32-38 (ex-SF&NP 23-24, 32-38) have the horizontal or straight letter board ends, but they are Harlan-built cars.  Their side windows are too close to the corner posts.
• NWP coach 715 (ex-NWP 24; ex-South Pacific Coast 29) was a narrow-gauge car with a probable interior length of about 36’ and two fewer windows on each side.
• NWP coach 719 (North Shore 29; North Pacific Coast 29) was a narrow-gauge car with an interior length of 39’ 6”.
• Fred Stindt’s published roster data does not include any passenger cars numbered “29” on the San Francisco & Northwestern Railroad and Eel River & Eureka Railroad.

Based upon photographic evidence, NWP company records and Fred Stindt’s published roster data, we believe the donated car probably is an early-style Wason coach built in the 1860’s, or is a “knock-off”  or Wason kit car built by the Central Pacific’s Sacramento shops in the 1860’s or early 1870’s.  In his book Iron Horses to Promontory, Gerald M. Best states that the Wason Manufacturing Company shipped car kits to the CP in Sacramento prior to completion of the transcontinental railroad.  NWP records that I have examined do not list the builders, dates of construction or dates of CP acquisition for Coaches 120-125.  Unfortunately Fred Stindt’s sources of information for the builders and construction dates for these cars are unknown, and his personal notes are unavailable for review.

 

Another existing car known to have been built by the Wason Manufacturing Company is Sierra RR Coach #2 now stored at the California State Railroad Museum at Jamestown.  According to the CSRM website, Sierra #2’s former numbers are Central Pacific 1133 and CP 43 was built in 1869.  The “straight” letter board ends and arched door frame of Coach 2 match the style details of our donated car.  The clerestory roof ends of Sierra Coach 2 ramp directly down to the car ends.  The house roof structure still covers the top of the donated car, so we don’t know what form of roof it has.

 

In the tables below are data for NWP cars 120-125 and the donated car.

 

NWP 1919 Number	Builder	Previous                  Numbers	Date        Built	Seating Capacity	Lighting System	Heating  System	Weight	Journals
120	Wason	CP/SP 1101 - 3	1869	54	Oil Lamps	Stove	46000	3¾" x 7"
121	Central Pacific	CP 1105 - 11	1873	54	xx	xx	46000	3¾" x 7"
122	Wason	CP 1110 – 16	1869	54	Oil Lamps	Stove	46000	3¾" x 7"
123	Wason	CP 1121 – 29	1861	54	Oil Lamps	Stove	46000	3¾" x 7"
124	Wason	CP 1125 – 33	1868	54	Pintsch Gas	Stove	46000	3¾" x 7"
125	Gilbert & Bush	CP 1158 – 68	1869	54	Pintsch Gas	Stove	46000	3¾" x 7"
DonatedCar	Wason/CP (?)	29, 123(?)		54?	Oil Lamps	Stove

 

 

NWP 1919 Number	Wheels	Wheel Base       of Truck	Wheel Base         of Car	Width Inside of Lining	Width Over  Eaves	Length Inside of Lining	Length Over     End Sills	Length     In Train	Height  Rail to Eaves
120	33" Cast	6'  6"	40'  5½"	8'  9"	9'  10"	44'  5"	45'  2"	51'  7"	11'  0"
121	33" Cast	Xx	xx	8'  9"	9'  10"	44'  5"	45'  2"	51'  7"	11'  0"
122	33" Cast	6'  6"	40'  5½"	8'  9"	9'  10"	44'  5"	45'  2"	51'  7"	11'  0"
123	33" Cast	6'  6"	40'  5½"	8'  9"	9'  10"	44'  5"	45'  2"	51'  7"	11'  0"
124	33" Cast	6'  6"	40'  5½"	8'  9"	9'  10"	44'  5"	45'  2"	51'  7"	11'  0"
125	33" Cast	6'  6"	40'  5½"	8'  9"	9'  10"	44'  5"	45'  2"	51'  7"	11'  0"
DonatedCar				8’  9”	9’  10½"	44’  2”	45’  5”     to inside curve of letterboard	48’  9” Roof Length

 

NWP      1919  Number	Height    Rail to top of Roof	Comments and Disposition
120	13'  4½"	Retired 4/21/1928*
121	13'  4½"	Rebuilt to Caboose 6200 3/1919*; Tin roof; Converted to MW 0354 1/31/1925
122	13'  4½"	Converted to MW 240 1/4/1936
123	13'  4½"	Converted to MW 241 1/4/1936
124	13'  4½"	Converted to MW 242 1/4/1936
125	13'  4½"	Retired 5/31/1932
DonatedCar	?	Retired. Sold to private party; moved to Redwood Valley.

 

Data compiled from Stindt (Vol. 1), NWP 1919 roster with updates to 1935, NWP Form 402 binder and NWP Collection Book 4 (the latter two are in the CSRM Library, Sacramento).

 

*The comments for 120 & 121 are swapped in Stindt’s published roster; there are two NWP record sources that state Coach 121 became Caboose 6200.

Next page - Photos 5 and 6:  Interior woodwork and trim.  Top photo is inside of the donated car looking towards the door at the A end.  Bottom photo is of Sierra #2’s interior, looking to the B end.  Note the strong similarities of the arched door frames, vertical lower wall panels, and horizontal upper wall panels.  Also, in the upper photo, in the wall trim above Bruce Evan’s hat is a horizontal oval that is repeated on the opposite end of the trim piece.  This oval moteif  is visible in the lower photo at the right end of the trim piece.

 

Upper photo by the author.  Lower photo courtesy of Kyle Wyatt, CSRM.

 

 

Research at the CSRM Library in Sacramento yielded the following information in the “Letterpress” records of the NWP Mechanical Department. [Series 1, Box 1]

 

Book 1, Page 489.  May 1912.  “Details” Line 8:

             SP Coaches 1101-1105-1110-1121-1135-1158 purchased;

                        now NWP 120-1-2-3-4-5

Page 502.  June 1912.  Coaches 120-123 shipped to Eureka.

Page 516.  August “Improvements” Statement (August 1912).

Fitting up coaches 120-121-122-123:

(Shipped to Eureka June 1912)

 

Each car received as follows:

1 new hopper	$5.60
4 double oil center lamps (2nd hand)	$60.00
1 coal stove (2nd hand)	$20.00
1 water cooler (new)	$5.67
1 new toilet room built
----------140’ Philippine Mahogany	$16.10
----------1 pr. Brass butts	.36¢
----------1 door lock	$2.39
----------Screws, nails & glue	$1.00
----------36 sash lifts @ .31¢	$11.16
----------12 14 basket racks @ $3.55	$63.90  $49.70
	$186.68  $172.48
Labor, per car	$92.00
	$278.63  $264.48

In Book 2, Page 1, the September “Improvements” Statement (September 1912), lists coaches 124 and 125 as being “fitted up” in a similar manner as described above, although the oil lamps may not have been installed.  Because the NWP was not completed through the Eel River canyon until September 1914, cars 120-123 really were shipped to Eureka.  The dates indicate that the cars were refitted at the NWP shops in Eureka or South Bay.  More research is needed in the CSRM archives to further document this car and its history on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad.

To further substantiate the above analysis we need to locate photos of NWP 120-123 and 125, CP 1121/29, MW 240 and 242 and MW 0354/Caboose 6200.  If any one has photos of these cars, or would like to make a donation, please contact the Society.