Today I am posting two photos of SN caboose 1613 from negatives in my collection for your enjoyment, enlightenment and approval.
The first is a Wilbur C. Whittaker view taken in Chico on 25 November 1937 while the car was still in service.?
Photo number two is from Kenneth Clyde Jenkins and is also at Chico, but is undated. As the car was retired in 1946, and is considerably shabbier than the Whittaker photo. I suspect that photo was taken post-1946 and the car was retired and awaiting?dismantling. Why one axle is missing is a puzzle to me. The AFE?number for the retirement was 47-46, dated 29 November 1946, though this was an accounting date and cars were often gone before the AFE dates, or hung around far longer as hulks.
Caboose 1613 was one of three 21' cars inherited from the OA&E, originally their number 53. Early photos of 51 and 52 showing they were four-wheel bobber cars, 51 at least originally lacking a cupola. What 53 looked like is unknown to me. Early handwritten OA&E?records in the WRM archive claim the cars were originally built by the Southern Pacific in 1913 for use on their Port Costa ferries, but why the?SP?needed special cabooses just for ferry service is a puzzle. Also the 1913 date may relate to when they were sold to the OA&E.
Whatever the case, this car was unusual by any standards.
