Indiana Transportation Museum

Last updated
Indiana Transportation Museum
ITM's GP-7L NKP -426 pulling FairTrain.jpg
Nickel Plate Road GP-7L diesel locomotive #426 pulling the Indiana State Fair Train.
Overview
Headquarters Logansport, Indiana
Reporting mark ITMZ [1] [nb 1] (Temporary equipment transfers/loans)
Locale Northern Indiana
Dates of operation1960 (1960)–present
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length38 mi (61 km)
Other
Website http://itm.org

The Indiana Transportation Museum (initialized ITM, reporting mark ITMZ [1] [nb 1] ) is a railroad museum that was formerly located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana, United States. It owns a variety of preserved railroad equipment, some of which still operate today. ITM is currently Located in Logansport, Indiana.

Contents

Overview

The Indiana Transportation Museum was an all-volunteer not-for-profit museum dedicated to preserving and showcasing railroads of Indiana, and sharing the equipment and information with the public, as well as operating trains to show how people traveled across the country in the past.

In 2018, the museum was evicted from its home in Forest Park by the city of Noblesville. ITM moved all retained equipment to a site in Logansport, Indiana.

Heritage railroad

While located in Noblesville, the Indiana Transportation Museum operated excursion trains on 38 miles (61 km) of a former Nickel Plate Road line, originally built for the Indianapolis and Peru Railroad and, when evicted, owned by the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority (HHPA), which is made up of the Indiana cities of Indianapolis, Fishers, and Noblesville. Excursion service on the line had been suspended due to a dispute with the HHPA. The museum submitted a proposal to HHPA requesting authorization to resume service. [2]

The museum operated out of Forest Park in Noblesville and traveled to the northern terminus of the line in Tipton, Indiana, and to the southern terminus at approximately 39th Street in Indianapolis. The rail line originally extended further south but had been abandoned.

The rail line originally connected to the Norfolk Southern railroad in Tipton and to the CSX railroad in Indianapolis via the Belt Line. The railroad line had also been operated as a freight railroad by the Indiana Rail Road, hauling coal to the power generating plant in Cicero, Indiana, until the plant's conversion to natural gas in 2003.

The connection in Tipton was cut by Norfolk Southern in 1997 and the bridge connecting the line to CSX was removed by the Indiana Department of Transportation during the rebuilding of Interstate 70 in Indianapolis. In spring 2010, CSX railroad removed the diamonds connecting the southern portion to the Belt Railroad, thus isolating the line from the U.S. rail system.

Preservation

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive #587 in the restoration shops at the ITM. Restoring Mikado -587.jpg
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive #587 in the restoration shops at the ITM.

The museum is home to many pieces of railroading history, with primary emphasis on locomotives and equipment relating to the Nickel Plate Railroad. Most passengers are carried in the museum's restored Budd cars that date back to 1937 and were originally in service on the Santa Fe Railroad and the New Jersey Transit Authority before being sold to the museum as scrap in the early 1980s. Several cars have been restored and others await funds for restoration.

While the museum was in Noblesville, it had in its collection the 1898 private railcar of Henry Morrison Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC) #90.

At the beginning of 2003, the museum's operating steam locomotive, Nickel Plate 587, was taken out of service for a federally mandated boiler rebuild. Since then, work has been ongoing for the restoration of this locomotive. In 2008, ownership of the engine was permanently transferred from the Indianapolis Parks Department to the ITM. In 2018, the locomotive was held in storage in Ravenna, Kentucky by the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation. On March 5, 2021, the ownership of No. 587 was transferred from the Indiana Transportation Museum to a private individual. [3]

ITM's tracks in Fishers, Indiana. ITM's tracks -5.jpg
ITM's tracks in Fishers, Indiana.

Events

While in Noblesville, the Indiana Transportation Museum operated different excursions, ranging from holiday trains to shuttles in freight cabooses.

School programs

The museum offered custom school tours, which included a tour of the museum grounds and an excursion train ride.

Motive power

Rolling Stock

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Indiana Transportation Museum: Equipment". Archived from the original on 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2009-10-28. Equipment markings used on official railroad-owned rolling stock.
  2. ↑ "Indiana Transportation Museum Plan Expands Education, Entertainment and Excursion Trains from Tipton to Lucas Oil Stadium". Indiana Transportation Museum. Shank Public Relations Counselors, Inc. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Chris (2021-03-05). "KSHC Acquires Cars; New Path For Nickel Plate 587". Kentucky Steam. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  4. ↑ Tuohy, John. "New operators of fair train sought". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  5. ↑ "I T M - Pizza Plus Express". Archived from the original on 2011-09-05. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  6. 1 2 3 "Collaboration Between Indiana Communities and Fort Wayne Railroad Saves Historic Artifacts". Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. March 13, 2022. Archived from the original on March 15, 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "MILW 1613". www.rrpicturearchives.net. Retrieved 2020-08-06.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Direct sources from the AAR/NMFTA cannot be publicly accessed/located, although such markings have been second-handedly verified via the FRA and visual wise; however, these marks may be considered expired, reassigned, or unofficial as of 2009.
External images
Searchtool.svg Railroad Picture Archives — Indiana Railway Museum photographs from Noblesville, Indiana.
Searchtool.svg RailPictures.Net — Indiana Railway Museum photographs at RailPictures.Net.

40°03′26″N86°1′09.38″W / 40.05722°N 86.0192722°W / 40.05722; -86.0192722

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