Princeton's Depot Baggage Cart Restored
March 2008
By Joel Stottrup, Princeton Union-Eagle
A bit of the area’s railroad past has
been restored and the public can view it during a presentation in the Mille Lacs County Historical Society (MLCHS)
museum March 9.
The presentation will run 1:30 to 3 p.m. and refreshments will be served. The focus of the presentation will be the newly-restored baggage cart once used when the museum building was a train depot.
The baggage cart was put into service to move pieces of freight between the landing in front of the former depot and the trains that once ran past.
Besides having a life at the depot, the baggage cart (also known as the Railway Express Agency wagon) once sat in front of a Princeton gas station owned by the Wicktor family.
The gas station was originally a Pure Oil facility from the time of its construction in 1955 until sometime in the 1970s when it became a Union 76 station.
It was originally owned by the late Clarence Wicktor and later went to son Russ Wicktor, of rural Princeton, until it was sold in 1975.
Russ Wicktor, reached last Friday, said he bought the baggage cart from the Great Northern Railway in 1972 and then donated it to the MLCHS in 1980.
Wicktor used the baggage cart to hold tires out in front of his gas station, which was located where the Princeton Auto Mart Cenex station now sits at the corner of Third Street and Rum River Drive.
Wicktor said the baggage cart was still in good condition when he donated it to the historical society but then watched it deteriorate over the years as it sat outside the depot building.
Sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s Burlington Northern stopped running trains on the tracks through Princeton and the tracks were torn up. The historical society eventually ended up with the building.
Wicktor said he felt badly that the baggage cart had deteriorated, saying he had understood the historical society was going to restore it.
Donated cost for materials and donated labor
Now the long-delayed restoration has taken place because of the craftsmanship of Richard and Cleone McCoy of Eden Valley with financial backing from WSB & Associates.
WSB is an engineering consulting firm to the city of Princeton.
McCoy, who works part time for WSB as a project inspector, was on the job inspecting the city street and utility main project near the Princeton museum last year when he spotted the dilapidated cart.
McCoy, reached by the Union-Eagle last week, said he asked the historical society at the time if he could have the remains of the cart since it had fallen apart.
But the MLCHS declined, historical society president Penny Quast agreeing that it needed to be restored, but the MLCHS wanted to keep it.
McCoy then talked to WSB engineer Mike Nielson about the idea of WSB donating the needed money to pay for the materials to restore the cart.
WSB and engineer Nielson gave the OK to the request and McCoy agreed to donate the restoration labor.
Barry Schreiber, with the MLCHS, provided photos of what the cart would have looked like when it was in good condition.
McCoy picked up the cart remains last fall and did the restoration off and on until finishing it close to a month ago.
McCoy said he didn’t feel quite qualified to do the job that was needed to make new wheels, so he got help for that from an Amish man in Harmony. Oak and hickory were used to make the four new wheels and a steam process was used to bend the wheels’ curved parts. McCoy’s wife, Cleone, helped with the painting and sanding.
McCoy retired from construction work in 2002 and since then has done part-time inspection for utility and street projects. That has allowed him, he said, to spend more time on his interest in restoring old farm machinery. McCoy also has draft horses.
The McCoy couple are scheduled to be at the presentation with the baggage cart. [ Back ]