{"nrhp_refnum":"78000363","name":"Track Bus No. 19","other_names":["Rail-Car No. 19","Rail Ambulance"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"CA 140","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Portal","county":"Mariposa County","state":"CA","lat":37.67504579800004,"lon":-119.78038112399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Track Bus No. 19 is a gas-powered rail vehicle built in 1919 for the Hetch Hetchy Railroad by A. Meisler and Sons of Sacramento, with an undercarriage by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. It is now held at the transportation museum at El Portal, Mariposa County, California.","why_significant":"The nomination argues local significance in transportation. It is one of the few surviving gasoline-powered rigs from the Hetch Hetchy Railroad, and its design was unique to that line. It served as both a passenger car and the project's ambulance.","narrative":"Track Bus No. 19 is a gasoline-powered rail vehicle built in 1919 for the Hetch Hetchy Railroad, the 68-mile line that carried construction materials to O'Shaughnessy Dam in Yosemite National Park. Built on a three-quarter-ton White truck chassis, it seated twelve passengers, had three doors on each side and leather side curtains, and was fitted out as an ambulance. The undercarriage, made by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, included a pony truck, rear wheel brakes and a self-contained turntable. It was painted red and black with gold lettering. It could reach 50 miles per hour and was the fastest of the railroad's gas-powered vehicles. The railroad needed such vehicles for crew transfers, emergency equipment deliveries and medical runs. The bus was sold in 1949 to a railroad historian, who stored it in a Modesto museum until the National Park Service provided space at El Portal. It was listed for its local transportation significance as a rare, unique survivor of the line.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1919)","architect_builder":"A. Meister and Sons, and San Francisco Municipal Railway","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition and unaltered; moved around 1960 and displayed at the transportation museum at El Portal.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.475993-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000363.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000363/3842fd35b9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000363/3842fd35b9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"John Crane","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hetch_Hetchy_Track_Bus_No._19.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Crane</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hetch_Hetchy_Track_Bus_No._19.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859772","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_Bus_No._19","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16901935"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/mariposa-county/track-bus-no-19-78000363/"}