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'Train bar' will hit the rails for Kansas City train museum One-time nightspot, other cars will go south By LINDA SPICE Posted: Aug. 6, 2004
One of Milwaukee's most unusual nightspots, "the train bar," will be pulling out of Bay View soon to become part of a museum in Kansas City.
The once popular lounge car, formally known as the Great Northern, and 10 other antique railcars that sat with it along E. Stewart St. are set to become part of a train museum at Union Station Kansas City, which hopes to draw 250,000 visitors in its first year. "There's a nice tie - in with this collection to our 90-year-old train station here, and it fits very well with the story we want to tell," said Sean O'Byrne, interim director at Union Station Kansas City. Union Station Kansas City Inc. finalized the purchase of the late 1940s rail cars as well as 200,000 pieces of train memorabilia in a $650,000 deal with Milwaukee collector Henry Castro two weeks ago, according to Sarah Biles, spokeswoman for Union Station Kansas City. Neither Castro nor any of his representatives could be reached for comment. The cars could start rolling out as soon as Aug. 25, when the Kansas City Southern Railways begins moving them to Missouri. For now, the cars and railway artifacts are under constant security. Located near S. Hilbert and E. Stewart streets, Great Northern welcomed visitors who came to sip cocktails inside the art deco car from about 1987 until the lounge closed a couple of years ago. According to the Web site www.greatnorthernempire.net, the two-room buffet-lounge-observation car was built in 1950 by American Car & Foundry and is still in 100% original condition. Bill Rouleau, co-owner of Rush-Mor Records and a director on the board for the Bay View Business Association, recalled Thursday some of his first experiences with the train car bar in the late 1980s. "It always felt like you were in the middle of a 'Twilight Zone' episode in there," he said. "It was an odd experience to go in there, in a good way. There was a definite harkening back to the '30s and '40s type of feeling.". He recalled the bartender who demanded proper attire and etiquette. "He definitely didn't tolerate any nonsense," Rouleau said. "And if he liked you, he could be very charming. I did get a talking to once for wearing bowling shoes there. He said that wasn't proper attire for a gentleman." Biles, the spokesman for Union Station Kansas City, said the collection was sought as part of an effort at Union Station to bring in more tourists to the historic 1914 center, which fell into disrepair in the 1980s before being restored through a cultural sales tax and re-opening to the public in 1999. Residents' and visitors' requests to bring a train presence to the center were answered when Union Station officials became aware of the Milwaukee collection about two years ago. Those requests were followed by negotiations that ended with the recent sale. O'Byrne said the collection is "a wide array of the slice of life of the rail industry." "We hope that it provides a lot of good legacy for Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Road," he said. Rachel McCormick of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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