Established | 1987 |
---|---|
Location | Elkhart, Indiana |
Coordinates | 41°40′48″N85°58′15″W / 41.6799°N 85.9709°W |
Type | Railroad |
The National New York Central Railroad Museum( reporting mark NNYX) [1] is a railroad museum located in Elkhart, Indiana dedicated to the preservation of the New York Central Railroad (NYC).
The museum includes several outdoor equipment displays, indoor model railroads, artifacts from the NYC and other railroad related exhibits including educational displays pertaining to the history of railroading. The museum is currently expanding its dedication to the preservation of both local and national railroad heritage. The museum consists of a modified NYC 20th Century Limited train set and freight house built by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS) in 1907. [2]
Elkhart was a vital link between East and West during the growth of railroading in the U.S. In 1833 the LS&MS built a line through town; it was later acquired by the NYC in 1914.
The museum is situated opposite the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) east–west main line; NS freight trains pass approximately every 15 minutes. Amtrak's Elkhart Station is also within walking distance; daily service is provided by the Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-Boston/New York) and Capitol Limited (Chicago-Washington, D.C.).
The bulk of the museum's collection & the museum site was originally owned by the Lakeshore Railroad Historical Foundation (LRHF), A non-profit rail preservation group based in Elkhart. The group subs-subsequently donated their collection & sold the property to the city in early 1987. [3] The museum was founded in 1987. [4] After several years of planning and prep, the museum opened to the public on May 1, 1989. [5]
On October 9, 2024, the museum announced a partnership with the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society to revitalize the museum. [6] Plans call for an assessment of the collection and select pieces being de-accessed. Following the de-accession, a new master plan will be developed for the outdoor equipment displays with the goal of positioning the museum as an anchor for neighborhood redevelopment. [6]
A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting; as well as in keeping a lookout for load shifting, damage to equipment and cargo, and overheating axles.
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest, along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse. The New York Central was headquartered in the New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal.
The New York Central Railroad (NYC) called the 4-8-2 type of steam locomotive the Mohawk type. It was known as the Mountain type on other roads, but the New York Central did not see the name as fitting on its famous Water Level Route. Instead, it picked the name of one of those rivers its rails followed, the Mohawk River, to name its newest type of locomotive.
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
The EMD E8 is a 2,250-horsepower (1,678 kW), A1A-A1A passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. A total of 450 cab versions, or E8As, were built from August 1949 to January 1954, 447 for the U.S. and 3 for Canada. 46 E8Bs were built from December 1949 to January 1954, all for the U.S. The 2,250 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567B engines, each driving a generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E8 was the ninth model in the line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units. Starting in September 1953, a total of 21 E8As were built which used either the 567BC or 567C engines.
Conrail, formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway was a railway based in Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1892 to 1987. It never reached the other two cities in its name although it had branch lines extending to Dunnville and Port Maitland.
The Whitewater Valley Railroad is a heritage railroad in southeastern Indiana between Connersville and Metamora.
The Michigan Central Railroad was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern Railway now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
The Southern Michigan Railroad Society is a railway museum in Clinton, Michigan, United States. It has preserved 13.5 miles (21.7 km) of track and a variety of railroad equipment including the only GMDH-3 locomotive ever built and the last GE 44 tonner. Trains are operated on a seasonal schedule.
The Indiana Transportation Museum was a railroad museum that was formerly located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana, United States. It owned a variety of preserved railroad equipment, some of which still operate today. ITM ceased operations in 2023 and the line is now owned and operated by the Nickel Plate Express.
The Museum of the American Railroad, formerly known as the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, is a railroad museum in Frisco, Texas. The museum has more than 70 pieces of steam, diesel, passenger, and freight railroad equipment sitting on 15 acres making it one of the largest historic rail collections in the US. Guests may walk through some of the equipment on guided tours.
The Indiana Northeastern Railroad is a Class III short line freight railroad operating on nearly 130 miles (210 km) in southern lower Michigan, northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio. The Indiana Northeastern Railroad Company began operations in December 1992 and is an independent privately owned company. As of 2017 the railroad hauled more than 7,000 carloads per year. Commodities moved by the railroad include corn, soybeans, wheat and flour. It also handles plastics, fiberboard, aluminum, copper, coal, perlite, stone, lumber, glass, rendering products, as well as agricultural fertilizers and chemicals.
The Steam Railroading Institute is located at 405 South Washington Street, Owosso, Michigan. It was founded in 1969 as the Michigan State University (MSU) Railroad Club. It became the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, and later adopted its present name.
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Miami, Florida, adjacent to Zoo Miami.
The Southeastern Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in Duluth, Georgia, in suburban Atlanta.
New York Central 3001 is a preserved 4-8-2 Mohawk (Mountain)-type steam locomotive built in October 1940 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York as a member of the L-3a class for the New York Central Railroad (NYC). Normally known as Mountain types, the NYC 4-8-2 steam locomotives were dubbed as Mohawk types after the Mohawk River, which ran alongside NYC's famed Water Level Route. Built for dual-service work, No. 3001 was used to haul both freight and passenger trains on the NYC system until being retired in February 1957.
The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization directed at supporting the preservation of New Jersey's historical railroad equipment and artifacts for the proposed New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center or in its absence, another railroad museum in New Jersey.
The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society (FWRHS) is a non-profit group in New Haven, Indiana that is dedicated to the restoration and operation of the ex-Nickel Plate Railroad's steam locomotive no. 765 and other vintage railroad equipment. Since restoration, the 765 was added to the National Register of Historic Places as no. 96001010 on September 12, 1996 and has operated excursion trains across the Eastern United States. In 2012, the FWRHS's steam locomotive no. 765 was added to the Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam program.
New York Central 2933 is a 4-8-2 "Mohawk" (Mountain) type steam locomotive built in 1929 by the American Locomotive Company for the New York Central Railroad. The wheel arrangement is known as the Mountain type on other railroads, but the New York Central dubbed them "Mohawks" after the Mohawk River, which the railroad followed. It pulled freight trains until being retired in 1957. As of 2024, the locomotive is on display at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri.