NWP Baggage Car #605

Comment

Comment by Steve Atnip on July 31, 2011 at 9:26pm

Ends were cut off to build porches. This created voids that gave a comfy home to some rats. Blue/gray boards (beaded T&G like interior) are original (note holes).

 

Comment by Steve Atnip on July 31, 2011 at 9:19pm

First look at original roof, a green canvas like material. There is about an inch of various roofing materials on top. Note copper sheathing lower left, which probably covered a seam.

 

Comment by Steve Atnip on October 23, 2010 at 6:46am

Comment by Steve Atnip on September 2, 2010 at 8:05am

Interior divisions have been removed and a covering over a baggage door to reveal original siding and paint. We need interior pictures of this or other baggage cars.

Comment by Steve Atnip on August 14, 2010 at 5:06pm

605 has arrived safely!

Comment by Steve Atnip on August 14, 2010 at 6:38am

Story in the Marin IJ

Excavated in Mill Valley, 118-year-old train car will be preserved

Will Jason
Posted: 08/13/2010 06:07:08 PM PDT


Cain Monti and his son Cole, 4, stand inside a train car dating to 1892 that was a part of their home in Mill Valley. The rail car was excavated from the Montis home and donated to the Northwestern Pacific Railway Historical Association. (IJ photo/Jeff Vendsel)
Cain and Deb Monti say living in a train car was a lot like living in any other house, except for the lack of insulation or modern heating.
"It was funky living, but there are a lot of good memories with it," Cain Monti said.

"As cozy as it was, it wasn't great to wake up every morning and freeze until the stove got going," said his wife, Deb.

After four years, the couple are giving up the rail car and building a new, 2,600-square-foot house on their property in the Alto neighborhood of unincorporated Mill Valley. Their departure has rail enthusiasts champing at the bit. Soon, they will have their hands on a 19th century relic, one of only a handful of train cars from that era that survive in the North Bay.

On Saturday, volunteers from the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society will tow the 57-foot rail car to Petaluma, where they will spend several years restoring it. The group has identified it as a baggage car dating to 1892, built by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad, which preceded the Northwestern Pacific.
The rail car "was condemned by the railroad in 1932," said Charlie Siebenthal, president of the society. "We're not sure when it got to Mill Valley."

By the time Cain Monti's parents bought the property at 38 Shell Road in the early 1990s the train car was already being used as the central living space. The family does not know how or when the car ended up on the property or when a kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms were added
on.
Cain and Deb Monti lived in the car for several years - there was about 900 square feet of space, including the additions - but with two sons, the quarters were becoming cramped.

"It wasn't what you would consider your everyday Marin house," Cain Monti said. "There were cracks in the walls, so it would get pretty drafty."

Because of the added rooms, some neighbors did not know there was a train car inside. Lisa Nave, who lives across the street, said she didn't learn of the car until the Montis invited her over, two years after she moved into the neighborhood.

"You couldn't really tell from the exterior," she said.

The train car is an historic artifact from a passenger rail system that once crossed Marin County, Siebenthal said. The car was likely built in Tiburon, where a ferry terminal once connected San Francisco passengers with the North Coast, Siebenthal said.

"Most people don't realize that until the network of railroads was built in Marin County and Sonoma County, travel in the wintertime was almost impossible because of the weather, because of the roads being full of mud," he said. "The economic development of Marin and Sonoma counties was really based on a network of railroads that moved people and materials."
The society plans to strip the car's paint and interior walls, rebuild its ironwork and find a set of wheels to replace the originals, which are gone. It plans to connect the car to a separate passenger car recovered north of Ukiah, and display the pair together.

Formed in the early 1980s, the society maintains a collection of maps, photos and documents from the North Bay's railroad era. It has already restored two historic train cars found in the North Bay.

For more information, visit www.nwprrhs.org

Read more Mill Valley stories at the IJ's Mill Valley section.
Contact Will Jason via e-mail at wjason@marinij.com

Comment by Steve Atnip on August 13, 2010 at 11:21am

The light was just right, had to take a picture

Comment by Steve Atnip on August 11, 2010 at 6:07am

It's "on" the truck. But needs to be secured. The move is still on for Saturday.

Comment by Steve Atnip on August 7, 2010 at 4:50pm

Arrival in Petaluma is now scheduled for NEXT Saturday (14th?)
Another video coming of the turning of the car. Meanwhile there are these.

Comment by Steve Atnip on July 28, 2010 at 3:49pm

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