The museum is attempting to raise $50,000 through Go Fund Me and grants to move the car by truck and rail to St. Paul, where it would join other former Great Northern streamlined passenger cars that are part of the museum’s Empire Builder project. The goal is to assemble a 1950s vintage edition of the train. The museum already owns three coaches from the 1951 edition of the Empire Builder.
Great Northern and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy owned six Ranch cars used on the 1951 version of the Chicago-Seattle/Portland Empire Builder. To celebrate the Montana ranchlands the train passed through, American Car & Foundry built the six cars in 1950 with a Western theme. The cars were named and numbered: No. 1240 Crossley Lake, No. 1241 Running Crane Lake, No. 1242 Hidden Lake, No. 1243 Iceberg Lake (CB&Q), No. 1244 White Pines Lake, and No. 1245 Whitefish Lake. The cars served as rolling coffee shops/restaurants, and were decorated with rustic wooden timbers, murals of ranch scenes, and brown and white leather seats. Toward the ceiling was the “G Bar N” brand, registered by Great Northern with the State of Montana in Helena on June 8, 1951. Four of the Ranch cars survive.
The museum’s goal is to have the funding in place by Dec. 31, 2018. All funds donated on the campaign go directly to the nonprofit Minnesota Transportation Museum and are tax deductible.
To make a contribution, go to www.gofundme.com/GN1244.
