TREGO, Wis. — The Effie Dean — the “extra car” the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad acquired with its purchase of the Mark Twain Zephyr trainset — is currently receiving attention as the railroad’s work to restore the train continues.
On Friday, workers were installing a wall in the Effie Dean as part of work to make it a tavern-lounge car. The Effie Dean was originally a dinette-coach built in 1938 as an addition to the Pioneer Zephyr. It became surplus when Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry obtained the Pioneer Zephyr in 1960, but only took the original three-car train because of space limitations. The Burlington took the extra car, No. 500 and placed it into the Mark Twain Zephyr train set which was stored at West Burlington, Iowa, at the time.
“Being that it’s an articulated car it can only go into an articulated train, like the Mark Twain Zephyr,” says Wisconsin Great Northern president Greg Vreeland. “The two choices that the Burlington had were to either scrap the car or insert it into the MTZ.” It remained with the Mark Twain Zephyr through a series of private owners and was still part of the train when the Wisconsin Great Northern bought it on Feb. 17, 2020.
The car was named the Effie Dean by previous owners Ron Lorenzini and Dan Karupske, to honor the wife of Albert Dean, the original designer of the Burlington Zephyrs.
The Becky Thatcher, originally the Mark Twain Zephyr baggage-express car, is also nearing completion as a self-guided, walk-through display car, which tells the story of the operation of the Burlington Route’s unique Zephyrs.
Lead carpenter Bob Heil is working on the Zephyr after previously reconditioning nine cars for the Bed & Breakfast, Dinner Train, and Santa Train in his three and a half years at the Wisconsin Great Northern.
“It’s just making it all work,” Heil says. “The wiring is crazy because we had to do everything with new materials. It has been interesting.’’ Heil says said he has used sign board for added strength in the Zephyr’s walls,
along with oak and poplar and ¼-inch Masonite in the curved parts of the car ceilings.
The five trucks for the trainset are being dissembled, sandblasted, inspected, and repaired offsite in a WGN garage.
“I’m happy; the sooner we get these cars done, the quicker we can get the trucks out of the garage,’’ says Alexander Vreeland, 11-year-old son of Greg and Mardell Vreeland, who started the WGN in 1997.
“I’ve helped with staining and varnishing wood, painting flooring, and the selection of tile in the vestibules and restrooms,’’ Alexander says during a walking tour and Trains News Wire interview.
Everyone involved in the project is aware they are part of something significant.
Walking through the half-completed Becky Thatcher, WGN employee Lance Epach says, “This is kind of the Holy Grail of streamliner trains.’’
Alexander Vreeland is an amazing well spoken young man. He is the same age as my grandson, who will turn 12 on 15 May. Good job! Alexander.