Historic rail cars on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad are still looking for a home, after an auction last month drew only one bid.
The sole bidder wanted the railroad to pay him $7,500 to take the eight cars away, saying they'll cost more to remove than they're worth.
The cars' owner, North Coast Railroad Authority, rejected the bid last week. But authority directors said they still want to talk with interested parties.
"We've got to get rid of this stuff," said director Allan Hemphill.
The abandoned cars are stranded on the railroad between Healdsburg and Eureka. That part of the line was shut down by federal transportation regulators in the late 1990s because of heavy storm damage.
Most of the cars are vintage passenger coaches used for tourist excursions between Healdsburg and Mendocino County. Several were veterans of Southern Pacific's Coast Daylight, which ran between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Shasta Daylight, which traveled from Oakland to Portland.
The 60-year-old coaches carry California place names, including "Sonoma," "Mendocino," "Tuolumne" and "Humboldt."
Most of them have suffered vandalism and neglect, and they'd be costly to restore, Hemphill said.
The authority has no plans to resume passenger service, so the rolling stock has become a liability. They can't be moved by rail, and the new owner would be responsible for toxic issues including fuel and asbestos.
That's why they'd cost more to remove than they're worth, said Les Giacomini of Ukiah, the lone bidder.
"You've got too much hazardous material there," he told the authority last week.
The cars could have value for restoration, parts or scrap metal, said Giacomini, president of L.D. Giacomini Enterprises, a Ukiah company that does heavy construction and hazardous waste removal.
One of the orphan coaches sits on a sidetrack at Asti, just north of historic Italian Swiss Colony winery. A second rail car at Asti isn't for sale, because it doesn't belong to the authority.
Other cars are in Willits and Scotia, a lumber town south of Eureka.
Hemphill said he expected more bidders at the auction. They may have been scared off by a requirement that the successful bidder take the entire group, regardless of condition.
"We didn't want to be cherry-picked," he said. "We didn't package it the right way."
The authority will continue discussions with Giacomini and other interested groups.
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