We're on vacation this week, and today we were able to visit the Indiana Railway Museum based in French Lick, Indiana, in the southern part of the state. This other IRM is mostly a tourist line, running excursion trains through the scenic hills and valleys of the area, and serving the popular resorts at French Lick and West Baden. Their website appears to say nothing about the rest of the collection.
Revenue service today consisted of a NYC combine and several Rock coaches pulled by a critter.
There are three locomotives on display near the depot, including this 0-4-0ST, Indiana & Ohio Gravel #11...
And two moguls: (L) Angelina & Neches River #208 (now lettered "FL, WB & S"), a small 1912 Baldwin which had several owners, and (R) Mobile & Gulf #97, a 1925 Baldwin, also a boomer. Neither is operational at this time. See steamlocomotive.info for details.
Of local interest to us are these two South Shore trailers, now located on a storage track as seen here. The doors are open but I was afraid to enter.
And they have a North Western RDC combine. 
And there's much more to the collection than I was able to photograph.
The French Lick depot is very interesting architecturally.Two large hotels and spas were built in the towns of French Lick and West Baden, no more than two miles apart, in the early 1900's. They were both served by the same railroad branch, which ended at West Baden. Until recently, the line between them was served by a small European streetcar. But it has deteriorated, and I was told that they decided it could not restored. So a Diesel-powered unit of some sort will be built new.
Here is the imposing entrance gate to the West Baden hotel, with the end of the streetcar line in the pavement. We ate lunch at the grand hotel, which is huge and impressive almost beyond belief.
The trolley wire was removed over the winter, and this part of the line is no longer in use.
If you're in the area, a visit to the Indiana Railway Museum is well worthwhile.
Is the battery-electric steeple cab and the single truck streetcar still on the property? These may be more interesting pieces to other museums, if not InRM
ReplyDeleteThe depot is the old Monon depot in town. The towns were served by two branches, one from the Southern's Louisville-St. Louis mainline and the other from the Monon's Louisville-Chicago mainline. I believe the other IRM operates mostly on the ex Southern line.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the hotels had extensive private railcar parking facilities "back in the day." The hotels were also a popular place to stay for the Kentucky Derby. The Monon ran a passenger special into Louisville on Derby Day morning, and back that evening.
Those South Shore Trailers and several others were wide open in the early 90's when I performed at French Lick. West Baden was still in dis-repair at that time and the ideas of restoration was just beginning.
ReplyDeleteThose streetcar tracks you mention entering W Baden ( via the left portal which is the exit from the hotel) are NOT from the museum line.
I was informed they are left over from an actual line that ran between the two resorts back in the day.
Before restoration I know you could see them continue back into the property along side the outbound roadway from the hotel.
BTW.. The cars still look good now as they did back then. It's a different lifestyle down there. Thus, all the windows are intact and no signs of graffiti.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went thru the cars back then, all I saw was evidence of animals that occasionally took refuge inside the cars.
And being wide open.. you'd expect to find aome litter like beer cans or wine bottles - but there were NONE.
Only a couple of pop cans.
Randall,
ReplyDeletethere appear to be four survivors from the cincinnati Railway all in different levels of repair.
The PA Trolley Museum has a restored car from the former trolleyville site. They are going to put it back on broad gauge trucks.
Then there is the cosmetically restored body that you saw in the old train station.
The Seashore Trolley Museum has an un-restored body on trucks which are standard gauge.
then there is another restored body in Georgia of all places.
thanks to the Preserved North American Street Cars site; where you should go if you want the numbers etc.
Ted Miles
IRM Member
The streetcar was moved to a nearby factory for restoration and is still there. I don't know about the steeplecab.
ReplyDeleteThe line between French Lick and West Baden was part of the original branch and includes a wye, now used only for dead storage. It was most recently used only by the streetcar, which is why I referred to it as the streetcar line, but is now out of service. The line poles with bracket arms but no wire certainly make it look like an abandoned trolley line. It will presumably be fixed up when the motorized unit is put in service.
Indiana & Ohio Gravel 11 is also known to CA&E fans as the locomotive that was used to tow car 318 when it was in Westport in the 1960's, as shown here.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Lane Stripe. I used to volunteer at the Ind. Rwy Mus. This is mostly just a trainride; not a museum as they have never restored ANYTHING. They've butchered the 2 steam locos they once had and most of the pieces arrive at FL to complete their decay. The historic FL/WB streetcar ran thru the streets to the gate of the WB Sprs. hotel but didn't enter the property. There are no remnants of that line today. The main leg of the Monon wye was electrified in the 80s to run ex-Oporto Portugal car #313. Don't expect to see that run again during your lifetime. The two CSS&SBRR control trailers, #s 204 & 206, were sent to the circus track to rot when it was discovered that they are too heavy for the tourist train. These will never move again, unless it's to a different (real) museum. Restoration is not part of the management philosophy there.
ReplyDeleteMy name is M. Eugene Hornback I was one of the operators of the ex-Oporto Portugal car #313. I ran the summer of 1997 and that was the last time it ran as far as I know. After a wind storm came through and took 2 trees from the French Lick hotels property and dumped them on the overhead line. I Can remember trying to get permission to try to cosmetically paint the steeple cab and was told no As they had no intention of every moving it. I'm thinking the traction motors from it was used on the street car as the original motors was shot. Also the streetcar had a nasty habit of derailing on the switch frogs as the gauge was about a 1/4 inch shy of standard gauge. So yea they had me breaking the rules hauling passengers in a car that wasn't up to standards.
ReplyDelete