# A Trip to Duncans Mills



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Today, Mike Reilley and I drove up to Duncans Mills (originally Duncan's Mill), the original north-most destination of the North Pacific Coast Railroad, and located 77 miles north of San Francisco on the north side of the Russian River, and several miles inland from the coast.  This was originally the site of a large sawmill.  This lumbering area was the real reason the backers of the NPC wanted to build a railroad, as they had timber interests here and wanted an efficient and cost-effective way to get their sawn lumber to market.  Once the railroad reached this point, it also became a big tourist attraction, and a large ornate hotel was built here.  A town grew up about the mill and hotel.

The original NPC depot is long gone, as is the sawmill and hotel, but a depot remains - the Northwestern Pacific depot built in 1909.  It's now a museum of sorts, but it wasn't open today.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

In addition to the depot, several pieces of rolling stock are also restored and displayed here.  The coach in the background was built by St. Louis Car Company, though not for the NPC.  Two boxcars are also resorted and displayed along with the coach, but these too are not originally NPC equipment.



















This is why I went... North Pacific Coast caboose No. 2.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Little is known about this car, and a few existing photos shows her in various states of remodeling, but she's been restored as faithfully as possible under the circumstances.  The caboose was built some time in the 1880s or before.  There is some evidence that she may have been a work crew car originally used while building the railroad, and later converted to a caboose.  There is also some question about her original color.  Boone Morrison published an article on her in the Mar/Apr '99 Gazette when he build an HOn3 model of her for his NPC-based North Coast Railroad.  I intend to scratchbuild an Fn3 model to pull behind #21.










As Boone Morrison points out in his article, the cut-in passenger car style steps are a later addition.  Originally, the end platform extended the full width of the body and a strap step was bolted to the side sill like a flatcar.










Not all equipment here is original.  The link and pin couplers came from Roaring Camp.  The brake wheel probably came from D&RGW equipment.  However, the door knob is original Carter Brothers as evidenced by the star in the middle of the knob.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

A couple shots of the interior taken through the end window...



















And a shot from inside...










We got lucky!!  Mike and I took many more photos with a yardstick included, and we took quite a few measurements. While we were doing so, a guy came up and asked what we were doing.  We told him I intended to build a model of the caboose.  Turned out the guy was the man who restored her.  He brought out a couple of photo albums documenting the restoration process, and let us inside.  He was quite a fountain of information, and very nice.
 
You'll note that there are no seats of any way of sitting and looking out the cupola.  No evidence was found during restoration that there ever were.  Apparently, the cupola served more as a clerestory and is there to let in light - not as the brakeman's lookout we're so familiar with.  This lends support to the work car origin theory.

On the way back, we went through Occidental, Camp Meeker, and Freestone - three towns passed through by the NPC on its way to Duncan's Mill.  I've wanted to visit these towns for 20+ years, and I finally got to do so!  Thanks for the company Mikey!


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow! Outstanding restoration on that caboose. You guys were very fortunate to have the fella there who did the work.  Pretty nice little depot too.


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## Alan in Adirondacks (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight, 

Thanks to you and Mike for making the trek and posting all the pictures. It looks like just the right thing to go behind your #21. 

I love the picture of the Carter Brothers door knob on the end! 

Best regards, 

Alan


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

You wanted to visit there for  20  and I lived there for 10.     I lived in Monti Rio,   Hascinda, near the iron Bridge,  which was oringally a  train bridge  converted to a  auto bridge.  and in Forestville.     I commuted from  Monte Rio to  San Francisco  everyday for a while till I moved to Forestville.   The comute was murder but the week ends were great.

 

Did you see the Caboose at   Korbell  vinyards?  

If you took  RIVER ROAD off the  101 north of  Santa Rosa  It follows pretty much the  road bed  of the old  Rail Road.

At Goat Rocks  State Park  There use to be some  rusting  rail road trucks  amongst the rocks.   Also there was some  of the old rails.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Twas a very good day. If you're looking for this place on Google Earth...it's the old name...Duncans Mills...with the s'es. 

As we drove toward Occidental (which we really didn't find because we'd begun to distrust da Bitch -- Dwight's TomTom nav system (it was right Dwight when it was taking us on that wild goose chase around what we thought was Occidental)) we drove past a lot of "driveways" that crossed over the creek next to the road. The "driveways" were bridges that were made from old steel frames of flatcars and such. They still had the reporting marks for the cars on them. 

We also found some old water tanks for the railroad....and a LOT neat old buildings...many of them restored.


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## Paul Norton (Jan 8, 2008)

The building across from the station looks like an interesting structure. Did you get any photos of it?


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

The building across from the station looks like an interesting structure. Did you get any photos of it?
I didn't Paul. I thought perhaps it was the old freight station, but David (the guy who restored the caboose) told us they built it, so it isn't original. There's a row of three false front buildings across the street, one of which is a General Store. I don't know how old these are, but Duncan's Mill original had a large false front Company Store. I've seen old photos of it, and the General Store now there clearly isn't the old Company Store. I'd actually like to find out when some of this stuff was built.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

The "Railway Express" building..










The Post Office









Restored hotel on the way to Occidental


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*Nice Photos Dwight.   They have done a lot of work around there sense we were there in the mid 70th.  There"s a lot of logging history around that area to.

**Love the in side photo.. Did some one give you the key to the caboose??  It was alway lock up. 
Glad you found the guy that worked on it. You didn't get his name did you??
 Hey.... Who that guy walking with not name tag where the pass cars are?????????? laf. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif

Like John J. we lived in that area,  in Grerneville and was part owner of the Hexagon House Lodge up in the woods 3 miles North of Grerneville .. 
We know the Bridge  that John J. talking about well as we had to go to Santa Rose for supply's almost daily.  In the winter time was the only way out of Grerneville  do to flash flooding if town wasn't under 3 or 4 foot of water..

Not trying to add other stuff to this post of Dwight but,  just had to ask  John J. Do  you  remember Kobel Winery across the Hy from them, when after a flash flood all of the Grape Vines has plastic and crap stuck all over them.  Looked like a hippie decorations when the sun came back out.... Noel*


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

5th picture down Dwight is that Mikey??????? The guy in the picture looks grumpy enough to be him??? Is it? LOL The Regal


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Yep, that's Mikey in the 1st, 4th, and 5th photos.  

Noel - The guy's first name was David - can't remember his last name. He got the key from his office (the depot) and let us in.


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## Skip (Jan 2, 2008)

I have no way to know, but I would suspect the caboose started service as a caboose, then perhaps was relegated to maintenance service, at which time the support structure for viewing out the doghouse was likely removed, to make more room inside... Any old nail or mounting holes in that floor under the doghouse (assuming an original floor, which it might not be.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Nope...can't tell if there had even been any structure in the middle as the whole inside was rebuilt. But we did see the reconstruction photo album...and you could see the additional windows (filled) from when it was a crew car. Further, the stove is in middle of the car...where the cupola is. There was even a hand grab on the ceiling above the stove to hold onto when working in front of the stove...further evidence that they hadn't been any cupola structure there. But...ya can't be for sure...cause that car was completely disassembled for the restoration...and had gone through numerous rebuilds while it was in active service.


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## Joe McGarry (Jan 4, 2008)

Really an outstanding post. Thanks Dwight and Mikey for sharing.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2008)

seems, that you had a nice tour. 

just two questions, how long is that car? 
and the doorknob - was it normal, that they were that high in the door? 

korm 
.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

just two questions, how long is that car?
30 feet 6-1/4 inches over the end sills, 26 feet 4-1/2 inches over the car body. 
and the doorknob - was it normal, that they were that high in the door?
Interesting point. If you look at the 3/4 view (4th photo in my second post), you can see that the door knob on the other end is quite a bit lower. 

Something else I found interesting is the brake wheel on each end of the car, each controlling the truck on that end with no connection between the trucks. I can't remember ever seeing a car thus constructed, and I kinda doubt this was originally done that way. One of the needle beams had cutouts, obviously for rods to pass through. The other was solid with no such cutouts. I rather suspect the solid beam was a replacement. Much of the car has been replaced/modified over time and during restoration. 

I asked David about the dual brake wheels, and he grinned and said, "That's the way _we_ did it."  He also said the brake wheels are not original equipment, but were scrounged up somewhere else during restoration.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2008)

thank you. 
(and don't take me for a rivet-counter now...)


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## jmaurer1 (May 28, 2008)

Thanks for the inspiration! I've been thinking about doing a trip back up there to photograph the same caboose, but with the price of gas... Where did you find the water tanks (so I can include them in my trip...some time in the next month - promise)? Also, is there anything else that is a 'must see' on a trip back in time?


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## Tom Farin (Apr 3, 2008)

Dwight, 
I enjoyed your photos. 

My birthday present last year was to run the entire route of the NPC from Cazadero to Sausalito. I have an unpublished portion of my Web site containing photos of various communities. I had planned on bringing them up as I began work on the respective communities on my NPC gardern RR. Duncan Mills is one. But they fit in with your post, so here they are, beginning with Duncan Mills. 

Duncan Mills 

The bridge crossing the Russian River at Duncan Mills is across the original span of the NPC Howe Truss bridge crossing the river. There are some photos on the page. 

If you go through Occidental, the old Union Hotel has lots of interesting period photos on its walls including some RR photos. If you are thinking about taking the trip, plan to dine at the Union Hotel in Occidental. The food is good and the atmosphere will take you back to the old NPC days. 


Occidental 


One of the stores on the Occidental main drag is a crafty store with the usual potpouri and crafts. I don't recall the name of the store. But they have a huge poster for sale (around $10) of the Browns Canyon Bridge, one of the photos on this page. 


Freestone 


Oh, what the heck, here's the rest of the upper part of the tour. 

Cazadero 

Cazadero 


Elim Grove - site of the Austin Creek tragedy. 


Elim grove 


Camp Meeker 


Camp Meeker 


Keyes Estuary 


Keyes Estuary 


Point Reyes 


Point reyes 


Of course I started building the railroad from the opposite end. So my first two outdoor communities are San Anselmo and San Rafael. These are both cities today and not a whole lot is left from NPC days. 


I'll be building Sausalito inside. 


Tom


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Tom Farin on 06/01/2008 8:16 PM

Dwight, I enjoyed your photos. My birthday present last year was to run the entire route of the NPC from Cazadero to Sausalito. I have an unpublished portion of my Web site containing photos of various communities. I had planned on bringing them up as I began work on the respective communities on my NPC gardern RR. Duncan Mills is one. But they fit in with your post, so here they are, beginning with Duncan Mills. Duncan Mills The bridge crossing the Russian River at Duncan Mills is across the original span of the NPC Howe Truss bridge crossing the river. There are some photos on the page. If you go through Occidental, the old Union Hotel has lots of interesting period photos on its walls including some RR photos. If you are thinking about taking the trip, plan to dine at the Union Hotel in Occidental. The food is good and the atmosphere will take you back to the old NPC days. Occidental One of the stores on the Occidental main drag is a crafty store with the usual potpouri and crafts. I don't recall the name of the store. But they have a huge poster for sale (around $10) of the Browns Canyon Bridge, one of the photos on this page. Freestone Oh, what the heck, here's the rest of the upper part of the tour. Cazadero Cazadero Elim Grove - site of the Austin Creek tragedy. Elim grove Camp Meeker Camp Meeker Keyes Estuary Keyes Estuary Point Reyes Point reyes Of course I started building the railroad from the opposite end. So my first two outdoor communities are San Anselmo and San Rafael. These are both cities today and not a whole lot is left from NPC days. I'll be building Sausalito inside. Tom


Tom: What a fascinating historic re-creation project you have ahead of you! Some of those maps showing the rail yards will be quite helpful. I look forward to seeing the progress.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 03/23/2008 12:40 AM

Today, Mike Reilley and I drove up to Duncans Mills (originally Duncan's Mill), the original north-most destination of the North Pacific Coast Railroad, and located 77 miles north of San Francisco on the north side of the Russian River, and several miles inland from the coast.  This was originally the site of a large sawmill.  This lumbering area was the real reason the backers of the NPC wanted to build a railroad, as they had timber interests here and wanted an efficient and cost-effective way to get their sawn lumber to market.  Once the railroad reached this point, it also became a big tourist attraction, and a large ornate hotel was built here.  A town grew up about the mill and hotel.



The original NPC depot is long gone, as is the sawmill and hotel, but a depot remains - the Northwestern Pacific depot built in 1909.  It's now a museum of sorts, but it wasn't open today.


































My kind of trip. Thanks for the great photos.  It's good that someone brought this thread back up to the top.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Where did you find the water tanks (so I can include them in my trip...some time in the next month - promise)? Also, is there anything else that is a 'must see' on a trip back in time?
The water tanks are off to the righthand side of the road leading south from Duncans Mills to Occidental, Freestone, etc. Just follow that road and keep your eyes peeled.  

Great photos Tom!


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