I think this photo was taken at the logging museum at Hayward, Wisconsin, which also had a Shay on display at the time. The Shay eventually came to Mid-Continent at North Freedom, but what happened to the cars?


http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?o ... _Train.jpg

They went to someplace called "Historyland" in North Dakota for a while, then, when that place failed, were purchased by the Escanaba & Lake Superior, and are now indoors under lock and key in Wells, MI. I've been trying to obtain access for quite some time, to no avail, but I really can't argue with someone doing as they please with their private collection. After all, having them disappear into the black hole at Wells is saving them from all who would want to make them Amtrak compliant, so when they finally re-emerge, they'll be a complete matching train of heavyweight cars, just as they were when last in service. The are about seven or eight Soo Line cars total: mail & express, coaches, a diner, a home built lounge, a former Pullman sleeper, and what may well be the last extant Barney & Smith built steel sleeper.

Are these cars stored in the former P&H plant in Wells that also houses the Baldwin Sharks, MILW skytop and dome, PRR Brill Gas-Electric and other goodies? This is a good place for this equipment, I look forward to the day when it can be restored and full documentation.

However, I really hope that the building is in good shape - a collaspe would be a disaster.

Yup. The building doesn't appear to be in bad shape; the whole P&H complex is an industrial park now, but I'm not certain if the E&LS is simply a tenant, or has an ownership stake in the property. Either way, when the situation changes, I sure hope that a good home is found for the cars, that they don't just end up outside.

Well, as it turns out, you *can* visit it now, in a fashion. A boat launch park has gone up right beside the Baldwin dead line, with only a fence separating the treasure stash from the real world.

As for the rest of the "collection", I have friends who know the owner of most of the jewels, and I am assured that the collection is safe from scrapping, etc. He has apparently developed reason to be distant from the rest of the railfan community (a relationship not helped by many Baldwin burglaries in the 1970s and 1980s), but the jewels are supposedly promised to good homes.

That may well be, but it would sure be nice if access could be arranged for purposes of some serious research. The Soo Line Historical & Technical Society would like to issue models of some of these cars. I know, models sound frivolous, but the sale of the models not only raises funds for the society’s various projects, but heightens the awareness of just how much there is that still needs to be preserved. Field research for the model project would likely expand into articles about the cars and their history in The SOO, the soceity’s magazine. Most significant pieces where there really is no other data source is the ca. 1913 Barney & Smith sleeper, the ca. 1914 Barney & Smith café – parlor, the ca. 1921 AC&F diner, and the café – parlor rebuilt from a ca. 1921 AC&F sleeper… possibly one of the last non-Pullman heavyweight sleepers built.

This website has some wonderful photos of the E&LS collection and roundhouse at Wells, MI.

http://www.railroadmichigan.com/

This site has a view of the Baldwin sharks and what may be a few of the nee-Soo cars at the P&H facility in Escanaba, MI in 1985 - shown before they were moved indoors.

http://user.cybrzn.com/~vindalu/gallery2-els.htm