Transportation Lesson #9: U.S. Largest Wooden Passenger Collection at Mid-Continent Railway Museum

One of the thrills of traveling in China was the opportunity to take the Shanghai Maglev (magnetic levitation train), which we called to bullet train, from the Shanghai Pudong International airport to Longyang Road Station.  We could have take a taxi, but the $13 round-trip ride on the fastest commercial electric train in the world offered an adventure.  It has a maximum speed of 430 kmph.  The passenger train had an electric sign that announced the train speed, so we had fun just watching the speed climb.  It began service in 2007 and my co-workers and I took a ride in 2011.  The train has transported over 50 million passengers, so there's many people around the world sharing the story of adventure this high-speed passenger train.

You don't need to travel to China to teach your kids about the Golden Age of U.S. train travel (1900-1940's).  You can travel to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin.  Owning 34 passenger cars, this museum earns the title of the United States largest wooden passenger museum collection.  The museum offers public visitation May thru October on weekends with no admission (donations appreciated).  They also offer train rides for a fee, three times a day.

The indoor/outdoor museum has two coach sheds.  In these sheds, I appreciated the historical stories and ability to peek into the glamorous interiors.  I found three passenger cars especially interesting:

1) Copper Range 

Difficult to miss this train with it's orange color.  The museum restored the car to the standard Milwaukee Road orange paint, the color it would have donned in 1911.  The American Car & Foundary (Jeffersonville, Indiana) built the train in 1903.  The train transported people during the Golden Age in Copper Country of Upper Michigan and operated until 1946.  Peek inside and see the restored gold leaf striping and oak veneer ceiling.

2) Milwaukee Lake Shore & Western Railway

Built by the Barney & Smith Co. in Dayton, Ohio, this train first served the northeast regions of Wisconsin (1872-1893).  The Chicago & North Western Railway purchased the train and the train retired in 1930.  Peek inside to see the polished cherry wood and curved panels.  Since I worked in Dayton and traveled by train into Chicago for work years later, I found this train story feeling close to home.

3) Wisconsin Fish Commission (labeled Badger #2)

The sign for this train especially caught my attention, connecting trains, fish, and the World's Fair.  The introduction explained need that led to the combination of passenger transportation with fish transportation, using steel under frames to carry fish.  The story begins with the problem "In 1873 the U.S. Fish Commission began experimenting with shipping live fish across the country by rail.  Like many other states, Wisconsin began hauling eggs, fry and fingerlings in milk cans stacked in baggage cars hauled by local railways.  It was an expensive and labor-intensive journey often complicated by heat, cramped conditions, and missed connections.  A better means to safely transport more fish, greater distances, was needed..."  The restoration of the car cost nearly $1 million and you can see it for free.