The Indiana Transportation Museum (initialized ITM, reporting mark ITMZ ) was a railroad museum that was formerly located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana, United States. It owned a variety of preserved railroad equipment, some of which still operate today. ITM ceased operations in 2023 and the line is now owned and operated by the Nickel Plate Express.

Overview

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. Founded in 1960, ITM began life as the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication (IMOTAC) with an initial focus on preserving interurbans and trolleys along with early passenger and freight equipment. IMOTAC initially planned to build its museum in southern Indiana, but these plans did not materialize. During this time, IMOTAC was associated with the Indiana Railway Museum. However, this partnership did not last long, with IMOTAC and IRM going their separate ways. In the summer of 1964, IMOTAC signed a 99-year lease with the Noblesville Parks Department to lease a 10 acre site in Forest Park. In May 1966, IMOTAC operated a series of sesquicentennial excursions from Noblesville to Indianapolis with Grand Trunk Western 5629. On August 3, 1968, the museum held its grand opening and dedication ceremony. In October 1968, IMOTAC purchased the Indianapolis Traction Terminal train shed. IMOTAC planned to reconstruct it in Forest Park to store and display the museum's collection and also construct a 2-story building next to the train shed to house a museum and waiting room. The train shed was disassembled and moved to Forest Park in late 1968. IMOTAC's plans did not materialize as a result of it being cost prohibitive to reconstruct and it was scrapped in the 1980s. In 1973, IMOTAC began offering trolley rides on a 1/2 mi trolley line that ran from the museum property to the south entrance of Forest Park. In the 1980s, IMOTAC decided to broaden its focus and changed its name to the Indiana Transportation Museum. In August 1983, ITM operated daily shuttle trips from Carmel, Indiana, to the Indiana State Fairgrounds over the former Monon Railroad second subdivision during the 1983 Indiana State Fair. The excursions were dubbed FairTrain '83 and became a yearly tradition for ITM. ITM continued operating the Fair Train over the Monon trackage until 1985. At that time, the Monon trackage was to be abandoned. The museum pushed hard to save the railroad but was unsuccessful. In 1986, the Fair Train equipment was moved back to Noblesville and plans to operate FairTrain '86 were scrapped due to high insurance costs. The Monon trackage was eventually removed and turned into the Monon Trail. From 1988 to 1998, ITM ran several mainline excursions with NKP 587 and its two Milwaukee Road EMD F7's (numbers 83A and 96C) painted in Monon Railroad colors. In 1990, ITM began operating excursions over the Nickel Plate Railroad line from Tipton to Indianapolis. In August 1990, following a 5 year absence, the FairTrain resumed operations from Noblesville to the Indiana State Fairgrounds during the duration of the Indiana State Fair. Later on, Fairtrain operations were moved to Fishers, Indiana, with the Fairtrain operating from Fishers to the Indiana State Fairgrounds until 2015. In the 1990s, the museum and its equipment were used in film and television, including the Discovery Channel show Rediscovering America, Going All the Way (1997), and 587: The Great Train Robbery (2000). In 1999, following the electrical failure of Chicago Transit Authority EL car #4293, ITM shifted away from trolley operations. In 2008, ITM began offering caboose train rides from the museum site to downtown Noblesville. The caboose train was initially supposed to be a temporary replacement for the trolley rides with EL car #4293, which was in need of a $50,000 restoration. As a result of a lack of interest within ITM, EL car #4293 never ran again. The caboose train became a staple of ITM's later operations and continued until ITM's eviction in 2018. For the next 25 years, ITM continued to operate excursions over the Nickel Plate line until 2015, when the museum was forbidden from using the Nickel Plate line by the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority (HHPA). With ongoing issues with the city of Noblesville, ITM looked to move the museum to Logansport, Indiana. In 2017 and 2018, ITM operated excursions over U.S. Rail Corporation trackage from Kokomo, Indiana, to Walton, Indiana, using leased Iowa Pacific Holdings equipment. During this time, the museum would also operate the Polar Bear Express excursions over Hoosier Southern Railroad trackage from Tell City, Indiana, to Troy, Indiana, using leased Iowa Pacific Holdings and Hoosier Southern Railroad equipment throughout the fall and winter of 2018. In 2018, the museum was evicted from its home in Forest Park by the city of Noblesville. ITM moved a majority of its retained equipment to the former General Tire plant property in Logansport, Indiana, and the remainder of the museum's Budd coaches were moved to Santa Claus, Indiana. Nickel Plate 587, Pennsylvania Railroad RPO car no. 6565, Pennsylvania Railroad B60 Baggage Car no. 9036 and Norfolk Southern water tender no. 220166 were moved to the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation site in Ravenna, Kentucky in 2018 and 2019. On July 12, 2018, the city of Noblesville seized ITM's former Forest Park site. Equipment that had been sold to a new owner prior to ITM's eviction was moved out between 2019 and 2021. Equipment that had not been sold prior to the eviction was sold off in two Ozark Mountain Railcar auctions held in 2019. Equipment that had not been sold via Ozark Mountain Railcar was either sold off to new owners, scrapped on site, or retained as a static display or for usage by the Nickel Plate Express. The former ITM site was rehabilitated and became the home of the Nickel Plate Express in 2022. In 2019, ITM struck a deal with the Logansport & Eel River Railroad (LER) to purchase the LER's 1.6 mi rail line in Logansport. In 2021, ITM became involved in yet 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 and ceased operations. ITM was administratively dissolved by the Indiana Secretary of State on March 5, 2023.

Heritage railroad

While located in Noblesville, the Indiana Transportation Museum operated excursion trains on 38 mi of a former Nickel Plate Road line originally built for the Indianapolis and Peru Railroad and, at the time of ITM's eviction, 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 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. 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.

Preservation

The museum was home to many pieces of railroading history, with primary emphasis on locomotives and equipment relating to the Nickel Plate Railroad. Most passengers were carried in the museum's restored Budd cars that dated 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 1983. Several cars were restored and others awaited funds for restoration. ITM also had an extensive collection of trolleys and interurbans with ties to Indiana's railroad history. ITM operated several different interurbans over its trolley line between 1973 and 1999. 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. 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 had been ongoing for the restoration of this locomotive. In 2008, ownership of the engine was permanently transferred from the Indianapolis Parks Department to the ITM. In 2018, the locomotive was held in storage in Ravenna, Kentucky, by the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation. On March 5, 2021, the ownership of No. 587 was transferred from the ITM to a private individual.

Events

While in Noblesville, the Indiana Transportation Museum operated different excursions, ranging from holiday trains to shuttles in freight cabooses.

School programs

The museum offered custom school tours, which included a tour of the museum grounds and an excursion train ride.

Motive power

Interurbans and trolleys

Rolling stock