The Milwaukee Road had a number of various types of motor cars over the years including some General Electric "wind-splitters" and steam powered units rebuilt from older passenger cars. These were gone long before my time. But there were others who took photos.

5900 was built by General Electric in December 1912, #3754, with a Wason body under order 12900. It was originally number 1. It was retired in 1932 and rebuilt as line car X935018.

5902 was built by General Electric in December 1912, #3756, with a Wason body under order 12900. It was originally number 3. It was retired in 1932.

5903 was built by General Electric in December 1912, #3757, with a Wason body under order 12900. It was originally number 4. It was rebuilt in July 1933 with a Winton engine and retired in 1947.

Next are cars 5925 thru 5929. The bodies were built by Standard Steel Car under order 307 and powered by Electro-Motive Corp. in March, 1928, with builder numbers 219 thru 223. Car 5925 looks as if it was just shopped, but waiting for a power truck. It looks rather shiny, and it still has the RPO section. 5927 had lost its radiators by the time it was in the storage line.

The next group was virtually identical. The bodies for 5930 thru 5934 came from Standard Steel Car under the same order and were also built by Electro-Motive Corp. in March, 1928, with builder numbers 251 thru 255. 5932 was rebuilt with a diesel engine in 1935, but I don't have a photo of it. 5930 was the "regular" on the Milwaukee to Janesville line. In the Waukesha photo, you can see the agent throwing a mail sack into the RPO door while the express messenger watches. 5933 obviously hit something to end it's career on the Milwaukee dead line. The RPO section has been blanked out. It appears that 5934 was retired a year earlier with the RPO section intact.

At the same time, another group, 5935 thru 5939, with bodies by Pullman under order 6120, were built by Electro-Motive in April, 1928, with builder numbers 256 thru 260. These cars were only 55 tons compared to the 73 tons of the Standard Steel cars. They also included a passenger section. 5936 was rebuilt as a trailer, but the only photo I have is one which apparently was taken before the conversion.

In 1931, two cars were purchased from Railway Locomotor Co. These were high pressure steam cars with flash boilers and steam drive. One was built in 1929 and 1931. The bodies came from Pullman with order numbers 6228 and 6287. They were not a great success as 5941 and 5942 were retired in 1938 and 1939.

On August 15, 1941, the Milwaukee purchased two cars from the Southern Pacific. The bodies were built by Pullman under order 6297 and completed by Electro-Motive in March, 1930, with builder numbers 436 and 437. The first was Southern Pacific 6 which became 5940. The second car was built as Northwestern Pacific 902, which became SP 13, which became Milwaukee 5941. Both cars were rebuilt as line motors for the electrified division. X-670 was formerly 5940 and was scrapped February 24, 1958. X-671 was 5941 and was scrapped in 1965.

In 1948, the Milwaukee built two units in the Milwaukee shops. They were 1000 hp diesels mounted in a baggage car with a diesel front end. They were used to replace ten wheelers on runs out of Milwaukee and Austin, MN.

5900, built May, 1948. 5901, built June, 1948. Both were scrapped.

23 was a Dodge auto raier.

30 was a Dodge auto railer and given to MidContinent Railway Museum.

800, rail detector, was built by Buda.

Here are a couple of other photos. 5930 is shown coming into the Wauwatosa station on the Janesville train. In the background is one of the Milwaukee street cars which also ran to Wauwatosa and terminated across the tracks from the Milwaukee Road station. Within just a few blocks of this area was the garage in which Al Kalmbach began his publishing business in 1933. The second photo shows the 5900 ready to head to Berlin while the 192 is heading up the afternoon "Cannonball" to Watertown. I wonder who the MP was looking for. Remember, this was during the Korean War.

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