Locale Central Indiana Length 38 mi (61 km) | Dates of operation 1960 (1960)–Present Phone +1 317-773-6000 | |
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Reporting mark ITMZ (Temporary equipment transfers/loans) Track gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Headquarters Noblesville, Indiana
website=http://itm.org Address 825 Park Dr, Noblesville, IN 46060, USA Hours Open today · 12–4PMSunday12–4PMMondayClosedTuesdayClosedWednesdayClosedThursdayClosedFridayClosedSaturday12–4PM Similar Strawtown Koteewi Park, Indiana Railway Museum, Conner Prairie, Hamilton Town Center, Morris–Butler House Profiles | ||
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The Indiana Transportation Museum (initialized ITM, reporting mark ITMZ) is a railroad museum 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.
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Overview
The Indiana Transportation Museum is 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.
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 and 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 and travels to the northern terminus of the line in Tipton, Indiana or to the southern terminus at approximately 39th Street in Indianapolis. The rail line extends further south but has been abandoned.
The rail line originally connected to the Norfolk Southern railroad in Tipton, the CSX railroad in Indianapolis, and the Belt Railroad owned by Eli Lilly and Company. The railroad line had been operated as a freight railroad by the Indiana Rail Road, hauling coal to the Cicero power generating plant in Cicero, Indiana until the plant's conversion to natural gas in 2003.
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 of the Belt Railroad, thus isolating the line from the U.S. rail system.
Preservation
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 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.
Events
The Indiana Transportation Museum operates many different excursions, ranging from holiday trains to shuttles in freight cabooses.
School programs
The museum offers custom school tours, which may include a 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.