Only reposting the info, I have no involvement:

Forestville, Sonoma County, CA, about 65 miles north of San Francisco (near Santa Rosa).

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/tro/d/ ... 49243.html

Posting has been deleted.

Did anyone in our "company" get them?

These don't appear to be the same cars...................

https://www.facebook.com/ageofsteamroun ... 2499122235

They're not. Those came from Brian Maiher's collection in southern Ohio.

The two outside-braced, wood-sided boxcars were formerly Western Pacific stock cars built in 1924-1927. The cars were converted by the WP for MOW service. Their basic design and size appear identical to the S-40-5 series of stock cars purchase by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1917.

After their retirement from service, the cars were moved to a winery near Sonoma. These cars were purchased by the father of the current winery owner. According to her story, the father never had toy trains when he was a boy. When he bought the land and started the winery, he found the two cars and had them set onto rails near his house. They were visible from the highway.

I photographed them in December 2015.

According to the “repacking” stencils, the truck journals of both cars were repacked by the Western Pacific at “Port” (Portola) on 8/22/73. Light Weight of MW 0990 is 40,700 pounds. It was built in April 1925. The other car’s numbers had been removed by weathering.

Based on the recorded date of construction for MW 0990, vertically slatted doors on both cars, and the extenal bracing pattern, these cars were built as stock cars in the WP 75501-75702 series.

A diagram of these cars is shown on the “wplives” website at https://wplives.com/diagrams/mow/mow-114.php

The WP stock car design was practically identical to the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Class 40-S-5 stock cars.

The roster data from a no-longer-posted WP car diagram indicated that MW 0990, built in 1925, was most likely a product of the Pacific Car & Foundry Company (70 cars built). The other car’s lack of a visible build date means it could have been built by the PC&F Co. in 1924 (125 cars) or 1925 (70 cars), or by the Western Pacific in 1925 (4 cars) or 1927 (3 cars).

A North Bay businessman and his wife own a tavern in Forestville, along the Russian River. They purchased the two rail cars in late 2017 and made arraingements to have them moved to the new location. But before the cars could be moved they were burned in the Nuns Fire in October 2017. Only their charred steel components remained.

The cars were later moved to the tavern, and restoration began. The two resided cars were to be used as wine and beer tasting rooms, but (according to one of the new owners) a Sonoma County building inspector would not give a permit for the intended use. The owners put the cars up for sale on Craigs List. The cars are now on a cattle ranch in San Mateo County.

Mike Manson
NWPRRHS