Equipment & Rolling Stock Details

McCloud River Railroad
Equipment Roster
Maintenance/Material/Work Flatcars

McCloud maintenance flat #825 in 1984. Pat Holden photograph, Jeff Moore collection.

The McCloud railroad traditionally used log or lumber flats for maintenance and/or work chores. Except for a few cars designated as material cars, the railroad started designating flats specifically for work service starting in the 1930s.

500, 501, 502- 51-foot, 6-inch long, 50-ton capacity flat cars, ex-Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF) #2562, #2563, and #2565. Purchased 11/1956 from Bottsford. Cost $2304.90. #500 retired 1971. #501 converted circa 1963 to a passenger flat, then converted back to m-o-w use circa 11/1979. By mid-1980s the car had been assigned to Burro crane #1851 as a boom car. Deeded 5/1988 to Great Western Railway Museum as part of a lawsuit settlement. Stored in McCloud 1987-2010, then purchased at auction by owner of land it rested on. Scrapped fall 2010. #502 converted to a passenger flat shortly after arrival, converted to work service 11/1979, and retired 9/1982.

583- Material car, converted from log flat #583. Converted 10/1928 to log flat #1961.

741/1519- 38-foot Donkey flat, built 2/1910 in company shops. Cost $581.61 ($125.07 labor, $456.54 materials). Equipped to carry steam donkey engines. Re-numbered circa 1924 to #1519; Retired 9/1934.

*UPDATE 27 January 2019: I had long assumed, based on conversations with others, that flatcars MR 820-825 detailed below were former Southern Pacific class F-70-10 flats, and they are recorded as such in The McCloud River Railroads book. Subsequently, information came to light that Western Pacific originally constructed these 50-foot long, 50-ton capacity cars from kits in their Sacramento shops in November and December 1953. WP numbered them 2701-2802. In 1959, WP converted fifteen of these cars into trailer or container on flat car intermodal service, renumbering them WP 1926-1941 in the process. McCloud River purchased these six cars from WP in 1972 at a cost of $400 each; it's likely but not certain they all came from the 1926-1941 series.

820- Specially equipped as a transport vehicle for the Cat 966 loader. Sold 1992 to McCloud Railway. Loading ramps removed circa 1993. Car appears to have been re-built 1995 to passenger flat #827.

821- Coverted 7/1972 shortly after arriving on road to a sand car by mounting an 8,000 gallon tank car body (likely salvaged from tank cars #2005, #2008, or #2011) onto the flatcar. Listed as #504 in The Official Railway Equipment Register after 1977, though photograph evidence only shows the car stenciled #821. Received roller bearing trucks circa 1990. Sold 1992 to McCloud Railway. In late 1992/ early 1993 the railroad rolled the sand car body off the flat and rebuilt the car to the new equipment transport flat, replacing the #820 in this service. Loading ramps removed by 2007, and the flatcar remains stored in McCloud pending disposition.

822- Used in general m-o-w service. Sold 1992 to McCloud Railway. Received roller bearing trucks. In 1998, the railroad mounted railings and a loading ramp on the car, dedicating it to troop train service during the annual Civil War days in McCloud. Scrapped late 2006 in McCloud.

823 Used in general m-o-w service until 4/1977, when the railroad mounted the tank car body from sand car #503. The Official Railway Equipment Register continued listing the car as #503 after the conversion, though photographs show the car stenciled only as #823. Sand car dismantled circa 1988, with flatcar converted back to work service and tank sold to a private party near McCloud who apparently used it as a water tank. Car sold 1992 to McCloud Railway. Scrapped 1/2008.

824- Used in general m-o-w service. By mid-1980s the railroad had mated the car to Crane #70 and had given it a black paint job to match the crane. Received roller bearing trucks circa 1990. Sold 1992 to McCloud Railway. Re-built spring 1994 as a passenger flat.

825- Used in general m-o-w service. Retired circa 1992.

826- 57 foot flat car. Unknown origin or acquisition date, but appears to be a former SP flat. Converted spring 1995 to a passenger flat. A photo page of this car can be found in the Passenger Equipment section off the Equipment Roster page.

1000- 50-foot flat. Converted 1977 from PLYX #1000. Short remnants of the car ends left in place as bulkheads following the conversion. The railroad initially used the car to handle intraline lumber movements between P&M Cedar Products mills in McCloud and Mt. Shasta City, and then later primarily as a tie car. Sold 1992 to McCloud Railway. Received roller bearing trucks. By 1998 the McCloud Railway installed railings and a loading ramp on the car and dedicated it to troop train service during the annual Civil War days in McCloud. Scrapped late 2006 in McCloud.

1001- Flat car, converted 12/1977 from all door car PLYX #1452 for on-line lumber shipments. Equipped with log bunks by the late 1980s. Scrapped circa 1990.

1217,1231, 1247, 1271, 1279, 1285, 1433- Rail and tie flats, converted 1930-1932 from log flats of the same number. All cars except 1217 and 1285 retired 6/1949, with the last two retired late 1958/early 1959.

1719:3, 1721:2: Material flat cars, 30-ton capacity, built 5/1940 by McCloud car shop. Cost $448.62 each. Originally classified as tie cars, then equipped July 1941 with temporary tracks. Both converted to water cars of the same number prior to 1948.

1927- Rail flat, converted circa 7/1932 from log flat of the same number. Retired 6/1949.

2245, 2261- Maintenance of way flats. #2245 converted 1950 from water car #2061; #2261 converted from log flat of the same number. Both cars retired circa 1965.

2331- 38-foot flat, rebuilt 4/1948 from SP stock car #74598 which had wrecked 5/3/1947 at Milepost 2.5. Cost $347.14 ($54.25 salvage, $292.89 labor and materials). Originally classified as a tie flat. Rebuilt by early 1959 to Fuel tank, same number. Subsequent disposition unrecorded.

2621- Shovel car (used to transport steam shovels), converted from log flat #2621. Retired 12/1950.

2855- 40-foot, 50-ton capacity, steel frame. Rebuilt from former Western Pacific box car #19034, purchased 1/1940 as salvage. Cost $89.22, plus $230.33 conditioning. Retired sometime between 1958-1963.

2979, 2981, 2987- Maintenance of way flats, converted in the early 1950s from log cars of the same numbers. #2979 converted to a “cat doctor” tool car. Retired by 1965.

xxxx (4)- Flat cars owned by McCloud Railway; one rebuilt circa 2004 from an all-door boxcar (likely MR #1058) and removed from property (likely scrapped) by early summer 2012; one rebuilt 2007 from a MR 2000-series incentive per diem boxcar for use as a tender for crane #70 and remains in McCloud in 2020; and two ex-Union Pacific flatcars, acquired circa 2000 and scrapped shortly thereafter.

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