Indiana Transportation Museum

The Indiana Transportation Museum was 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 was Located in Logansport, Indiana. ITM ceased operations in 2018 and the line is now owned and operated by the Nickel Pkate Express.
==History==
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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. In 2019, ITM struck a deal with the Logansport & Eel River Railroad to purchase the LER's 1.6-mile (2.6 km) rail line in Logansport. In 2021 however, the museum became involved in another lawsuit. The deal to purchase the Logansport & Eel River Railroad fell through and ITM was evicted from the LER property. ITM sold and scrapped its remaining assets of their collection and ceased operations in 2022.
==Equipment==
===Locomotives===
Number	Images	Heritage 	Type 	Builder 	Built	Status 	Notes
72C 	 	Milwaukee Road 	EMD F7 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	1950 	Stored 	It was originally numbered #83C.
68B 	 	Milwaukee Road 	EMD F7B 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	1950 	Stored 	
96C 	 	Monon Railroad 	EMD FP7 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	1951 	Stored 	
200 	 	Indiana Transportation Museum	EMD GP9 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	1954 	Stored 	It was originally built for the Union Pacific Railroad.
99 	 	Nickel Plate Road 	Baldwin VO-1000 	Baldwin Locomotive Works	1945 	Display	
91 	 	Nickel Plate Road 	GE 44-Tonner 	GE Transportation 	1950 	 	
4293 	 	Chicago Elevated Railway 	Rapid Transit car	Cincinnati Car Company 	1922 	Stored 	It was the last electric car to operate at ITM back in the late 1990s.
4453 	 	Chicago Rapid Transit 	Rapid Transit car	Cincinnati Car Company 	1924 	Stored 	It operated at the museum during the 1980s but was then sidelined.
4 	 	Twin Branch 	 	 	 	 	
==Former Locomotives==
Number	Images	Heritage 	Type 	Builder 	Notes
587 	 	Nickel Plate Road 	Steam 	Baldwin Locomotive Works	Sold to the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation for storage.
1613 	 	Milwaukee Road 	Diesel 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	It was Scrapped in 2018.
1 	 	Indianapolis Power & Light Co. 	Steam 	H.K. Porter 	It's stored at the Hesston Steam Museum.
83A 	 	Nickel Plate Road 	Diesel 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	Sold to NPE.
426 	 	Nickel Plate Road 	Diesel 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	Sold to NPE.
DS-50 	 	Monon Railroad 	Diesel 	Electro-Motive Diesel 	Moved to Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum; restoration pending.
154 	 	Evansville & Ohio Valley Railway	Electric	General Electric 	It was Scrapped in 2018.
172 	 	Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee 	Electric	General Electric 	It was sold to Illinois Railway Museum in 2018.
437 	 	Union Traction 	Electric	St. Louis Car Company 	It was sold to the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co. in 2018.
1 	 	Singer 	Electric	 	Moved into storage in Francesville, Indiana.
==Trivia==
*The museum offered custom school tours, which included a tour of the museum grounds and an excursion train ride.
*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.
*While in Noblesville, the Indiana Transportation Museum operated different excursions, ranging from holiday trains to shuttles in freight cabooses.
*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.
*The original LE&W depot is used by the museum known as Hobbs Station today.
Category:Tourist Railways
Category:Tourist Attractions
Category:Museums
Category:Rail museums
Category:Defunct companies
Category:United States
Category:Indiana Transportation Museum