McKeen Motor Car Company

thumb|McKeen car Roslyn of the [[Northern Pacific Railroad.]]

The McKeen Motor Car Company of Omaha, Nebraska, was a builder of internal combustion-engined railroad motor cars (railcars), constructing 152 between 1905 and 1917.

Founded by William McKeen, the Union Pacific Railroad's Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery, the company was essentially an offshoot of the Union Pacific and the first cars were constructed by the UP before McKeen leased shop space in the UP's Omaha Shops in Omaha, Nebraska. The UP had asked him to develop a way of running small passenger trains more economically and McKeen produced a design that was ahead of its time. Unfortunately, internal combustion engine technology was not and the McKeen cars never found a truly reliable powerplant.

The vast majority of the cars produced were for E. H. Harriman's empire of lines (Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and others). Harriman's death in 1909 lost the company its major sponsor and investor and Harriman's successors were less enthusiastic about the McKeen cars.

Many McKeen cars ended up being re-engined with a variety of drive mechanisms — gasoline-mechanical, gasoline-electric, diesel-electric or even steam power.

Most, although not all, McKeen cars had the distinctive "wind-splitter" pointed aerodynamic front end and rounded tail. The porthole windows were also a McKeen trademark, adopted allegedly for strength after the 7th production car. A dropped central door, as pictured, was also present on the majority of the cars. Two lengths, 55 and 70 feet, were offered; either could be fitted out with a large mail and express area ahead of the center doors, a smaller mail/express area, or the car could be all seats for a maximum capacity of 64 or 105 respectively.

thumb|Interior of a McKeen car.

History

Anatomy of a McKeen car

Carbody

thumb|left|Motor truck with engine

Engine

Originally, McKeen cars used engines from the Standard Motor Works of Jersey City, New Jersey, but switched to an engine of their own design from the eighth car produced, M8 on the Union Pacific.

Like the Victorian Railways cars, the cars were fitted with the more rounded nose and with buffers; however, the typical McKeen dropped center door was retained to permit easy passenger access without a raised platform. The cars, unlike most, had the same size of wheels on both axles of the lead truck and a chain drive linking them, making all 4 wheels driven.

Two of the three axles in that truck were powered, connected by side rods; the engine developed . Unlike most McKeen cars, it had a rounded front end instead of the knife-edge prow normally favored; it also featured roof-mounted radiators in addition to those in the normal location behind the pilot.

Despite the extra power, this was only a car with a capacity of 48 passengers. The additional power was needed for the severe grades (max. 4.92%) and curvature of the line between Price and Hiawatha for which it was intended.

The car was apparently not a success and did not last long in service,

being withdrawn from service in June 1917 and dismantled, the engine and power truck being sold.

The carbody was used as a shop employee locker room for Utah Railway (successor to Southern Utah Railroad) at Martin until it was dismantled in 1990.

In the mid '90s the dismantled #100 was then purchased by a Utah Railway employee who also had a farm near Helper. To move the car, he cut it in half at the vestibule and used the rail car as two separate storage units. In 2015, the two halves were then traded for two sea containers by Bently enterprises LLC. It was then moved to Minden, Nevada and is undergoing restoration.

Locomotives

The company produced at least one gasoline-engined locomotive. A locomotive was produced in about 1913 and worked around the company shops in Omaha;

A locomotive (probably the same one) was tested in the UP's Aspen Tunnel. A locomotive, numbered 5 but possibly again the same one, was documented in the contemporary trade press, photos of which are below.

It is described as being of 0-4-2 wheel arrangement, with the engine mounted across the car as normal and driving the rearmost driving axle in the normal McKeen fashion. Siderods transferred the drive to the other pair of driven wheels. The arrangement was largely identical to the three-axle lead truck on the unique Southern Utah Railway McKeen car.

Zeitler

Surviving McKeen products

The Nevada State Railroad Museum has restored a full McKeen car, Virginia and Truckee Railway Motor Car 22, a 1910-built 70 foot car.

This was one of the last McKeen cars to be still running with its original motor. It made its last run in September 1945 and its body was sold in 1946 for service as a roadside diner, later to be used for a plumbing supply store in Carson City, Nevada. Donated to the Museum in 1996, its first run was on May 9, 2010, the car's hundredth anniversary of construction.

The original powerplant did not survive and no other McKeen engines could be located. Consequently, a modern diesel engine was fitted to allow the car to operate up to the original maximum speed. The fully restored McKeen motorcar was put back into operation on May 9, 2010, right on schedule for its 100th anniversary of its construction. The motorcar is now being used at the Nevada State Railroad Museum In Carson City Nevada for special occasions such as Independence Day and Nevada Day

The NSRM also owns the remains of a second McKeen car which was converted into a diesel-electric switching locomotive.

Another McKeen body, construction number 83/103, survives in Ramona, California. It originally belonged to the San Diego Cuyamaca & Eastern Railroad then was later sold to the Yuma Valley Railroad before arriving in Alaska around 1921, being re-engined and round-nosed in 1924, converted to an unpowered trailer in 1935 and finally retired in the late 1940s after serving in the 714th Railway Battalion during WWII.

The car, originally named the "Cuyamaca", is now undergoing restoration by Madison Kirkman of the McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society.

Two unpowered McKeen trailers survive; Union Pacific T8 is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum. Southern Pacific 16 is in private ownership as a storage shed in St. Helena, California.

Arizona Eastern Railroad – 2 cars; to Southern Pacific

Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad – 1 car;
Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway – 1 car
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad – 5 cars
Erie Railroad – 3 cars
Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad 1 car as a trial, returned to manufacturer
Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad – 2 cars;
San Diego, Pacific Beach and La Jolla Railway (later Los Angeles and San Diego Beach Railway)
Sand Springs Railway
Union Pacific Railroad – 20 cars