North Shore 1725

This 15-ton, 28-foot flatcar was built by Carter Brothers around 1887 for the South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC number unknown). After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed the SPC, the car went to the North Shore Railroad in Marin County as number 1725. When the Northwestern Pacific took over the North Shore in 1908, they acquired this car too. By 1910 the car was about 20 years old and probably worn out, so NWP rebuilt it and renumbered it 5499. It retired in 1930 when NWP abandoned their narrow gauge operations. The West Side Lumber Company in Tuolumne, California bought it, numbered it 8, and converted it to a camp car by adding a house-like structure.

SPCRR acquired it in 1985 and put it back in service in 1989 after a two-year restoration. In 2004, SPCRR converted it to a covered picnic car using 1880 photographs of NS picnic cars at the Sausalito wharf—thanks to a grant from George and Karen Thagard. This is the primary open-air and ADA-accessible car. Volunteers are rebuilding it again starting in 2024 and have removed the picnic car roof, mitigated wood rot in the frame, and redecked with new boards.