Cool photo. William Jennings Bryan, on a McKeen

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4325982217658214&set=a.1513811688875295

Chicago Great Western had McKeen Motor Cars, and one of the cars was later used as storage shed rail-side.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1109475547893394&set=pcb.1109478661226416

Pacific Portland Cement No. 301 was made from a McKeen

 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1109475677893381&set=pcb.1109478661226416

Interesting in addition to the Mckeen, is the Portland cement, I was just discussing that with someone last week. 

When quantities of Portland cement were first imported to the United States in the 1880s, its principal use was in the construction of sidewalks. Its name is derived from its similarity to Portland stone which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. 

It was named by Joseph Aspdin who obtained a patent for it in 1824. 

 Portland cement is one of the lowest-cost materials widely used over the last century. 

Concrete produced from Portland cement is one of the world's most versatile construction materials.

Portland cement had been imported into the United States, but in the 1870s, was being produced near Kalamazoo, Michigan until the need for importing it disappeared and now it's made domestically

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-lunar-rover-at-moons-south-pole.html

When quantities of Portland cement were first imported to the United States in the 1880s, its principal use was in the construction of sidewalks. Its name is derived from its similarity to Portland stone which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. It was named by Joseph Aspdin who obtained a patent for it in 1824.

Sidewalks often were made in Ohio as a result of the urban postmasters insisting that before they would deliver mail for free in a city the city had to put in sidewalks.

Before agreeing to establish free city delivery, postmasters could ask that the city's sidewalks be paved, the streets lit, the houses numbered, and that street names be placed at intersections.

Rural postmasters would later demand that roads be easy to travel and free of obstructions before service could begin.

The founding fathers of the United States believed the delivery of mail to be so essential to a healthy democracy that the establishment of Postal Offices and Post Roads was enshrined it in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/07/sidewalks-reduce-traffic-crashes-by-74.html

so there you are, why Portland cement is important, because of postal delivery, and the side effect is that traffic crashes decreased by 74 percent, and postal delivery was the root cause of it all, because communication over long distances with friends and relatives is crucial to human mental health. 

Yes, I often feel like I'm doing a similar journalistic thing to "Connections" by James Burke, a fantastic show for history and trivia fans

McKeen Motor Car #2. The First all Steel Railmotor Car, made from legit Carnegie and Bethlehem steel!

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1074654178042198&set=pcb.1074661544708128

the exterior rivets are a very cool look, very industrial/military/steampunk

 

the look of these passengers, that's serious vintage historical 

https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/posts/pfbid02iPcMvv3c8p72QJoFTtxXd3atMsztuJktDgTrnbXRzmpEgJeivVg1M9gjhozDA9Zzl

I'd never heard of a McKeen Motor Car getting turned into a diner, and now I've posted two of them! This one was built from two rear ends of two McKeen Cars, it was located in South Portland, Oregon

 
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2245141042281872&set=pcb.2245141462281830

a McKeen in a scrapyard in 1948, until 1950 when she was purchased and moved to Rt. 2, in Bono and converted to a diner.

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2400577816662261&set=pcb.2400587476661295

https://www.facebook.com/lakesidemarbleheadrr/posts/pfbid0hzEuUmRztmc2H2GsmR4hkhbKs2hXGyWq6SbAUzttCpA8qeSBFtcXkaMM9TcrhfCRl

the McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society is rescuing a trailer car found in Napa Valley

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1017440560430227&set=pcb.1017444010429882

I was just looking through the "train" posts to find a McKeen (I forgot what they were called) and wow, if you ever want to remember WHY you look at this blog, but forgot, try looking through just one favorite topic for a couple minutes.

 I'm pretty sure this is a McKeen Motor Car, but the source hadn't said so, so I had to look to learn (one more time) what the name was, and since I have nothing to go on but the obvious, knew that the fastest way might be to simply look through the trains I've posted (all 500 or so) to rediscover the right name for the McKeen. Not easy to learn the name of something when you can describe it only as a 1920s train, art deco, internal engine in the back, American. 

Anyway, while looking through the train posts, I was simply amazed at the variety of trains I've posted, the stories, photos, videos, art, and history. 

If you want to rediscover what amazing visual and engineering accomplishments have been made, and photographic too, plus crazy cool bridges, engines, etc... I can sure recommend a couple minutes just browsing https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/train

Just keep in mind, the story of the girl in the blue dress who died on Christmas Eve is a real tear jerker. Avoid that unless you have kleenex handy, or need to prep to act out a scene where you must cry a lot on stage or while making a movie. That's one of the pitfalls of posting so much, I've forgotten most all of it, and some posts are just ready to stab you in the heart. Hell, her story should be a "Lifetime Channel Hallmark movie" 

Anyway, back to this image, I just came across it on a facebook page of Mark On Railroad History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560323341975

I wondered what it was about this McKeen photo I liked... maybe it's simply that the rivets are showing.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/76677346@N04/12737445615/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/76677346@N04/page106

The McKeen Motor Cars were the first example of an all steel, self propelled train car design in the world. They were also the first known use of purposeful aerodynamic design in North America, and the first successful use of a motive power other than electric or steam, and in being so, they were the lead into the Diesel/Internal Combustion engine era.

The drop-center door invented by McKeen is still used in many trolley cars and buses today. The idea allows the best flow of traffic through two doors. The steps for getting up inside were recessed inside the body of the car, preventing snow, rain, hail, ice, dust, and other things from getting inside like the permanently open Pullman coaches. The Pullman coaches also had the doors on the ends of the car. This meant that in a collision with another train, the doorway would get crushed, and passengers were stuck inside until a hole was opened. McKeen put the door in the center where minimal collapsing would occur.

The knife-edge nose and semi-circle aerodynamic design was tested by the Germans and showed great reductions in drag. It wasn’t until years afterward that the the round shape was moved to the front, and the point to the back, which, ironically, proved more efficient

https://onceuponatown.tumblr.com/post/182334402220/various-motor-cars-from-the-mckeen-motor-car

Walla Walla, Wash. Sept. 27th, 1910. McKeen Motor Car No. 3. 70 ft long, seats 90 passengers. 200 HP engine.

On level track will make 70 miles per hour.
In the Picture is shown Master William H. Farley the Little King.

https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/railroad-photographs-incl-view-of-oregon-railroad-and-navigation-company-locomotive-in-walla-walla-washington-3192263

a McKeen, Southern Pacific #7, heading overseas

https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/photos/a.279344208861575.65879.270011713128158/1296771673785485/?type=3&theater

McKeen motor car in a city that no longer is above water, its now under Shasta Lake

At one time Kennett, Ca, had 40 saloons, dozens of trade stores, a hotel, hospital, a schoolhouse– it even had an opera house– that is, before it was sitting at the bottom of the huge man-made Lake Shasta. Kennett is now completely invisible, buried as deep as 400 feet below the water’s surface. There is no record of any public hearings to ask Kennett residents their opinion.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2017/03/29/once-a-californian-boom-town-now-a-sunken-city-at-the-bottom-of-a-lake/

a McKeen motor car has been found in Anchorage Alaska, and returned to San Diego for restoration, as it was once part of the San Diego Cuyamaca and Eastern Railway

the last surviving lady of the the San Diego, Cuyamaca and Eastern Railway is finally going to start her restoration in Ramona, a small town on the North East edge of San Diego https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/  and 17 yr old Madison Kirkman is about to see his dreams become a reality. Eighteen months ago, the California teen launched a plan to restore one of the very last McKeen motorcars on earth.

During WWII, the car was modified in Alaska, as a Combine and had the “Knife-Edge” nose cut of and a round end was attached like the back end of the car. There it served on the 714th Railway Battalion between Fairbanks and College before being used as a mobile post-exchange by the Army during the war.

http://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former-loco/JC-mckeen.html

https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/posts/869543669841623 for a gallery of the interior

here is is when new


http://www.mckeencar.com/gallery-2/s/san-diego-cuyamaca-eastern-railway/
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/04/18/since-streamliners-may-present-1910-mckeen-motor-car/2/

Baggage Car for McKeen Motor Car

and here is a Union Pacific Trailer Car for comparison

https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway?fref=nf

and if this is your first time hearing of a McKeen motor car, here is what one looked like, below

https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/
http://www.mckeencar.com/

Dennis just sent me the link to the McKeen at the Nevada State Railway Museum, this was the Virginia and Truckee Railway Motor Car #22

if you were to see the photo below, and no one told you what this was, I don't think anyone would able to guess what it was

Photos from http://vft.org/Museums/McKeenRailMotorCar/McKeen.html  thanks to Dennis!

Two unpowered McKeen trailers survive; one is a storage shed in St. Helena, California. while the other is at the Illinois Railway museum.  https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/

McKeen Motor Car #1

 for the Salem Falls and Western Railway, Oregon. Card postmarked August 10, 1910.

The SF&W was incorporated in 1901 and ran from Dallas Oregon to West Salem Oregon.

 This particular motor car delivered the U.S. Mail and handled the Wells Fargo Express business on the rail line. Southern Pacific purchased the line in 1912.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Antique-Images-from-the-Collection-of-Michael-J-Semas/319722608043803?fref=nf

McKeen Motorcar, the 1st I've seen with a trailer

Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway?fref=nf

McKeen motor car photo poster sized photo on the wall in O's restaurant

LaJolla and Pacific Beach are smaller communities just North of San Diego on the coast, below that it says "Ramona's Home" and this refers to "Old Town" San Diego, the first settlement of Spanish in California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramona

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/collections/streetcar/streetcar.htm

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/San_Diego_Electric_Railway

https://www.facebook.com/groups/yachtclubdesavionsdelaroute/permalink/10155196477434556/

and when the postcard is superimposed over the current photo of the LaJolla hotel, the Cabrillo, it looks like the above

https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar/posts/pfbid02PY69ubtGNKa1eJKpQARPjcop8ZTCAHH7dSBH8poHUbQdcAub7CU9dDA79ecd9v8yl