Built in Early 1908 as the San Diego, Cuyamaca, & Eastern Railway Motor Car “Cuyamaca” {Kwee-uh-mak-uh} The Car ran between San Diego, and Foster, by way of La Mesa, Lemon Grove, El Cajon, Lakeside. Foster, being a town near the base of the current San Vicente Reservoir Dam, now defunct. It was the main source of rail travel, and anyone going to Ramona, our hometown could have taken this car in that time.

In 1914, the car was sold to the Yuma Valley Railroad, part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and was used to clean the Colorado/Gila River Valley, to prevent flooding of American Land. The Railroad suffered a flood, and is when we believe the baggage doors were added to the car.

The railroad having done its job, no longer used the Car, and at about this time, many small railroads were being conglomerated by the Department of Interior in Alaska, forming the Alaska Railroad. The McKeen Car was purchased in 1925, and shipped in 1926. The Alaska Railroad used the Motor Car in its configuration with the original McKeen Engine, McKeen Trucks, and such, for 1 year, then they purchased (2) Gasoline Sub Floor Mounted Engine Trucks, with a 104HP engine each, to install under the car. The McKeen Trucks and Engine removed, and controls were installed in both ends of the car to operate in forward or reverse. The Car Body was also cut and the knife edge nose removed. The C Channel was recycled, reshaped, and reinstalled.

The Remotorization didn’t last too long, as by 1935, the Alaska Railroad decided to remove the motor trucks, and turn the car into a simple combination car, baggage and passenger sections.

Between 1945 and 1950, we believe the car was removed from the rails, someone found a use for the body, as it was not scrapped. We’ve heard it was in a scrap yard in the 70’s, by the late 1990’s, it was owned by a historian, in 2004 they sold it to Anchorage Historical Properties.

By 2016, they had to get rid of the car. That is when I spent just over a year working out a shipping method. We raised over $18000, moving the car from Anchorage, Alaska, to Ramona, California.

Now that the car is in Ramona, we are beginning a restoration of the car body. You can support this project by donating to our GoFundMe, or to our Paypal, using the links below.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mckeencarcuyamaca

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=U39PFN8QXW9DY