Indiana Transportation Museum

Indiana Transportation Museum
Nickel Plate Road GP-7L diesel locomotive #426 pulling the Indiana State Fair Train.
Reporting mark	ITMZ (Temporary equipment transfers/loans)
Locale	Central Indiana
Dates of operation	1960 (1960)–Present
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Length	38 mi (61 km)
Headquarters	Noblesville, Indiana

The Indiana Transportation Museum (initialized ITM, reporting mark ITMZ) is a railroad museum located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana. It owns a variety of preserved railroad equipment, some of which still operate today.

Overview

The Indiana Transportation Museum is an all-volunteer operated not for profit museum dedicated to preserving and showcasing railroads of Indiana, and share this equipment and information with the public, as well as operate trains to show how people travelled across the country in the past.

Heritage railroad

• The Indiana Transportation Museum operates excursion trains on 38 miles (61 km) of a former Nickel Plate Road line, originally built for the Indianapolis and Peru Railroad today owned by the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority, which is made up of the cities of Indianapolis, Fishers, and Noblesville, Indiana.
• The museum operates out of Forest Park in Noblesville, IN and travels north to the end of the line in Tipton, Indiana or south to approximately 39th Street in Indianapolis. The rail line extends further south however is rarely used due to poor/unsafe track.
• The rail line originally connected to the Norfolk Southern railroad in Tipton, Indiana and CSX railroad in Indianapolis and the Belt Railroad owned by Lilly Inc.
• The railroad line was still operated as a freight railroad by the Indiana Railroad Company hauling coal to the Cicero power generating plant in Cicero, IN until the plant's conversion to natural gas in 2003.
• The switch 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 Indianapolis rebuild of the I-70 Interstate
• In spring 2010 CSX railroad removed the diamonds connected the southern portion of the Belt Railroad, thus isolating the line from the U.S. rail system.
• It is possible that some time in the future the bridge over 10th street or the Belt Line connection will be restored and allow for additional rail opportunities such as excursions and/or connections to the Indianapolis Union Station

Preservation

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 museums 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. At this time several cars have been restored and several more await funds for restoration.
• The museum also has 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 the past 8 years for the restoration of this locomotive. In 2008, ownership of the engine was permanently transferred from the Indianapolis Parks Department to the ITM. She is expected to steam again by late 2012, if all goes as planned.

ITM's tracks in Fishers, Indiana.

Events

• The Indiana Transportation Museum operates many different excursions, ranging from holiday trains to shuttles in freight cabooses.

• The Hamiltonian is a dinner train which operates from Fishers Station to 1 of 2 restaurants in Noblesville on select evenings usually in combination with the Dinner on the Diner train
• The Fair Train is the museum's biggest yearly event, running hundreds of trains transporting thousands of people to the Indiana State Fair with 10 round trips each day of the fair during August.
• The Polar Bear Express is held in the month of December and retells The Polar Express story and includes a train ride and visit from Santa Claus
• The Pumpkin Train is held every weekend in October and is supported by the Hamilton Heights High School Future Farmers of America (FFA) who grow and sell pumpkins along side the rail line.
• Pizza Plus Express is held multiple Saturdays throughout the late spring, summer and fall from Noblesville to Tipton, IN. It gains its name due to the stop in Tipton is at the track end, and next door to the Pizza Shack in Tipton, where riders can then eat. Riders also have the option of being shuttled to the nearby Pizza King or Jim Dandy Restaurant for their buffets, or on select dates, a meal at the Tipton Elks Club.
• Special Events include various festivals in Tipton, Atlanta, and Arcadia, IN as well as private charters are also available.

School programs

The museum offers a school program entitled Railroads In The Midwest that features a pre-visit classroom workbook, tour of the museum grounds, and an excursion train ride.

Membership

The museum is a non-profit organization whose members donate volunteer time and money to the operation.

See also

• Nickel Plate 587
• List of United States railroads
  • List of Indiana railroads
• List of heritage railroads in the United States
• List of railway museums

External links

External images
	Railroad Picture Archives — Indiana Railway Museum photographs from Noblesville, Indiana.
	RailPictures.Net — Indiana Railway Museum photographs at RailPictures.Net.

• Indiana Transportation Museum website
• The Nickel Plate Road Historical & Technical Society