Pacific Locomotive Association/Niles Canyon Railway Update:  Western Pacific F-7 #918 Arrives in the Canyon

Union Pacific freight pulling the 918, just leaving the Centerville Branch and heading East on the Western Pacific Mainline to Hearst. Dan Furtado Photograph.

The Western Pacific #918 has been returned to service on the Niles Canyon Railway (NCR) after 22 years of intermittent restoration work by many Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA) volunteers. When acquired from the Western Pacific in 1981, the locomotive was in poor condition after being used as a parts source to keep the other three WP F-units running, including missing traction motors, some brake gear and many internal parts.

Quincy Railroad #2 and WP #918 meet in Niles reminiscent of a meet 50 years earlier at Quincy Junction in the Feather River Canyon where the Quincy Railroad interchanged with Western Pacific (now Union Pacific). Alan Siegwarth Photograph.

The original reason the unit was retired was due to an electrical cabinet fire, which required rewiring the entire locomotive and restoring the entire cab while the locomotive was at Castro Point. When the engine was moved to Oakland, with the help of the Southern Pacific shops, the traction motors were replaced using ones acquired from Levin Metals. By the early 1990’s, volunteers had restored the locomotive to good cosmetic/mechanical/electrical condition inside the car body, the but exterior siding was in deplorable condition.

Steam powered freight leaves Niles headed East to Sunol.  Alan Siegwarth photograph.

In early 2002, a major rebuild effort was started which ended up replacing all the original plymetal (rotted and rusted beyond repair) and much of the support bracketing that had been damaged by years of rust. The work was completed, including a beautiful original Western Pacific paint scheme, in June of 2005, just in time to make it to Niles Canyon for the annual PLA members picnic on the 4th of July. (For more information on the restoration see this link and stay tuned for a future article by Dan Furtado).

Afternoon passenger train powered by Southern Pacific #5472 and #5623 heading east at the shoefly towards Hearst. Photograph by Alan Siegwarth.

The 4th of July festivities included many pieces of equipment, taking advantage of fact that for the first time in 20 years all the museums equipment was stored in one location – the Niles Canyon Railway. The morning trains included a heavyweight passenger train pulled by the WP #918 and included a meet with Quincy Railroad #2 pulling a freight train at Niles. Several photo runbys were made involving both trains at several locations heading East to Sunol. After a terrific barbeque, the afternoon was concluded with a train heading East to Hearst with several photo runbys pulled by the museum’s two Southern Pacific Black Widow units, SD9 #5472 and GP9 #5623 m/u’d together.

Painting work on the 918 in Oakland. Photograph by Dan Furtado.

As usual, the Pacific Locomotive Association is always looking for volunteers to help continue the growth of the Niles Canyon Railway Museum. For more information please visit the NCR website.

(Alan Siegwarth)