Milwaukee Road stock car #105031, one of 486 of its class, was built in 1928. It is a 40-foot, 40-ton capacity car having a steel underframe, wood sides which are outside Z-bar braced, and wood ends. There are single wooden sliding doors, and the openings are 6′ wide by 8′ 3″ wide. The A-end has a small hatch near the top that was used for loading long pieces of lumber. It is the only stock car in the Museum’s collection.
Trivia: This car was featured in the movie “Emperor of the North” starring actors Lee Marvin and Keith Carradine, playing hobos, and Ernest Borgnine as a ruthless railroad conductor. In the movie, Marvin and Carradine are shown riding the rods of a stock car. That stock car, now in the collection of the Galveston Railroad Museum, is steel framed and didn’t need tie rods (used on wooden cars to keep everything tight). For the movie, holes were drilled in the frame and fake rods were added for the actors to ride on.
All the car is lacking is ballast – that’s where we need your help. Please consider donating toward the restoration completion. The resident steer is already right at home and serves as an official greeter (‘mooer’) to museum visitors.
