by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
The Indiana Transportation Museum (ITM), which has made its home in Noblesville since the early 1960s, has decided to leave and move its operations entirely to Logansport “and other locations,” according to museum board president John McNichols. “The decision was not up to us,” he said, referring to the Noblesville city administration’s failure to renew the lease on a parcel at Forest Park where the museum is located. In recent years ITM was the only user of the local railroad known as the Nickel Plate.
Controversy has developed during the past year over the city’s desire to convert the Nickel Plate to a walking, jogging and bike trail south of the city and give a new operator the right to start excursion train service to the north.
The departure may come without further discord. However, the timing of the move is a question that may have to await a meeting of ITM officers and city officials next month. The lease is up on March 1, but McNichols says it is not possible to fulfill ITM’s commitments to clean up the site and move all train cars by the first of March.
The museum had already planned to move some of its equipment to new locations, but further moving will have to await permission to use the Nickel Plate tracks from Forest Park to Tipton.
The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority, owner of the tracks, has suspended ITM’s use of the tracks, citing safety concerns. This and other issues will be discussed at the meeting next month.
McNichols says his organization is doing well at its new location in Logansport. A successful schedule of Polar Express excursion trains between Kokomo and Logansport was well received and financially successful over the recent holiday season, he said.
The Port Authority meanwhile is preparing to approve a contract with the newly formed Nickel Plate Heritage Railroad, created by the county tourism bureau to operate excursion trains on the railroad from Noblesville to Atlanta.
Brenda Myers, tourism director, said this week the organization is in the process of acquiring a locomotive, two passenger cars and a dining car for the coming summer season. Headquarters and train storage for the operation will be near Atlanta where improvements are being made for visitors in what is planned as a major tourism attraction.
The transportation museum’s ‘gems’ will be leaving the Nickel Plate. They include the 100 year old steam engine Number 587 and the so-called Flagler car, named for Henry Flagler, a wealthy industrialist who is credited for developing Florida tourism by building a rail line to Miami. His lavish private rail car is in the museum collection.
Opposition to Noblesville’s eviction of the ITM from Forest Park remains. Among the most vocal is longtime former ITM Board member Craig Pressler who says the city and Fishers officials wanted to get rid of the museum and hope to see some type of economic development along the Nickel Plate in southern Hamilton County.
The rail line south of Noblesville is to be converted to a pedestrian and bike trail similar to the Monon Trail, officials hope. Although no immediate plans have been announced, Noblesville’s media spokesman, Robert Herrington, said this week the trail may have to take a back seat for a while to bigger, more urgent projects.
Pressler says another trail planned and approved by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will duplicate Nickel Plate trail plans bringing a separate trail from Indianapolis to Fishers and on to Conner Prairie and making the conversion of the Nickel Plate unnecessary.
