 |
| |
 Main Station and Museum of the Indiana Railway Museum | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | French Lick, Indiana |
| Reporting mark | IRM |
| Locale | Indiana |
| Dates of operation | 1961–present |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Indiana Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in French Lick, Indiana, United States, dedicated to preserving and displaying artifacts related to the history of railroads in Indiana.
The Indiana Railway Museum was founded in 1961 in the Decatur County town of Westport with one locomotive and three passenger cars. The museum relocated to Greensburg and then in 1978 to its present location in French Lick after the Southern Railway deeded a total of sixteen miles of right of way stretching from West Baden, Indiana, approximately one mile north of French Lick, to a small village named Dubois, to the south. [1]
The museum's collection includes more than 65 pieces of rolling stock and locomotives. The museum has three steam locomotives on display that are not operational and three operational diesel locomotives. Excursions are typically powered by a diesel locomotive. Usually, the train consists of an ALCO RS-1 or EMD GP16 pulling 3 ex Chicago and North Western Railroad bi-level commuter cars, a concession car, 4 ex Rock Island passenger cars, an ex Northern Pacific Budd dome car, and an ex Illinois Central caboose.
IRM #4 - ALCO RS-1 - Ex Algers, Winslow and Western Railway #4, Built as Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic #103 [2]
IRM #6 - GE 80 Ton - Ex US Navy #65-00356 [3]
IRM #78 - ALCO S-2 - Ex Michigan Southern #78 [4]
IRM #97 - Baldwin 2-6-0 - Built as Mobile and Gulf #97 [5]
IRM 101 - ALCO S-4 - Ex Algers, Winslow and Western Railway #1 [6]
IRM 208 [7] - Baldwin 2-6-0, built as Angelina and Neches River Railroad #208 [8]
IRM 1813 - EMD GP16 - Ex INRD 1813, built as Seaboard Air Line #1810 [9]
SFRTA 704 - Colorado Railcar DMU - Ex Tri Rail 704, acquired and delivered in 2024 along with unpowered cars 7001-7002. [10] [11]
SFRTA 706 - Colorado Railcar DMU - Ex Tri Rail 706, acquired and delivered in 2024. [12]
The museum owns 16 miles of an ex-Southern Railway and Monon line running from West Baden Springs in Orange County, through French Lick, then southwest to the towns of Cuzco and Dubois in Dubois County.
The track beyond Dubois is operated by the Dubois County Railroad, a for-profit subsidiary of the museum. The line interchanges with Norfolk Southern at Huntingburg. [13]
The museum operates the 10-mile stretch of the line between French Lick and Gradman as a heritage railroad known as French Lick Scenic Railway.
Excursions are based on a 20-mile round trip through portions of the scenic Hoosier National Forest and the 2200 foot Burton Tunnel and takes approximately 2 hours.
On occasion, the museum runs a train called the "Spirit of Jasper" in cooperation with the city of Jasper. The train operates out of the rebuilt Jasper train depot, and sometimes runs to French Lick with the "Jasper to French Lick Express". [14]
The Southern Pacific was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
The Monon Railroad, also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway from 1897 to 1971, was an American railroad that operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1971, and much of the former Monon right of way is owned today by CSX Transportation. In 1970, it operated 540 miles (870 km) of road on 792 miles (1,275 km) of track; that year it reported 1320 million ton-miles of revenue freight and zero passenger-miles.
The EMD SW1 is a 600-horsepower (450 kW) diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Corporation between December 1938 and November 1953. Final assembly was at EMD's plant at LaGrange (McCook) Illinois. The SW1 was the second generation of 3,402 cu in (55.75 L) switcher from EMD, succeeding the SC and SW. The most significant change from those earlier models was the use of an engine of EMD's own design, the then-new 567 engine, here in 600 hp (450 kW) V6 form. 661 locomotives of this design were built, with a gap in production between March 1943 and September 1945 due to World War II.
The EMD GP35 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1963 and December 1965 and by General Motors Diesel between May 1964 and January 1966. 1251 examples were built for American railroads, 26 were built for Canadian railroads and 57 were built for Mexican railroads. Power was provided by a turbocharged EMD 567D3A 16-cylinder engine which generated 2,500 horsepower (1,860 kW).
The ALCO RS-1 was a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by Alco-GE between 1941 and 1953 and the American Locomotive Company from 1953 to 1960. ALCO subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works built an additional three RS-1s in 1954. This model has the distinction of having the longest production run of any diesel locomotive for the North American market. The RS-1 was in production for 19 years from the first unit Rock Island #748 in March 1941 to the last unit National of Mexico #5663 in March 1960.
The Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, 55 miles (89 km) northwest of downtown Chicago.
The Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad is a class III shortline railroad operating on the Concord-Lincoln rail line in central New Hampshire, United States. The railroad consists of two distinct passenger operations, the Hobo Railroad, which offers passenger excursion trains in the White Mountains, and the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad, which operates passenger excursion trains along the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. In addition to passenger operations, the railroad owns the Lincoln Shops, a railroad equipment maintenance and repair facility located in Lincoln, New Hampshire.
The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is a railroad museum in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad, is a U.S. railroad offering service from Marquette, Michigan, to nearby locations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It began operations in 1896. The LS&I continues to operate as an independent railroad from its headquarters in Marquette.
The Monticello Railway Museum is a non-profit railroad museum located in Monticello, Illinois, about 18 miles west of Champaign, IL. It is home to over 100 pieces of railroad equipment, including several restored diesel locomotives and cars.
The EMD MRS-1 is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) in 1952. They were built with multigauge trucks and to a narrow loading gauge for service anywhere in the world in the event of war. Thirteen of the locomotives were built, with serial numbers 15873–15885. At almost $500,000 each in 1952 dollars, more than three times the price of a standard locomotive of the period, these were very expensive locomotives.
The Fort Eustis Military Railroad is an intra-plant United States Army rail transportation system existing entirely within the post boundaries of the United States Army Transportation Center and Fort Eustis (USATCFE), Fort Eustis, Virginia. It has served to provide railroad operation and maintenance training to the US Army and to carry out selected material movement missions both within the post and in interchange with the US national railroad system via a junction at Lee Hall, Virginia. It consists of 31 miles (50 km) of track broken into three subdivisions with numerous sidings, spurs, stations and facilities.
The Dubois County Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad serving Dubois County in southern Indiana, United States, and is a for-profit subsidiary of the Indiana Railway Museum, now better known as the French Lick Scenic Railway.
The ALCO MRS-1 is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company for the United States Army Transportation Corps. They were built with multigauge trucks and to a reduced loading gauge for service anywhere in the world in the event of war.
The ALCO RS-3m is a diesel-electric locomotive rebuilt from an ALCO RS-3 road switcher. These 98 locomotives were rebuilt to replace their original ALCO prime mover with the more reliable EMD 567B engine and fan assemblies taken from retired E8s. Many of these rebuilds were performed by the ex NYC DeWitt shop with 56 completed at the ex PRR Juniata shop. The RS3m rebuild program started in 1972 and continued until 1978 under Conrail.
Lake State Railway is a railroad operating in the Saginaw Valley and northeastern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The railroad moves large quantities of aggregate and limestone, as well as coal, grain, and chemical products. Some of the company's largest customers include Dow Chemical Company, S. C. Johnson & Son, Lafarge, ConAgra Foods, Archer Daniels Midland, Conrad Yelvington Distributors, and Consumers Energy.
Southern Appalachia Railway Museum is a railway museum headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.
The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum is a railroad museum located at 500 S 3rd Street in Hamburg, Pennsylvania dedicated to the preservation of the Reading Railroad, owned and operated by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society. It features several pieces of retired rolling stock, including Blueliners and Budd Rail Diesel Cars, plus a few model train layouts as well other railroad memorabilia. The museum is open year-round on Saturdays and Sundays.
The Colorado Railcar DMU is a diesel multiple unit train that was manufactured by Colorado Railcar from 2002 to 2008. The DMU was offered in single-level and bi-level versions. The DMU was discontinued after Colorado Railcar shut down in 2008.
38°33′18″N86°37′01″W / 38.5550°N 86.6170°W
| Preceding station | Monon Railroad | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Baden toward Orleans | Orleans - French Lick | Terminus | ||
| Preceding station | Southern Railway | Following station | ||
| Cuzco toward Huntingburg | Huntingburg – French Lick | Terminus | ||