by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority will meet Monday to consider the bid received for removing rails and ties on the Nickel Plate between Noblesville and downtown Indianapolis. The port authority is owner of the railroad between Indianapolis and Tipton.
The amount of the bid has not been revealed, but County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt did indicate that after paying for the removal, the amount of money received from the salvage of steel rails and wooden ties would exceed the removal cost leaving a net “surplus” for the port authority.
The city of Fishers is known to be anxious to get to work on building a hiking and bike trail on the Nickel Plate right-of-way between 146th Street and 96th Street. Noblesville has not announced a date to begin work on the trail north of 146th. And, Indianapolis, while showing interest in the trail, has not announced a timetable for the work. Overall, the intent is to have a trail similar to the popular Monon Greenway for about 20 miles from Noblesville to Indy.
Meanwhile, the railroad from Noblesville north to Atlanta is being used for excursion trains with operators claiming success in promoting it as a tourist attraction.
The history of the Nickel Plate as well as the Monon is one of those almost unforgotten chapters in the development of the communities they served. In the 19th century before railroads, the towns of Noblesville, Cicero, Carmel and Westfield were tiny isolated farm communities.
With the building of the Nickel Plate, and later the Monon, came the ability to bring merchandise and supplies into the towns, and ship farm and factory products out to a wide market. Small industries developed along the railroad and the population grew.
Small towns such as Clarksville, Strawtown or Deming with no railroad did not grow and develop. Fishers was actually established in 1872 because of the railroad when an enterprising Salathiel Fisher provided land for a rail station and platted lots for a town around the intersection of the Nickel Plate and 116th Street.
So, despite the decline of the railroads, it would be fair to say Hamilton County would not look as it does today without the Nickel Plate and the Monon.