By Railfan & Railroad Staff

The restoration of a stock car that appeared in the 1973 action film “Emperor of the North” has hit the halfway mark in Texas. 

The Galveston Railroad Museum has been restoring Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific stock car 105031. The car was built in 1928 as one of 486 of its type used on the Milwaukee Road. After years of hauling livestock, the car gained a bit of notoriety when it appeared in “Emperor of the North.” In the movie, Lee Marvin acting as Hobo A1 escapes from the burning car after being locked in by the vicious conductor, played by Ernest Borgnine. The movie was filmed on the Oregon, Pacific & Eastern, which had acquired the stock car from the Milwaukee. 

In the early 1980s, the fire-damaged car was repaired and it was moved to the Galveston Railroad Museum. In 2000, historian Don Harper started an effort to restore the car and some work has been done in the decades since. Interest was renewed recently after the museum got a $10,000 grant to continue work. Now the museum is raising funds to continue work including floor removal and replacement, frame cleaning, painting and lettering. The museum would eventually like to use the car as part of an interactive exhibit about the movement of livestock by rail, complete with a sound system of cow noises to replicate what the car might have sounded like when it was rolling down the track. 

For more information and to learn how to help, visit galvestonrrmuseum.org.