The railroad’s last steam
locomotive, the #25, was restored to service by the spring of 1963. A few fan trips were run through
the summer of 1963, convincing railroad management that a steam and excursion program would be a good
addition to the company’s operations. The railroad had converted two flat cars to passenger cars
by adding benches and railings, but coaches were either leased or provided by the organizations
sponsoring the excursions. The company’s management decided to purchase some coaches of
it’s own, and in the later part of 1963 the McCloud River Railroad purchased three Harriman-style
coaches from the Southern Pacific. The three coaches were previously used in the San Francisco-San Jose
commuter service. The McCloud River re-built two of the cars using parts of the third. The third coach
was donated to a civic group in Dunsmuir, but while in transit from Mt. Shasta City to Dunsmuir the coach
got away from the Southern Pacific train crew responsible for moving the car. The errant coach
“ran away” down the mountain towards Dunsmuir, but fortunately wrecked itself on one of
the tight curves on the decent into the Sacramento River Canyon before it could reach populated areas.
The other two coaches served the
McCloud River’s excursion operation from 1963 until the end of the excursion operations in
1975. The two coaches were stored in the McCloud yards until 1980, when the railroad sold the pair
to the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce for use as office space. The movement of the two cars was handled
"off the record" by the Southern Pacific. After a quick inspection by a SP carman the coaches were taken
to Mt. Shasta City, where a switch crew picked the cars up and took them safely to Dunsmuir. However,
after the pair arrived in the Dunsmuir yard the air leaked off, and the cars made it onto the mainline
and took off down the Sacramento River Canyon towards Redding. The two achieved high rates of speed,
and trains were being diverted into sidings to avoid the runaways. The cars were finally diverted into
a siding not far north of Redding, where they struck a derail and fell over on their sides, thus ending
their run. Several people on the SP lost their jobs over this mishap, and one of the cars disappeared
off the record at this time, indicating that it might have been scrapped as a result of damage sustained.
An inspection of the cars made following the wreck revealed that a bolt had been inserted in the hand brake
chain on one of the cars, with the result that the hand brake could not be applied all the way.
The remaining coach was righted and returned to Dunsmuir, where it was stored. The Dunsmuir Chamber ended up not using
the coach, and in early 1985 the Chamber swapped it to the Great Western Railroad
Museum for a caboose. The coach was returned to McCloud by truck. It was used on several excursions
in 1985 and 1986 before being stored again. The car remains in storage in McCloud and is currently
available for sale.
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