Depot Preservation

Last week I was out of town for several days visiting in-laws in central Illinois.  But I had a chance to visit an historic depot in a nearby small town, which was actually quite interesting in several ways.

This depot was built in 1870 for a predecessor of the Pennsy, on its line from Terre Haute to St. Louis.  Since then, they said, it has been moved three times and is now in the center of town.

The interior is stuffed with pictures, artifacts, and model trains.

Currently the active workforce consists of two retired men, who spend much of their time working on the model railroad display in the baggage area.  They often host school groups.  The layout is arranged with successive areas that depict different eras in railroad history, and show the railroads' effect on the development of America.

Here, for instance, is the Great Locomotive Chase:

And here the tour guide talks about the role of railroads in the Civil War, etc.

Of course, there's a display on Casey Jones, who was born not too far away:

And finally, we get around to the 1950's and 60's:

This is a two-story structure, and the stationmaster would have lived on the second floor with his family.  They have tried to recreate what the living quarters would have looked like, much like house museums everywhere:

Finally, though, here's a tragic tale:

Several years ago they acquired an ex-Pennsy business car that had been converted to MoW service, and which was stored on a siding some distance away.  It was probably in about the same condition as most such cars.  They had built this section of track in front of the depot, and hired a mover to move the car to Greenup for restoration.  But the body fell over and hit the ground while making a sharp turn, and was too badly damaged to repair.  So it was scrapped on the spot.

But these two men continue to work with what they have, and were very helpful and informative.  Thanks!

Indianapolis Part II or the Railway Interchange and Other Things

Al writes...

 

 

Last week was the semi annual railroad trade show in Indianapolis. Several years ago they decided to combine the 3 separate technical shows (track, mechanical and C&S) into a single event.  The first several of these combined shows was held at the same time as the "Really Big" railway trade show in Berlin -- Innotrans.  ( Some of my photos from the outdoor displays at Innotrans 2010 are available here.  I had to miss the 2012 show for health issues. ) As I always had duties at the Innotrans show I hadn't been to one of these combined North American shows before. The North American guys have now decided to hold the event in odd numbered years to avoid Innotrans which is always held on even numbered years. Judging from the number of languages I heard it seem it was a great move to attract overseas customers.

There really wasn't any big news at this show except for Cummins announcing its entry into the diesel locomotive reengining business. They are developing a "drop in " module that includes the engine, alternator and electrical systems including dynamic brake.

This module is rated at 4300 HP.  Cummins plans to produce a demonstrator locomotive with one of these packages based on an ex UP SD 90MAC next year.


If you've never been to a trade show it is always amazing the variety of things that are displayed.

You can discuss purchasing most anything from locomotives,

to freight car trucks,

from tampers,

to various types of signals and grade crossing protection.
 

From personal protection equipment,

to horns for your new locomotives,

or wiper blades for flange lubrictors.

One very interesting and slightly surprising display was this turnout with tongue points designed for use in street trackage.

Even our friend Dave Kloke & Co. was there to help you lease or purchase a replica steam locomotive, or contribute to the Lincoln Funeral Train project.

I couldn't find anyone willing to lease a replica wood interurban car, perhaps they were up at the APTA show in Chicago, or is this a business opportunity?

Its common at trade shows to have a drawing for a prize, based on business card left at the booth (these are used to build a customer data base). The nicest prize I saw was this original painting featuring the NS heritage units.

Just to remind myself why I retired I stepped into the TTCI booth with my former co-workers, I don't miss doing booth duty!

A couple of other things of railroad interest around Indy included this tower at the east end of Union Station that was visible from my hotel, but not from my room.

Active towers are becoming rare, and it looks as if this could be one but its not listed in the active interlocking towers data base. Perhaps one of our readers can give us some details.

Also present in downtown is Union Station, reportedly this was the first "Union" station in the world dating from 1853.  The second station head house dates from 1888 and is of a Richardsonian Romanesque design by Thomas Rudd.

The train shed is a more "modern" design dating from about 1920.

But the real fun is that much of the train shed has been converted to a hotel. The train shed features are very evident in the lobby.

There is also some nice original railroad art about as well as the stock prints that are so common.

But the real treat is that some of the rooms are located in heavyweight sleepers.

Although the cars appear to have greatly modified interiors, the exteriors appear to be sound and authentic.


Finally I was surprised to find a people mover in the Medical center section NW of downtown.

I'll have to return to explore this and other areas of Indy.

A trip to Indy or the Noble Thing to do

Al writes...

Went down to Indianapolis last Sunday for the Railway Interchange show which I'll cover in another post.

The weather was so nice when I left Chicago that I thought perhaps a short side trip to Noblesville to visit the Indiana Transportation Museum was in order.  After exiting I 65 at Lebanon one encounters the former PRR station that is now serving as a restaurant -- Stats.

The national depot data base indicates that it was built in 1918 as a freight station for the PRR. I think the style of the building suggests that it was a passenger  station. The line was originally the Indianapolis & Frankfort. The track is quite elevated at this point, I presume to cross over the now
abandoned Big 4 right of way just to the north. 

The height of the elevation can be seen in this photo of the bridge over Main street just to the north of the station.

The elevation is of sufficient height that there is a tunnel into the fill presumably for access to an island platform on the formerly double track line.

To the south the overpass has been modified to accommodate a widening of South St. (IN 32).

The PRR logo cast into the abutment adds a bit of class to the structure.  The more intriguing aspect of this bridge is the curved passage to the south of the street.  This is obviously for a railway, Google Earth photos provide little clues as to the direction that this line took after passing to the west.  However, it is rather obvious that the line ran in or paralleled South St. to the east, left in the photo.
Since the THI&E's station in Lebanon was located on South St. could this have been the interurban ROW?  Of course most of the historic railway maps available on the web are either at the Library of Congress or at the USGS site.  Both of which are currently shut down.

Before departing CSX did grace us with a local operated by a mother and slug locomotive set.

As it turned out the road between Lebanon and Noblesville was closed and required a lengthy detour. By the time I got in the vicinity of Noblesville, I had caught up with the front that went through Chicago on Saturday night. Between the detour and lingering at the Lebanon station my arrival at ITM was not as timely as I had hoped (especially forgetting the difference in time zones). But I did have time for a quick look around.

For those of you that have never been to ITM it is located on the edge of a public park in central Noblesville on a former NKP route.

Their route is 38 miles (61 km) long,  originally built for the Indianapolis and Peru Railroad and today owned by the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority,  The route extends from Tipton, Indiana on the north, south to approximately 39th Street in Indianapolis. It is my understanding that the railroad no longer connects to the outside world. ITM is probably most famous for operating both passenger trains (using ex AT&SF 1937 Budd stainless steel coaches obtained from NJT) and caboose trains.


Here is the coach train arriving back at Forest Park, headed by #200 an ex UP GP9.

The caboose train, which also operated this day was (as the Brits would say) topped and tailed by an ex Monon SW 1 and an ex NKP GP 7.

The outdoor display area is rather cramped and difficult to photograph.  There are two other diesels on display both in NKP colors.  The Baldwin switcher is ex USN from the Crail Navel depot, the 44 tonner is indeed of NKP heratige.

ITM also has some F units on the roster all ex Milwaukee Road but one is painted in Monon passenger colors. They also have a steam locomotive NKP 2-8-2 587 that has been undergoing a rebuild since 2003.

For the electric railway fan there are several pieces of electric equipment on the property.  These include a battery motor formerly belonging to Mishawaka Twin BranchRailroad as their #4

 And Evansville & Ohio Valley #154.

Also visible are 2 former Indiana Railroad cars,

This appears to be Union Traction #437 a 1925 St. Louis car combine and below Indianapolis and Martinsville Rapid Transit #61, later THI&E and IRR #81 Jewett, 1902.

There are other electric cars owned by the museum including several CTA 4000s in both passenger service  and in service (yellow s class) configurations , CSS&SB 205, and CNS&M 172 and 606.  These cars were located in areas not open to the public.

One real jewel in the collection is this horse car from Indianapolis.

To keep Bob Kutella happy there were some nicely restored freight cars on display as well.

Also on display is this PRR logo similar to the one on the overpass in Lebanon. Note that keyston contains the letters PL rather than the more common PRR. I presume that this refers to the Pennsylvania Lines West, owner of much of PRR's lines in Indiana.

I will definitely have to make it back here with more time to wander and in better weather