Yosemite Valley 330

Ted Miles · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:23 pm

Folks,

For you all outside the San Francisco Bay Area the Brief on the YV 330 was a little too brief.

The museum that is doing the restoration of the car is the Pacific Locomotive Association. Their operating railway is the Niles Canyon Railway near Sunol and Niles/Fremont, California.

They also have another YV baggage car listed in their roster.

The #330 looks like a steel frame was added to the body during the course of its long life. Does anyone know about this?

Ted MIles

Tom Cornillie · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:29 pm

The YV 330 has its own website that is of good quality -

http://www.yv330.com/

This site has info on surviving elements of the YV.

http://www.yosemitevalleyrr.com/

Tom Cornillie

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:31 pm

Try going here for more:

http://www.yv330.com/

As I recall this is a Hicks car built in 1907, which is pretty late for the wood car era. As far as I know, the frame is as original. It looks very similar in construction to a 1905 Pullman built coach at IRM.

Ed Kelley · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:54 pm

Ted Miles wrote:

For you all outside the San Francisco Bay Area the Brief on the YV 330 was a little too brief.
The museum that is doing the restoration of the car is the Pacific Locomotive Association. Their operating railway is the Niles Canyon Railway near Sunol and Niles/Fremont, California.

The brief was written by Wes Swift, who is the owner of the car. While it's resided at the Canyon since 2005, the 330 is an independent undertaking by Wes, his wife Claudia, and their small but devoted band of volunteers.

Randolph R. Ruiz · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:32 pm

Wes, Claudia, and friends have done some amazing work. In particular you should check out the photo of the car as it was when they bought it: http://www.yv330.com/ruins.html

The car is still not finished, but two weeks ago the car was carrying passengers for the first time in many years as part of the tank engine event at the Niles Canyon Railway.

Anyone looking to one up Wes and Claudia? This 60' SP (CP?) coach is next to the Capitol Corridor / UP tracks in Suisun. It is probably only good for patterns:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/4356 ... 510c08.jpg

Anyone know anything about it? It is close to the Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista Junction.

Randall Hicks · **Joined:** Wed Aug 25, 2004 9:44 am **Posts:** 154

Dennis Storzek wrote:

As I recall this is a Hicks car built in 1907, which is pretty late for the wood car era. As far as I know, the frame is as original. It looks very similar in construction to a 1905 Pullman built coach at IRM.

The floor and underframe were largely rotted out when restoration started, so they had to replace much of it, as I recall. They've put a huge amount of work into this car over the years. Judging from the delivery dates, it's possible that at one time YV #330, CA&E #309, and V&T #20 (at Orange Empire) were all under construction in the west plant, more or less side-by-side. How neat is that?