Des Moines & Minnesota Coach No. 1
Des Moines & Minnesota Coach No. 1 was originally built in May of 1872 by Jackson & Sharp for the Iowa Eastern Railroad. This marks it with the distinction of being from the first order for narrow gauge coaches placed by an Iowan railroad. In June of 1874, the coach was sold to the Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad, along with a baggage-passenger combination car, and the "Diamond Jo"—a Grant 2-6-0. In 1883, Chicago & Northwestern purchased the DM&M, and by 1885, the old DM&M had been standard-gauged in its entirety.
While the immediate history of the coach post-DM&M becomes somewhat murky, we know that by October of 1896, C&NW had transferred the coach (now lettered C&NW and numbered 2743) to the Fennimore, WI, C&NW-owned branchline.
That brings us to how any remnants of DM&M Coach No. 1/C&NW Coach No. 2743 ended up surviving - in the 1960's or 1970's, the coach body was found on a farm. Jim Nickoll, an avid railroad historian, made extensive drawings of the coach body. These drawings were published, and Paul Eblen came to rescue the remains after discovering of their existence. Recently, MNGPS and Paul worked out an agreement that resulted in MNGPS bringing the DM&M Coach No. 1 remains back to Iowa.
Work to reconstruct the coach will be posted on this page as time progresses. Extensive CAD drawings based on Jim Nickoll's drawings have been started, some of the forged remains have received attention, and the process of sawing ash for the body framing has begun.
Photo Above: DM&M Coach No. 1 at the rear end of a short consist. It is believed that this photo was taken after some of the DM&M equipment was transferred to Wisconsin.
Photo courtesy the Patee House Museum
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C&NW Coach No. 2743 (ex DM&M No. 1) was caught in a big flood in 1908. Here it is after the waters receded.
Jim Nickoll Collection
C&NW Coach No. 2743 (ex DM&M No. 1) was caught in a big flood in 1908. Here it is after the waters receded.
Tom Bewberry Collection
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C&NW Coach No. 2743 (ex DM&M No. 1) at the rear end of a consist. All equipment in this photo is ex-DM&M.
Taken by Larry Foht on October 3, 1896