McCloud River Railroad
Equipment Roster
McCloud River Lumber Company Crew Cars
The McCloud River Lumber Company used a number of small crew cars to move loggers and its track construction and removal crews between camps and the job sites. Perhaps the best known was the #50A, a four wheel car built in the company shops and mated to the converted GMC truck #50 to boost its passenger capacity. The car appears to be built on the frame of a type of 4-wheel flat extensively used in PG&E dam construction projects. The lumber company retired the car circa 1948 and brought to Pondosa, where it was placed on display on a short piece of track. Louisiana Pacific moved the car circa 1977 to their mill site in Red Bluff, CA , following their closure of the Pondosa mill. L-P displayed the car until a wind storm partially destroyed it in 1997, at which point the company donated it to the Shasta-Cascade Rail Preservation Society. In June 1999 the group moved it to the Crystal Creek Regional Boys Camp, French Gulch, CA, for restoration by SCRPA and cadets at the Boys Camp under the supervision of the Shasta County Probation Department. SCRPA displayed the car on the grounds of the Turtle Bay Discovery Museum's Paul Bunyan Forest Camp in Redding, California, from November 2011 until 2017, when the camp closed for renovation. The car has since been moved to private land until a new display space can be found.

The #50A in service. Heritage Junction Museum.
The #50A on display in Pondosa in June 1964. John R. Cummings photo, Jeff Moore collection.
The restored car, now painted as McCloud River Lumber #53, on display in Turtle Bay in March 2009. Jeff Moore photo.
The lumber company usually pulled this crew car with its Plymouth switchers. Pacific Northwest Virtual Logging Data Center.