Good friends,

List member Fred Janz  inquired about interchange cars on the Sacramento Northern for a friend of his. A long time ago I made a list of the cars I could ID from books and the photos in my collection. That list is long gone, so I made another with a few additional sources. The list is totally unscientific, and includes only those cars I could identify by road and type. I excluded parent WP from the list, plus PFE since the WP was a PFE member.

The SN was once an important freight player in California up into the 1960s. The line northern part did a brisk business in inbound merchandise traffic and gasoline, serving Sacramento, Marysville-Yuba City, Chico and Oroville, plus some smaller towns like Woodland, Live Oak and Colusa. Outbound traffic was mostly agricultural products such as a wheat and beans, along with canned food products. On the southern portion, the major towns were Walnut Creek, Concord and Oakland. Again inbound merchandise traffic was important, with agricultural products including fruit and nuts shipped out. The only really large industry served was the USS Pittsburg works (no 'h' for the California town). This was mostly inbound coil after WWII from Geneva, Utah. The south end carried the Western Pacific's share of important military traffic to Oakland, which went via the Oakland Terminal Railway to the Oakland Army Base, a major shipping point for the Pacific.

The SN was vulnerable to truck competition, changing consumer markets, suburban sprawl/urban renewal, and plant obsolescence. Much of its traffic was gone by the 1970s. Today, the former Woodland Branch sees a bit of traffic under another owner, and a short spur at Alicia is a team track for the UP. The steel mill is still served by the UP and BNSF. Everything else is gone, except for a section of the mainline used by the Western Railway Museum.

Make what you will of it.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff

A RANDOM SURVEY OF SN INTERCHANGE CARS, 1930-1958

CULLED FROM BOOKS AND PHOTOS BY GARTH GROFF

Excluding WP and PFE

ACL 40’ steel DD boxcar, Valle Vista, 1949

ACL 14372 40’ steel DD boxcar, Walnut Creek, 1950s

Alton 36’ wood boxcar, Havens, 1943

ATSF 50’ SD steel boxcar (Grand Canyon lettering), Oakland, 1957

ATSF 9116 10’ 6” 40’ DD boxcar, Oakland, early 1950s

ATSF 40’ steel boxcar, Oakland Hills, 1950s

ATSF 272339 40’ steel boxcar, Oakland, 1954

ATSF 50’ DD boxcar “El Capitan”, Oakland, 1957 (last train)

ATSF 14X178 (?) 40’ rebuilt USRA Boxcar (Buy War Bonds lettering), Walnut Creek, 1947

ATSF 65103 40’ panel-side boxcar, Sacramento, 1938

B&O 10’ 40’ steel boxcar (Sentinel lettering), Mallard, 1950

B&O 276054 class M-26 (X29 clone) 40’ boxcar, OTRY, 1948

B&O 50’ DD steel boxcar, Oakland, early 1950s

BM 7XXXX SS boxcar, Chico, 1946

BM 74408 40’ PS1 boxcar, OTRY, 1950s

CB&Q 40’ steel boxcar (Everywhere West lettering), Oakland, 1957

CB&Q 92509 53’ 6” flat car, Oakland, 1940s

CGW 87592 40’ X29-type steel boxcar, Oakland, 1943

Central of Georgia 51XX 50’ 1 ½ door boxcar, Port Chicago, early 1950s

CNW 40’ DD SS auto boxcar, Sacramento, late 1930s (?)

CP 10’ 6” boxcar, Oakland Hills, 1950s

C&O 40’ rebuilt steel boxcar, Oakland Hills, 1940s

D&RGW 55XXX (?) 52’ mill gondola, Lisbon, circa 1951

D&RGW 40’ GS gondola 46575, Lisbon, 1951, plus others in wreck

D&RGW 12-panel 40’ boxcar, Oakland, 1946

DL&W 40’ steel boxcar, Oakland, early 1950s

Erie steel boxcar, Oakland, 1939

Erie 80287 40’ steel boxcar, Oakland, 1949

Erie 51827 40’ steel gondola, Oakland, 1943

Erie 50’ DD auto boxcar, Oakland, 1955

Erie 50’ DD auto boxcar, Mallard, pre-1951

FGEX steel refrigerator, Oroville, 1950

FGEX steel plug-door refrigerator, Rockridge, post WWII

FGEX 40’ insulated boxcar, Lake Temescal, ca. 1956

GATX 16387 10k tank car, West Pittsburg, 1950s

GM&O steel boxcar, Walnut Creek, 1957

GN 18275 40’ boxcar, Durham, early 1950s

GN 43975 (?) 40’ wood-side AAR boxcar, Woodland, 1940

GN 50593 10’ steel boxcar, Sacramento, late 1940s

GN 40’ wood boxcar, Travis AFB, 1947

GN 50’ (?) wood boxcar, Oakland, 1939

GN 40’ wood-side boxcar, Mallard, 1950

GN 49129 40’ wood-side boxcar, Oakland, 1950s

GN 40’ plywood-side boxcar, Oroville, early 1950s

GN46662 40’ wood boxcar, Mallard, pre-1951

GN 40’ wood side AAR boxcar (two), Burton, ca. 1952

GN 50’ SS DD boxcar, Chico, 1939

GN fishbelly flat car, Havens, 1940s

GN 38165, wood-sided boxcar Yuba City, 1940s

GN 23XXX USRA boxcar, North End, late 1930s

GTW 40’ SS auto boxcar, Valle Vista, 1949

GTW 206XXX 8-hatch refrigerator car, Lake Temescal, ca. 1956

IC 27656 50’ single door boxcar, Live Oak, early 1950s

L&N 17747 PS1 40’ boxcar, Pinehurst, 1952

MILW 40’ (?) SS DD boxcars (two), Durham, early 1950s

MILW rib-side boxcar, Oakland, 1954

MILW 40’ DD rib-side boxcar, OTRY, 1950s

MILW 71XXX, 40’ SS boxcar, Oakland, 1949

MILW 713XXX 40’ SS boxcar, Havens, 1943

MILW 50’ DD rib-side boxcar, Broadway Terrace, 1950

MP 50’ single-door boxcar (two) (Eagles DF lettering), West Pittsburg, ca. 1957

MP 85324 SS boxcar, Oakland, 1946

MP 40’ SS boxcar, Melin Cut, 1944

NP 11XXX 40’ wood boxcar, Oakland Hills, 1950s?

NP 10’ 6” 40’ steel ARR boxcar, Shepherd Canyon, 1943

NP 40’ wood, steel end boxcar, Rockridge, 1955

NYC 40’ steel boxcar, Broadway Terrace, 1950

NYC 40’ 1 ½ door 1920s boxcar, Oakland, 1940s

NYC 10’, 40’ steel boxcar, Valle Vista, 1949

NYC 10’ 40’ steel boxcar, South End, early 1950s

NYC 10’ 40’ steel boxcar (actually several show up), Oakland, 1940s

NYC 710786 52’ 6” mill gondola, Oakland Hills, early 1950s

PM 93XXX 40’ DD steel auto car, Durham, early 1950s

PRR 52XXXX X29 boxcar, Chico, 1946

PRR 23XXXX (?) X29 boxcar, Shepherd Canyon, 1943

PRR X31 40’ RR steel boxcar, OTRY, 1950s

PRR X31 40’ RR steel boxcar, Rockridge, 1947

PRR X32A 50’ DD RR steel boxcar, Oakland, 1943

PRR X43 40’ boxcar (?), Oakland, early 1950s

PRR X43 40’ boxcar (?), West Pittsburg, ca. 1957

PRR X43 40’ boxcar (?), Valle Vista, 1949

PRR 50’ DD boxcar, Havens, 1943

PSPX 17924 (?) insulated tank car; West Pittsburg, ca. 1957

RJRX (R.J. Roesling & Co.) tank car, OTRY, 1950s

Rock Island 50’ SD boxcar, Rockridge, post-WWII

Rock Island 30127 50’ boxcar, Walnut Creek, 1957

SFRD 34XXX refrigerator car, Montclair, 1943

SLSF 10’ 6” 40’ boxcar, Mallard, 1949

SLSF 154155 50’ DD auto boxcar, Valle Vista, 1955

SLSF 143315 40’ SS steel rebuilt boxcar, Thornhill, 1943

Soo Line 50’ DD steel boxcar, Lake Temescal, ca. 1956

Soo Line 42XXX 10’ 6” 40’ square-corner boxcar, Rockridge, 1952

Southern 15XXX 40’ steel boxcar, Durham, early 1950s

Southern 15655 40’ steel boxcar, OTRY, 1950s

SP 64918 50’ DD boxcar, OTRY 1955

SP 38’ stock car, Sacramento, 1941

SP 37’ Enterprise hopper, Walnut Creek, 1947 (numerous other examples)

SP A-50-12 50’ DD auto boxcar (two), Walnut Creek, 1947

SP A-50-6, 7 or 8, 50’ SS 1 1/2-door auto boxcar, Chico, ca. 1946

SP 58215 O-50-11 tank car (yellow paint), Haggin Yard, late 1930s

SSW 47593 50’ DD steel boxcar (Blue Streak lettering), Rockridge, 1957

T&NO 35982 wooden truss rod boxcar, Sacramento, ca. 1940

TCX (Texaco) 1342 (?) tank car, Thornhill, 1950

TCX 7917 tank car (silver with billboard “Texaco”), Peethill, 1939

UP 10’ 6” 40’ boxcar (“Be Specific” scheme), Mallard, 1950

UP 10’ 6” 40’ steel boxcar (“Streamliners” paint), Mallard, 1949

UP 10’ 6” 40’ steel boxcar (Serves All The West lettering), Shepherd Canyon, 1944

UP A-50-16 (?) 10’ 6” 40’ DD boxcar, Oakland1940s

UTLX class V 6,500 gallon tank car, North End, late 1930s

Wabash 50’ SS DD auto boxcar, Valle Vista, 1955

Wabash 47946 SS DD boxcar, OTRY, 1945-1955