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Today I am sharing two SN MW photos from my negative collection for your enjoyment, edification and approval.

The first is a Kenneth C. Jenkins shot of tool car MW915. Sadly, Jenkins did not record the date or location on his negative sleeve, but the tower behind the car marks this as Chico. This car was formerly Northern Electric 702, probably one of the 20-ton capacity, 34' flat cars?sold to the NE by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. (UP) during the construction years. The earliest mention I could find of this specific car was in the 1928 ICC valuation, where the car already had its 915 number.?

Wilbur C. Whittaker lensed pole line car SN MW938, near Fairfield in 1946.The car was originally NE 1204, a 40' Fitzhugh-Luther flat car built in 1907. During the post-merger purge of unneeded freight cars, the car became SNRY MW938 on authorization for expenditure (AFE) 13-32, as recorded on 19 March 1932. Likely the car was still lettered SNRR 1204 at that time, as many of the older cars were not relettered for the SNRY, or were relettered only on paper, but this is speculative. However, according to my January 1930 ORER, some cars were still lettered for the SNRR and even a few for the NE.

SNRY MW932 soldiered?on until around 1950, when it either wore out or was unneeded on the increasingly dieselized North End. It was retired on AFE 22-50, dated 20 December 1950. By this time WP/SN AFEs were usually year-end accounting summaries, rather than recording actual disposal dates. MW915 was also retired on this AFE. Other cars retired at this time were B&B material car MW44, material car (flat) MW940, material car (flat) MW941, and material car (flat) MW61.

The difference in numbers is interesting. While most MW cars on the NE had low numbers, so did those inherited from the OA&E/SF-S during the merger. Low numbers continued to be used for?South End MW cars. North?End MW cars were in?900-series. In 1937 when tank?cars 66-68 were purchased, additional service cars received numbers in the South End series, no matter where they were used. During the 1950s, most cars added to the MW fleet simply had a "0" tacked in front of their previous road number, or were used in MW service without any changes to numbering.?

Note the covered third rail in Will's photo. While The Suisun-Vacaville Branch was geographically in South?End territory, it had been built by the Vallejo & Northern, a Northern Electric subsidiary. The branch was powered using both third rail and overhead wire.

All of you are welcome to archive these photos for your private use. Please do not repost them, or use them in any publication without further permission.

Yours Aye,

Garth Groff ??

The South End had some very interesting MW cars too, though photos are not quite as common. Witness these two in a Will Whittaker photo taken in 1937 at Havens. Will's interest was in box motor 607, which filled most of the frame on the original negative. He apparently did not photograph the two MW cars in their own right (they weren't among the negatives I bought from him, but I know there are gaps). Thanks to the excellent cameras he used, and the 616 size film, I was able to extract the MW cars in fair detail.

The flat car appears to be MW60. It was originally OA&E?2009, the last of 10 Holman flat cars from 1911 (restored OA&E?2002, later SNRY MW 32, would be identical). This car was 36' long, and rated for 30 tons. With the merger it briefly became SNRY 4009 (maybe only on paper; it might have already been 4009 on the SF-S), but was converted to crane idler car MW60 on AFE 13-32, officially on 23 February 1932. I do not see its retirement date in the Copeland AFE?list, but that document stops at 1957, and is, of course, dependent on which AFE records survived long enough for him to record them. It may have even survived the 1957 abandonment of the Oakland line for a while. Now the question is, what crane?

The other car is a "tunnel jumbo car", either SNRY MW45 or MW46. Both were converted from OA&E?PC&F flat cars of 1913 vintage, 2019 and 2017 respectively. They were briefly renumbered SNRY 4019 and 4027 (again maybe SF-S 4019, 4027 first) during the merger, then converted?to MW service and modified with the large platforms in late 1929. Both were retired on AFE 37-54, officially dated 31 December 1955.

Yours Aye,

Garth Groff ??