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Matt Cosgro photo, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
The "gate cars" of the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company were prominent in Minneapolis and St. Paul for a long period. One of these gate cars is No. 1267, built by TCRT in its Snelling Shops in 1907. The H-6 series to which Car 1267 belongs, was the last production at TCRT's old 31st and Nicollet shop before the famed Snelling facility opened, but the line was moved in mid-production and was resumed with Car 1266 in September. Thus No. 1267 was the second car ever turned out at Snelling. The car was donated to Seashore in 1953 by Fred Albin Ossanna, Twin Cities Lines' controversial president. Ossanna had recently acquired the company via a hostile takeover and was then in process of liquidating the assets. It would go down in history as the largest dismantlement of a streetcar system over the shortest time. Some 400 miles of track and 700 streetcars were abandoned and scrapped in favor of diesel buses over a 22 month period. No. 1267 is a single end car, which can be operated from the front end only, and is arranged for rear entrance and exit. At the rear of the car are wide steps and a large platform with folding wire gates instead of doors.
No. 1267, which was one of the widest cars ever built for street use anywhere, measuring 9 ft. 2 1/2 in. across the sills, was the first car at Seashore to operate under its own power when the Museum's first electric generator was placed in service in December, 1953. Although Twin Cities Lines cars were well maintained, half a century of service in some of America's harshest winter weather operating conditions resulted in much hidden deterioration, but this car has been completely restored to become another crown jewel in The National Collection.
History from Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich
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