Of course due to the recent rescue of a McKeen Trailer Car, while on the subject, we wanted to share this (overly?) romantic photo of the Omaha Freight Yard. In the top left it shows the McKeen Motor Car Factory, and bottom right happens to show a 55′ Motor Car and 31′ Trailer, presumably Union Pacific. Thankfully some Union Pacific records exist on these trailer cars, and we can presume the Southern Pacific Trailer Car cost around $2300 in 1909 (About $75,000 Today), while the motor cars were around $22,000 at the same point in time (About $713,000 Today.) The Roster sheets also show a spare McKeen engine purchased around 1913 for $6700 so that gives a fair idea of the cost to produce the engine alone, (Equal to about $217,000 today.)

Regarding fundraising for Southern Pacific T-16, we have summed all receipts, and estimated the cost of diesel for the rest of the trip to Ramona, CA, which we expect to occur around the first week of March. The total receipts come to $5147 to cover all volunteer costs, hotel, tool costs, gasoline, lumber, etc. We estimate another $1400 cost in Diesel for all truck movements related to this move, including moving the front loader used to move the car onto trailer. Pete Bloom is Very Generous to operate and offer his machinery for only the cost of the Diesel to operate them. Thank You Again Pete!

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