North Coast Rail Authority sells historic rail cars

A Los Angeles railcar broker has purchased five historic passenger coaches on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in Sonoma and Humboldt counties.

Jon Clark of Jon S. Clark Private Railcars submitted the winning bid of $11,531, according to the North Coast Railroad Authority.

The former Southern Pacific passenger cars were once used for North Coast rail excursions.

Clark buys, restores and sells historic rail passenger cars, according to rail websites. He couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

The railroad authority put the cars up for auction because they aren't being used and have become targets for vandals, said Mitch Stogner, the authority's executive director.

The cars are stranded on the rail line north of Windsor, which has been closed to train traffic since 1997 because of storm damage. Earlier this year, freight service resumed on the railroad between Napa County and Windsor.

The five cars are in Healdsburg, Asti and Scotia, a lumber town south of Eureka.

The cars were once used on Southern Pacific's Coast Daylight, which ran between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Shasta Daylight, which traveled from Oakland to Portland.

They were among the first passenger cars built after World War II, according to rail historians. They carry California place names, including "Sonoma," "Mendocino," "Tuolumne" and "Humboldt."

They were acquired by the railroad authority for tourist trains that ran from Healdsburg to Hopland or Willits. Those trips ended when the Federal Railroad Administration closed the storm-battered route.

Four other cars in Willits didn't sell at the auction Wednesday. They may be sold for scrap, Stogner said.