Happiness

Is a parcel from Brian Wisemann of essential trolley parts that I need to be able to make the trolley poles for my GE Steeplecabs.

CNS&M 420: Converted Observation

I got this a while back off eBay, and just hadn't gotten around to photographing it. It is awaiting the parts from Bill so that the power bogie can be replaced with a new design that will allow the car to have a full interior.

I also think that the poles are a bit average, and will be replaced with one's from Bowser. By the time I have fixed a few loose parts I imagine she will also get a spray over. The decals are less than they could be, as the film is quite apparent when you look a the model close up.

I'll soon have to start thinking about the elevated section of the layout at this rate.

Edit: Corrected title as it was pointed out to me that this is not a converted diner car, but a converted observation trailer car. Either way, a cool looking car.

CNS&M 250: Jewett Built Combines

I rescued this model from eBay. It is a Suydam CNS&M combine car. The paint scheme is all kinds of wrong  for this post war scheme, while the number is just plain wrong. The more Eagle eyed of you will note that this model sits too high on its bogies. In fact all the Suydam North Shore cars do. The giveaway is that one could mount Kadee couplers on them and that they would be at about the right height to couple up to freight cars. The real cars couldn't do this as the coupler was lower, so when they were being transported from the builders they had to be jacked up to match standard railroad coupler height.

Anyways, the North Shore has seven combine cars numbered 250 to 256. Number 251 was rebuilt into a Silverliner car in 1953, while car #255 vacillated back and forth over years having its seats removed so that it could carry extra baggage on trains transporting sailors to the USN base, to having them reinstalled during WW2, only to for them removed again after the war.

The other four cars had their baggage area extended by removing seats, not two alike it seem, again for accommodating sailors baggage, while #256 remained as built.

So the plan is to put her into the stripper, rebuild the drive using parts I've commissioned from Mousa Models, which will lower all the cars to the correct height, and then repaint her as #256 in the post war red and green scheme.

CNS&M 700 to 737: Cincinnati Built Cars

Some more eBay rescues, this time two power cars and one unpowered coach, all unpainted and because of their age all showing signs of brass tarnish.

Below on the left is the first car I cleaned up using a glass fibre burnishing pen compared to the tarnished brass on the right hand side.

Here is a disassembled  coach with bits, where I discovered that all that glistens is not necessarily brass, as the casting for the boxes on the underframe were some softish grey metal that had been painted to look like brass.

The power bogies were a challenge to get apart, because of the screw fitting and space to get at it. I'm afraid I did a bit of a bodge job on these, but as I intend to be re-powering the cars I don't see this as a problem in the long run.

 After cleaning and disassembling the coaches I cleaned up some solder joints, re-soldered some broken solder joints before a quick dip in the ultrasonic cleaner. After that I then sprayed them with red primer.

I then sprayed red all over and then masked the coaches before spraying them green, and re-masked the cars so I could spray the roofs black. The car on the left of the picture is the previously posted 737 series model.

And here they are awaiting fitting of the underframes, which will take a while for me to get round to, as I'm looking at my options for replacing the antiquated motor and gears with something a bit more up to date. Some minor touch-up paint work is still to be done too.

After that all I've got to do is order the transfers to letter these cars.

CNS&M 737 to 751: Pullman Built Cars

This was an eBay purchase that was rescued by me and was in dire need of refurbishment.

The paint was at best rather tired.

At worst it could be described as rather tatty and the brass was tarnished.

First thing was to strip the paint using a product called Nitromors, a cellulose paint stripper available in the UK that works rather well. Literally it took the paint off in seconds. I then polished the tarnished brass using a glass fibre pen.

Then primed, painted the red first, masked and applied the green, followed by another mask for the black. Minor touch up work still to be done.

I'm now looking at a re-power solution to replace the massive Pittman 5 pole motor that intrudes into the passenger space.

American Electric Glamour

My new American HO project starts here...

... with the acquisition of a Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Electroliner set from Con-Cor Models.

 For me these passenger car sets epitomize the age of the American streamliner, standing alongside other beautiful trains of the time, like for instance the Southern Pacific Coast Daylight.

As you can see the four car set is articulated and the intervening cars pivot around one truck that they share their ride on.

This was an impulsive eBay purchase that has led me back to American modelling and acquiring some second hand Suydam North Shore interurbans as well. I will post pictures of them in due course. Just thought I would tease things out a bit first.

Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad Today

 
I have been very lucky in my life to have been able to go to America and visit friends and family on several occasions. On one such trip to the West coast I took the opportunity to drive around in our hire car and visited places where there were signs of the Petaluma & Santa Rosa former existence. Also taking some time to drive to the Western Railroad Museum in Solano county to see their restored P&SR car number 63 running on the track they have there.

I can't recommend the museum too highly. Nice people, who were enthusiastic and welcoming. I was also able to access their research materials too.

This is the front of the Holman car that the P&SR used that survived to be restored. As you can see it is painted a bright yellow, and I understand from talking to people at the museum that the colours are based on what they found when scraping the old paint back to bare wood.

Front three quarters showing the vestibule end.

Now showing the combine baggage door end.

Provenance doesn't come any more solid than this builder's plate in the floor of the car.

The interior is nice and airy and one has got to love all that wood paneling. No plastics or vinyl overlays here.

No doubt Health & Safety would have a hissy fit today at the lack of ergonomics and safety features for the driver, but everything else is just there because it has a function. Spartan simplicity

One last shot of the driver preparing to drive away after changing ends. We stopped at the end of the line and got out, took our photographs before making our way back on a rather pleasant day reliving past interurban glories.

During our trip, mooching around and doing the usual tourist things, like visiting the Redwoods etc. and we ended up at Russian River, which is at the top end of the Bodeiga Bay area. I think we drove pass Bohemian Grove when we found these two box cars.

I took pictures and thought nothing more about the subject until I found a reference to these freight cars that said that they are actually old P&SR boxcars in the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Societies magazine Headlight.

So how about that for serendipity?

   

Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad

Illustration from Street Railway Journal showing a map of the P&SR route.

Some Prototype Background

The Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railway began life in 1903, as a small electric interurban line connecting its namesake towns via Sebastopol, in Sonoma County California. The P&SR was approximately 31 miles long and it served the farms and local industries, of what was at the time, a rural area.

The P&SR had an interesting corporate history, being renamed the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad in 1918, because it was unable to honour its financial commitments. After a prolonged period of ICC investigations instituted by the Western Pacific, and control over the P&SR was gained by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1932. The new management promptly abandoned passenger service and concentrated on the electric powered freight. After World War 2 the overhead plant was considered so worn out that it needed replacement and the P&SR was dieselized in 1947. This was done using a pair of GE 44 tonners. Service declined during the late fifties and the remnants of the P&SR were finally abandoned in 1984.

The three main towns that the P&SR served were Petaluma, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Petaluma was the home of the system and it has some very modelgenic wharfside trackage, a steamboat connection and some major industries. Sebastopol was in the middle and this was where the mainline and branchline split. The former going North to Forestville, while the latter went East to Santa Rosa.

Connecting Railroads

Prior to the consolidation of the steam railroads the P&SR planned to play off its competitors, one against the other. However, due to the "Great Earthquake" of 1906 and the subsequent amalgamation of these steam powered competitors this didn't work out. For approximately the first 25 years there were only two connecting and competing steam railroads, which were:

Northwestern Pacific

Formed 1907 by SP & ATSF, it became a wholly owned SP subsidiary from 1929. Went through Santa Rosa via Petaluma from the South and Fulton from the North. A branchline also went to Sebastopol, which means that the NWP had three interchanges with the P&SR.

Southern Pacific

Ran into Santa Rosa from Sonoma on the "Valley of the Moon" branch from 1888 to 1934. After the SP depot was burnt down the interchange to the NWP was moved to Schellville. While the P&SR tracks crossed in Santa Rosa there was no direct interchange between the two lines.

After the depot burnt down and the SP abandoned the line, traders could used the NWP or P&SR to ship there merchandise. By this time though both were owned by the SP, so it was a bit of a "Hobson's" choice really.

Conclusion

The P&SR had several nicknames, ranging from the "juice line", "juicer" to the "poor & stingy". This should give you some idea of the change of attitude towards the company and the level of investment in the railroad's infrastructure. I became interested in this quirky little line through family connections to the area. Remember though, traction is juicy! Finally, there was incident that made P&SR and Santa Rosa famous, the "Battle of Sebastopol Avenue" in 1904. 

References

Borden, S. T., 1960. Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad. San Mateo, CA. The Western Railroader.
Demoro, H. W., 1986. California's Electric Railways. Glendale, CA. Interurban Press Special 100.
Demoro, H. W., Sappers, V. J., 1992. Rails to San Francisco Bay. New York. Quadrant Press.
Dickinson, A. Bray. , et al 1967. Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods. Corona del Mar. Trans-Anglo Books.
Duke, D., 2000. Electric Railways Around San Fransisco Bay. San Marino. Golden West Books
Gross, J., 1987. The Trolley and Interurban Directory. New York. Gross Publications.
Fickworth, A. A., 1992. California Railroads. San Marino. Golden West Books.
Heig, A., 1987. History of Petaluma - A California River Town. Scottwall Associates.
Hilton & Due's, 1960. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press.
Kneiss, G. H., 1956. Redwood Railways. Berkeley, CA. Howell-North.
LeBaron, G., Mitchell, J., 1993. Santa Rosa: a 20th Century town. Santa Rosa, CA. Historia, Ltd.
Stindt, F. A. , Dunscomb, G. L., 1964. NWP Railroad, Vol. 1. Kelseyville, CA. Fred A. Stindt.
Stindt, F. A., 1985. NWP Railroad, Vol. 2: 1964 to 1984. Kelseyville, CA. Fred A. Stindt.
Trimble, P. C., 1977. Interurban Railways of the Bay Area. Fresno, CA. Valley Publishers.
Wilson, S. Sonoma County. The River of Time. Sun Valley CA. American Historical Press.