Found Old Trailer - Can not identify Serial # or Model

[ModestoChris]

Greetings
I have acquired an old Airstream.
It is on blocks, it appears to be from the mid-50s
The Serial # is # 35 1002
Does anyone have any ideas?
I have looked through all of the serial # registries I can find.
Any info would be great.
Thank you
Chris

P.S. I apologize if this post has appeared before. These errored out when I posted them.
Chris

[Bubba L]

The serial number doesn’t make sense to me. It has a 7 panel front end cap. I think AS went to 7 panels in 1958. Interesting looking monster AS. Good luck and keep us posted on any info you come across. Bubba

[overlander63]

That looks like a 35' commercial build. Airstream built quite a few of them for companies like railroads, that would carry them to a remote location, and use them as offices/bunks/bathrooms.

[blickcd]

Looks pretty good on the outside, considering the age.

Do you have any interior photos to share? It would be interesting to see the floor plan, though the interior may have been changed over the decades.

[kdickinson]

Agree with Overlander. One of our chapter members brought an example of a 35' (or longer) Airstream used by a railroad to a rally a couple years ago. It looked a lot like the one you have the pictures of. He had found it by happenstance in eastern Colorado and made an offer that was accepted. It was pretty rough inside and out but he was using it to sleep in at the rally and it was mostly livable but needed to be refurbed top to bottom. What stood out to me was it sat high off the ground on what looked like automotive leaf springs. I asked him if that was a modification and he said he didn't think so and thought it was originally built that way because the trailers were pulled by large trucks and were pulled into areas that did not include improved roads. That seems a bit non-intuitive to me because I would expect a railroad would be more likely to mount the trailers on a flatbed car but then again perhaps these went into areas where the tracks were not useable and were in need of repair. Or they were used as mobile offices where a team would stay for a few days at a time.

[Starlight Mike]

Interesting. Big and old is about all I can add, but I would love to follow the project. Keep us posted and warm up the check book. Have fun!

[twolanehwy]

Love the rear and front door....ahhhh air movement.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by kdickinson

Agree with Overlander. One of our chapter members brought an example of a 35' (or longer) Airstream used by a railroad to a rally a couple years ago. It looked a lot like the one you have the pictures of. He had found it by happenstance in eastern Colorado and made an offer that was accepted. It was pretty rough inside and out but he was using it to sleep in at the rally and it was mostly livable but needed to be refurbed top to bottom. What stood out to me was it sat high off the ground on what looked like automotive leaf springs. I asked him if that was a modification and he said he didn't think so and thought it was originally built that way because the trailers were pulled by large trucks and were pulled into areas that did not include improved roads. That seems a bit non-intuitive to me because I would expect a railroad would be more likely to mount the trailers on a flatbed car but then again perhaps these went into areas where the tracks were not useable and were in need of repair. Or they were used as mobile offices where a team would stay for a few days at a time.

They needed to be a little high-riding, so the rear wouldn't drag if they had to be hauled up a ramp, and onto a flatcar.

[66Overlander]

You have acquired the second of two 1958 35' Airstreams built for Western Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in January 1958. None were built in 1959. Three dozen more 35' were built in 1960.

On a broader note, Airstreams commercial division built trailers in a variety of lengths ranging from 27' to 40' mostly for railroads and mostly in the early to mid 1960s. The two 1958 35-footers may have been the first such trailers built and delivered.