Rescue a Southern Pacific R.R. McKeen Railcar!

The History of the McKeen Motor Car Company is a Very Interesting one, the style of the cars, the experiment innovation, the Radial Design, these Cars easily stand out in a photo. Very Few Survive, One Motor Car has been Restored, and we, the McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society, Rescued the McKeen Car "Cuyamaca" 2 weeks before she was destined to be scrapped. Now safe in Southern California awaiting Restoration.

However, there is another piece that is at risk of being Scrapped. I have kept in contact for years at this point to ensure its safety, and the time is now. The Southern Pacific Trailer Car #16 is on a property about to be redeveloped. The Contractor is onsite early February and no other museum in the area is interested in saving this car, so we are going to save it. Having thought this through, and having visited the car, I believe between a crew of 6 people I have assembled, plus a volunteer truck driver (with rig) we can rescue this Trailer Car in the span of a 2 days of onsite work.

Between a modest hotel (About $600 for 6 adults for 3 nights), Gasoline for two vehicles about $500, Tools and Materials we don't have but will need for the work $500, and the Diesel for the tractor and trailer of about $1200, we will be able to rescue one of a handful of McKeen Trailer Cars, The only McKeen Railcar from the Southern Pacific, and one of the earliest steel railcars in existence.

The Car Body is all that's left, the body was cut from the frame in the 1930s, and that is how the body was transported to the current site. The car has a partial original vent, original marker lamp brackets, original windows, original panels, and numerous other artifacts that are authentic to McKeen, and thus important to know in the restoration of our Motor Car, as well as just important to the History of the McKeen Motor Car Company. With the body saved, it is completely possible that down the road, a new frame could be built and standard trucks installed, but the plan for this car is simply preservation, not restoration. The Cuyamaca is our first car to Restore.

Please donate to help save this Rare Railcar that tells an interesting story in Railroad History. This car body will be kept together and will be used as a work shop adjacent to the "Cuyamaca" to help with its Restoration. We have a few weeks to raise the funds we need to rescue this car. Previously we raised $17,000 for the "Cuyamaca" and successfully saved the car all the way from Alaska! This time, we don't need nearly as much and I am lending tools of my own to get his job done. Please help how ever you can.