McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society

06/17/2026

St. Joseph & Grand Island #114 was built as McKeen Builder's Number 073, in 1910. It was almost 79,000 lbs which is on the heavy side for a McKeen Motor Car.

It burned, and was scrapped in 1912, photos attached. This is why photos are so uncommon of this car... it survived for only 2 years.

05/18/2026

From a Family Photo Album, here is a photo of the Los Angeles & San Diego Beach Railway Motor Car #2, in front of the Hotel Cabrillo, which is now the West Wing of the La Valencia in La Jolla.

This photo was in a family photo album with no additonal information. Photo was likely taken closer to 1914, the car looks a little tired at this point.

05/13/2026

Does anyone recognize the location depicted on this General Electric Catalog?

05/13/2026

05/11/2026

St. Joesph and Grand island McKeen Car #112, It was the 59th McKeen Car built, finished in Early 1910, It weighed 79,000 Lbs. It later became Union Pacific M-14, and Burned in Wreck in 11/1920.

It was built as a Parabolic Nose, 70 Foot, Baggage Passenger McKeen, with seating for 83 people, and a 8 foot 6" long Baggage Section.

This Real Photo Postcard was likely taken within a few years of construction as all the original paint and gold leaf show, along with the high gloss varnish that looks fresh.

We are restoring the second to last McKeen Motor Car in Existance! Please help out and follow the Restoration of the McKeen Car "Cuyamaca." The rendering below is a good match for what the colors of the #112 should have been based on all of our research.

https://www.youtube.com/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mckeencarcuyamaca

https://www.patreon.com/c/McKeenMotorCarCompanyHistoricalSociety

05/07/2026

The front frame has been cut out, now to remove the panels.

05/05/2026

Land Speed Record held by the "Cuyamaca?"

05/04/2026

A wonderful photo I've never seen before, Los Angeles & San Diego Beach Railway McKeen Car #2 shown on the San Diego to La Jolla Line. This would have occurred sometime between 1907 and 1914 or so, the glossy varnish suggesting early, as varnish dulls within a few years if maintanace is not kept up. This is a fresh photo not seen by some experts on San Diego Railroad History before.

This car was Builders Number 018. This car is the second earliest Non-Harriman owned McKeen Car, and was purchased in 1907. It ran in San Diego until the rail line failed to pay, and the cars were repossessed. The Railroad tore up some of its tracks, sold off assets, and closed up shop. 3 McKeen Cars made it to San Diego, 2 for this rail line, and the 3rd is the railcar we are working to restore, the "Cuyamaca."

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mckeencarcuyamaca

https://www.patreon.com/c/McKeenMotorCarCompanyHistoricalSociety

https://www.youtube.com/

04/26/2026

An unmarked, unidentified McKeen Car from a family photo album turned up.

I am fairly certain this is a photo of Santa Fe M-102 or M-103.
The parabolic nose and passenger windows suggest these two cars specifically, the only ones built like this.
This photo shows the factory gold leaf and everything else unmodified, so also an early photo of the car.

These cars were built in 1911, weighed 42 tons, and could haul in excess of 70 passengers each.

04/19/2026

In this Video, we 3-D scan the McKeen Car "Cuyamaca" and orient that data in a 3D software, as well as cut out about 500lbs of steel the Alaska Railroad added in 1927. We are preparing to disassemble the body of the car, and this will prevent us from loosing dimensions in the disassembly of the car.

-Madison Kirkman

Please Join our Patreon Project, It's very easy to create a login and follow our project and it is free to join our Patreon and get early access to our content, however if you do contribute, all proceeds (minus service fees) go directly to the Restoration of the Second Oldest Aerodynamic Railcar in North America, the McKeen Car "Cuyamaca." Please follow our Project, and consider a monthly contribution to help our Cause! 100% of donations and membership proceeds go directly to the Restoration of the Car.

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