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Builder: Western Pacific (Originally
Pullman). Year Built: 1943 (1916)
This ex-Western Pacific wooden box car was converted
with several others to serve as a caboose on local freight trains
in the bay area. This car was in use until approximately 1977. Built
by Pullman in 1916 as a boxcar, the bay windows were added in 1943,
along with the other "typical" appliances of a caboose,
such as bunks and a stove. It was reassigned to the Sacramento Northern
in 1963. This car is a sister to Western
Pacific #668, also in our collection.
The Sacramento Northern was an interurban line with
a large amount of local freight service. Stretching from Oakland
all the way to Chico California, the SN was also among the longest
of interurbans. As a subsidiary of the Western Pacific, the SN served
also as an important feeder of WP's trancontental traffic.
Upon the car's retirement it was sold to a private
owner who incorporated it into use as a dentist office and removed
the interior furnishings. The caboose was acquired by one of our
members and donated to the museum.
Today the caboose is used as a mini-museum and our
gift shop.
Several model railroaders have suggested using an
Accurail box car as a starting point. Sand the roof flat to represent
the canvas roof, and modify the underframe and the bolsters to match
the truck spacing of the car. Two articles on WP outside braced
cabeese are:
- WP 642, by Jim Providenza, Railroad Model Craftsman,
Dec. 1991, p73
- WP Wood bay-window caboose, by Julian Cavalier,
Railroad Model Craftsman, Dec. 1973, p.34
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