We have been in contact with a development agency in Napa Valley for over 3 years at this point. They knew the car was important and did their due diligence to find someone to save it. The local museums did not want it, and the offer has been extended to us. The property funding for the non-profit housing group is near being secured, and they need the car body gone, That is where we step in.

The Southern Pacific Trailer Car #16 is the only McKeen Railcar left from the Southern Pacific. It is only a body and roof, but will provide very valuable paint, dimensions, and other parts for the

“Cuyamaca.” It will provide a workshop to work on the “Cuyamaca,” and on top of that, it will preserve a rare piece of McKeen History, Southern Pacific History, and Rail History in General.

If you are unfamiliar with our group, we rescued the McKeen Motor Car “Cuyamaca” From Alaska, the shipping cost just over $17,000, but we did rescue the car body just 2 weeks before it was to be scrapped. This Trailer Car was designed to be hauled by the Motor Car and built by the same company.

Though we have no plans to fully restore the trailer car, we are going to at least preserve it to save the valuable information held in paint, parts etc.

Please donate soon, we have scheduled with the property owners a date around early February to be onsite, and we have worked on the cost to make it as minimal as possible. We are only asking $4500 to cover the hotel for 6 members, the gas for our travel, the Diesel for the Volunteer’s hauling rig to transport the body, event insurance, as well as tools and other materials. The car body will be transported 550 miles to sit alongside the “Cuyamaca,” the first time in many decades a trailer car and motor car have been together.

View our Business Profile for a collection of photos we took of the car while assessing our plan for acquisition.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rescue-a-southern-pacific-rr-mckeen-railcar