A pair of historic, former Fillmore & Western Railway (FWRY) heavyweight passenger cars began their cross-country trip from Southern California to their new home at the Everett Railroad in Duncanville, Pennsylvania on April 6, 2022.
On this warm, spring day, the Sierra Northern Railway moved two flat cars laden with the passenger cars west from Fillmore, CA to Santa Paula, CA where they were interchanged with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). From Santa Paula, UP moved the cars southeast through downtown Los Angeles, CA and ultimately to West Colton, CA, where they ended their first travel day. The cars were projected to travel east to Chicago, Illinois before the remainder of the trip to Pennsylvania, but the exact route is not known at this time. In total, the cars will travel more than 3,000 rail-miles and be moved by a number of different railroad companies before reaching their new home.
Known by their names of “Powhatan” and “Rancho Sespe,” the two passenger cars might look similar at first glance but are unique in their own ways. Built by Pullman Standard in 1928, the “Powhatan” was the longest passenger car ever built by Pullman at the time, measuring 86 foot 10 – 1/4 inches. It was purchased by the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad and served as a Café-Parlor Car until it was sold to Royal America Shows in 1958. The car then served as a “pie car” on a circus train before it ended up as an ice cream parlor in Florida. In the late 1990’s the car, was purchased by the (FWRY) and moved to Southern California. The “Powhatan” was restored to its former glory and served for more than 25 years on weekend excursion trains and in a number of major motion pictures and TV shows including Seabiscuit, Water for Elephants and American Horror Story. The “Rancho Sespe” rolled out of Pullman Standard’s shop six years earlier in 1922. It was purchased by the Colorado & Southern Railroad and numbered No. 553. The operating history of the car is rather elusive until it too was purchased by the FWRY in the late 1990’s and moved onto the property. The car was renumbered to No. 2553 and given the name “Rancho Sespe,” which stems from the name of a large ranch in Fillmore. The Sierra Northern Railway, which has established the Santa Paula Branch line as the company’s “Ventura Division,” purchased a majority of the FWRY equipment earlier this year and will continue utilizing it as part of planned passenger operations and in movie and television filming. The company also has plans to expand revenue freight service.
