02/04/2026
Last month we promised more info on the railcars stored inside the fence at the south end of our property.
This is the story of Wisconsin Central coach 1954.
The 1910s were a transition time for North American passenger rail equipment. Steel was becoming the choice material for construction over the traditional wood. It began between 1900 and 1910 with combining wood bodies and steel under frames. After 1910, car builders began making the entire structure, except for the roof and interior finish using steel.
Car builder Barney & Smith of Ohio built Wisconsin Central 1954 in 1911. It was part of a group of the first steel passenger cars purchased by WC. At the time, WC was a subsidiary of the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, commonly known as the “Soo Line”.
Below is a Soo Line diagram of the car from the 1950s as well as a Soo Line Historical & Technical Society photo of it in service in 1963.
As built, the car featured a wood roof over steel framing and stained glass transom windows above the main windows. Stained glass windows in the clerestory opened to allow ventilation.
In the 1940s, WC1954 was modernized with an updated interior and air conditioning, but retaining its opening windows. It was used all over the Soo Line system in passenger service.
Soo quit passenger service in the mid-to-late 1960s. Many of its passenger cars were retained for use in maintenance-of-way service as bunk cars for workers. WC1954 was transferred to this service in the late 1960s.
By the early 1980s, use of bunk cars on most railroads was phased out in favor of putting work crews up in area hotels/motels and the old passenger bunk cars were retired.
Around the mid -1980s, Minnesota Transportation Museum acquired a number of old bunk cars from the Soo Line including WC1954 and stored them at the Twin Cities Arsenal in Arden Hills, MN. In the late 1990s, the facility closed and the equipment had to move. GSRM acquired WC1954 and another car from MTM at this time.
When GSRM acquired WC1954, its roof was already starting to fail. Before volunteers could stabilize the roof, it collapsed. In the early 2000s, a group of volunteers began an attempt to scrap the car, then stopped. Thus a big section of the wall is missing.
Since that time, the car has been sitting inside the fence waiting and earning us mentions on various “abandoned” social media sites.
Because of the WC1954’s rather historic nature, being one of only a small number of Barney & Smith cars to still exist and it being one of the first steel WC passenger cars, volunteers have decided it’s time to save it.
Beginning this winter, volunteers will begin the task of clearing away all the debris of the collapsed roof from inside and salvaging as much of the steel roof framing as possible. Next step is to evaluate the best way to repair the damage done by past scraping efforts.
We hope to start rebuilding the missing wall section and working to reframe the roof sometime this spring or early summer. The goal for this phase of WC1954’s restoration is to get the exterior restored to a weather tight status and looking presentable. The interior will require major work, to be accomplished at a future time.
We have a lot of exciting projects planned for 2026. If you’d like to be part of the work or just want to support us financially, check out our website www.GSRM.org to find out how you can help.
With your help, we can bring WC1954 back from the edge of extinction.
Thank you!
