When the Western Pacific Railroad started passenger service in 1910, it used a fleet of new Pullman built cars leased from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Replaced by WP owned cars by 1924, few of these original cars survive today.
Thanks to the generosity of its current owners, 1910 built coach WP 302 has been donated to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California. WP 302 represents the first example of a 1910-1924 era passenger car in the WPRM collection. It is largely unmodified from its as built condition and plans are to restore it for operation behind WP steam locomotive 165.
Moving this historic car from Indiana to California will be an expensive endeavor. Also the restoration work needed requires funding. Please support the preservation and first stages of restoration of this historic railroad passenger car.
Highlights
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Custom pin showing WP 302 as it was built in 1910. Created by Sundance Marketing. Image shows concept drawing, not actual pin.
$100 donors receive this excellent book on the Western Pacific's Diesel Locomotives written by Joseph Strapac.
Donors at this level will receive Jeff Asay's amazing book covering the history of the Western Pacific Railroad, from its inception in 1903 until the Union Pacific takeover in late 1982. It follows the twists and turns in the WP story, documenting a railroad that was always fending off one crisis or another, managing to remain independent through luck and clever financial maneuvering.
This book also relates the parallel story of the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electric interurban that Alvin Krech acquired for the WP in the 1920s for its freight traffic base. Sacramento Northern suffered the same precarious ride as its parent company and was finally merged into Union Pacific along with the Western Pacific.
Hard cover, 512 pages, 450 photos, 80 maps and graphics.
