Midwest Central Railroad now has a boxcar

By SALLY Y. HAYES

Mt. Pleasant News

Shortly after 5 p.m. yesterday Matt Crull of Mt. Pleasant and Dan Hagist of Wellman rolled into McMillan Park with a narrow gauge boxcar in tow. Crull is the president of the Midwest Central Railroad and Hagist is a volunteer with the organization.

The Midwest Central Railroad traded two flat cars with the Georgetown Loop Railroad for the boxcar. This is the same organization that the Shay engine came from earlier this year.

?This has blossomed into an immediate working relationship between the two organizations. We can do things that will benefit each group,? Crull stated when talking about the Georgetown Loop Railroad.

Despite being 831 miles apart, the two organizations have been working together since 2010.

?It took six months of negotiations to get it (the trade) all settled,? Crull said as he stretched his legs following the drive from Colorado. The trade is temporary, Crull explained.

The narrow gauge boxcar is the only one of its kind at McMillan Park.

It is a called a ?narrow gauge? because the tracks that it runs on are just three feet wide, while standard rails are four feet and eight and one half inches apart. The narrow gauge is used in the steep, curvy trails of the mountains and was cheaper, according to Crull.

Crull estimates that the boxcar is from ?probably the really late 1800s or really early 1900s. I haven?t got that far in researching it yet.?

The boxcar has a dual purpose for the Midwest Central Railroad. ?It is a museum piece for one. And it will provide storage for The Midwest Haunted Rails and the North Pole Express. As those events grow, we?re running out of room to store all of the decorations,? Crull said.