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Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum Trips 5/11/2013

Elizabeth and I arrived at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum parking lot and started to look around.

The tower at North Judson is called Grasselli Tower and was donated by the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum was given the opportunity to acquire a very unique piece of railroad history, Grasselli Tower, which used to stand along Kennedy Avenue in East Chicago, Indiana and guarded the junction between the IHB, Elgin, Joliet and Eastern and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroads. IHB decommissioned the tower during the latter part of 2007 and promptly offered the tower to the HVRM. Grasselli was one of the last remaining interlocking railroad towers in Northern Indiana. The name "Grasselli" came from a long-gone chemical plant located near the tower that was served by the IHB.

The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum operates over the Chesapeake & Indiana Railroad from its museum location in North Judson, with regular trips to English Lake and La Crosse. The Museum has been preserving railroad history in northwest Indiana since 1988. Starting with little more than a single stub of track and an old steam locomotive, today the operation operates regular excursion trips and has more than 30 pieces of rolling stock on display and in various stages of repair. The collection includes three diesel locomotives, a locomotive crane, several pieces of freight equipment and Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 2789 built in 1947. The general locomotive used by the Museum is Erie Lackawanna Alco S-1 310 which was donated by Silcott Railway Equipment Company and arrived here at the Museum on April 25, 1997.

The Chesapeake & Indiana Railroad operates on 33 miles of trackage owned by the Town of North Judson. The tracks extends from a connection with CSX at Wellsboro, Indiana, over a former Pere Marquette branchline to La Crosse, Indiana. At La Crosse, the line connects with the former Chesapeake & Ohio mainline which runs between North Judson and Malden, Indiana. The CKIN also now interchanges with Norfolk Southern at Thomaston, Indiana. In October 2008, a new connection was built between the C&I and Norfolk Southern at Thomaston.

The CKIN primarily services grain elevators in Malden and Wellsboro, but also delivers fertilizer to La Crosse (Bruder Fertilizer, Inc}. The Malden elevator recently removed its aging concrete silos and replaced them with new steel grain bins. The elevator at Union Mills has added a new half million-bushel grain bins along with higher capacity grain handling and drying system. Both are owned by Co-Alliance, the largest customer for the C&I Railroad.

CSX filed for abandonment of the line on November 3, 2003, approximately a 32.97-mile line of railroad in La Porte, Porter, and Starke Counties, IN {Milepost 212.55 {North Judson} to Milepost 320.92 {Malden} and Milepost CF 0.63 {La Crosse} to Milepost CF 15.23 {Wellsboro}. In the application, CSX stated that a total of 797 carloads were moved on the line during 2002. This traffic included 24 carloads shipped by Bruder, 447 carloads received by elevators and 326 carloads shipped via the interchange by TP&W which had a line east of North Judson.

The Town of North Judson and the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum worked to save the railroad and on May 14, 2004, the Surface Transportation Board approved the sale of the line to the Town of North Judson. When acquired, the route from North Judson to Wellsboro was known as the CSX Wabash Subdivision, while the line west to Malden was the Malden Industrial Track.

Erie Lackawanna S-1 310, nee Erie 310, built by American Locomotive Company in 1947.

Emblems of two great railroads.

Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 2789 built by American Locomotive Company in 1947. The railroad used this engine until 1955 when it was retired. In 1961, it was donated to the Miami County Steam Locomotive Association for display in West Side Park at Peru, Indiana. The engine was removed from the park in 1986 and finally brought to North Judson in 1988. The engine is currently awaiting funds for restoration.

Hoosier Valley Railroad 44 ton switcher 27, ex. Port of Indiana 1776, exx. Chicago Gravel Company 509, exxx. McGraw Construction, exxxx. United States Army 7308, nee Day and Zimmerman 4-44 built by Whitcomb in 1941. It is on loan from Mike Skomac and arrived at the museum in 1988.

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum caboose 9914, ex. Illinois Central 9914 built by the railroad in 1939. It later became Chicago & Indiana 100 and a caboose for the Tippecanoe Railroad (un-numbered). The caboose was burned out on the inside and was later renovated by the museum as a display car, becoming HVRM 99.

In 2013, the caboose entered an extensive rehabilitation by museum volunteers. 9914 was repainted into an Illinois Central orange paint scheme and rolled out of the shop in 2014. The caboose has since been placed back on display. Illinois Central caboose 9914 does not bear its actual number, but it is a 9900-series caboose. The museum has never been able to determine the elusive original number. HVRM member Dan Siple bought the caboose and donated it to our museum on July 8, 1991.

RPCX RS-1 467, ex. Indiana Box Car Corporation 467, exx. Indiana Hi Rail 467, exxx. Naporano Iron and Metal 467, nee Long Island Railroad 467 built by American Locomotive Company in 1950. It is privately owned.

Chicago, South Shore and South Bend 60 foot flat car 18010, nee Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad 13833 built in 1968. It was donated by the South Shore in the summer of 2008.

Long Island Railroad caboose C-58 built by International Car in 1961. It was donated to HVRM between 2009 and 2010 and underwent restoration at the Tennessee Valley Railway Museum. Its former home was in Glade Spring, Virginia.

Merchants Dispatch Transportation refrigerator car 13385 built by Pacific Car and Foundry in 1956. Later leased to New York Central, it was donated to our museum by Merchants Dispatch Transportation and arrived on April 8, 1995.

Penn Central 50 foot box car 153177, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 607627, built by the railroad in 1935. It was donated to our museum by Conrail in March 1994.

Chicago and Eastern Illinois troop kitchen car A-1054, ex. Missouri Pacific, exx. Chicago and Eastern Illiniois, nee United States Army K-325 built by American Car & Foundry in the 1940's. These cars served as rolling kitchens for the soldiers that were heading off to the war. This car was donated to our museum in 1996 by Bob and Barbara Harms of Lakeside Railway Services.

Grasselli Tower and signals.

The view from inside Grasselli Tower.

The track board inside the tower.

The engine house at North Judson.

This is a replica station built in 1999 which houses a gift shop and museum inside.

There is a wig wag here.

Nickel Plate Road kitchen car X58538, nee Wheeling and Lake Erie box car 25310 built by Standard Steel Car in 1925. The W&LE was leased by the Nickel Plate Road in December 1949 and the car became NKP 25310. It was converted to a camp car status in June 1963 and later became Norfolk & Western 558538. This car was donated to the museum by Norfolk Southern in August 1989 and currently serves as a kitchen car for the museum staff.

Grand Trunk Western transfer caboose 75072 built by the railroad from a 40 foot box car. It was donated to the museum in 2006 and repainted into its original GTW orange paint scheme. The museum now uses this caboose as our "craft caboose" where some of our volunteers sell hand-made craft items.

Metra Electric Highliner coach 1502, ex. Metra 1502 1987-2008, exx. Illinois Central Gulf 1502 1972-1987, nee Illinois Central 1502 1971-1972 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1971. It was donated in 2008.

Great Lakes Locomotive C-420 850, ex. Louisville, Albany and Corydon Railroad 850, exx. Iowa Interstate 850, exxx. Green Bay and Western 323, exxxx. Conrail 2075, nee Lehigh and Hudson River 27, built by American Locomotive Company in 1966. It was acquired by HVRM in 2010.

Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago heavyweight coach 950, ex. Michigan Northern Railroad 407 "City of Saginaw", exx. Algoma Central, exxx. Denver and Rio Grande Western 930, nee Denver and Rio Grande Western 899 built by Pullman in 1910.

Hoosier Valley Flat Car X1138, ex. Northern Indiana Commuter Transit District X1138, nee Chicago, South Shore and South Bend X1138. Plans are to use the flat car as the boom car for our Purdue crane.

Coronet Phosphate 0-4-2T 6, built by H.K. Porter in 1913 for Cia. Generale Des Phosphates 6 at Pembroke, Florida then sold to Coronet Phosphate Company 6 at Coronet, Florida. In 1953 a merger occurred and it became Smith Douglas Company Incorporated 6, then in 1964, a corporte sale to The Borden Company, followed by being sold in 1967 to R.L. Johnson & George Silcott (dealer) then to John Thompson at Markham, Illinois and moved to Monee, Illinois in 1968. It was then moved to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Indiana until July 2015 when the owner moved it to Strasburg, Colorado.

Nickel Plate Road flat car 2733 built by Bethlehem Steel in 1936. Norfolk Southern donated the car to our museum and it arrived on April 3, 1998.

Western Indiana Gravel Company side dump car donated by Vulcan Materials of West Lafayette, Indiana in 1993.

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum 20 ton switcher JL 1881 built by Plymouth.

WCHX Rail tank car 1114, nee Palace Poultry Tank Car 1103, built by the American Car and Foundry in 1919. Then it was purchased by WCHX Rail and later sold to Animal Byproducts of New Carlisle, Indiana. The tank car was donated to our museum by ABP in July 1993.

Nickel Plate Road open-top gondola 45622, nee Wheeling and Lake Erie 45622 built by Ralston Car in 1946. The gondola became the property of the Nickel Plate Road after the leasing of the W&LE by the NKP. After the NKP merger with the Norfolk & Western, the gondola became property of N&W and was rebuilt in May 1965. This car was donated to our museum by Norfolk Southern in February 1994.

Merchants Dispatch Transportation refrigerator car 14070 built by Pacific Car and Foundry in 1958. Later leased to New York Central, it was donated to our museum by Merchants Dispatch Transportation and arrived on April 8, 1995.

Wabash outside-braced box car 49114 built by the railroad in 1929 and was assigned to the Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana and used to haul new automobiles. It was delivered to our museum on July 30, 1993.

Norfolk and Western hopper 40639 built by the railroad in 1959. It was later re-numbered N&W 546864 and was donated to our museum by Norfolk Southern in February 1994.

Norfolk and Western box car 54880 built by Ralston Car Company in 1937. It was converted to maintenanace-of-way service in 1972 then donated to our museum by Norfolk Southern in September 1989.

Nickel Plate Road box car 15979 built by General American Car in 1937. After the NKP merger with Norfolk & Western, the car was re-numbered N&W 556001 and coverted to maintenance-of-way service. It was donated to our museum by Norfolk Southern in August 1989.

The signal shows an approach.

Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 2789 tender.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend cars.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend coach 4 built by Pullman in 1926.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend coach 31 built by Standard Steel in 1931.

Nickel Plate Road baggage/automobile car 344 built by Pullman in 1929. This baggage car is unique because one end of the car has doors for loading and unloading of automobiles which were being transported for people riding the train to vacation spots. This type of car was also used to haul horses and theater scenery. The car was used by the Nickel Plate Road until its merger with the Norfolk & Western in 1964. The N&W converted the car to maintenance service in August 1969 as 526706. Norfolk Southern donated the car to our museum in September 1989.

Erie-Lackawanna caboose C345, ex. Conrail 21139 1976, exx. Erie-Lackawanna C345 1960, nee Erie 345 built by International Car in 1953. It was donated to the museum by Conrail in 1985.

Nickel Plate Road caboose 471, ex. Wheeling and Lake Erie 557571, exx. Norfolk and Western 555571, nee Nickel Plate Road 471 built by International Car in 1962. It was donated to museum by Norfolk Southern in 1995.

Nickel Plate Road flat car 1946, nee Wheeling & Lake Erie 1946 built by Standard Steel Car in 1926. This car was coverted to haul piggyback trailers in 1956, then donated to our museum by Norfolk Southern and arrived on April 4, 1998. The museum converted the car into an open-air sightseeing car for use on our tourist trains.

Looking east down the tracks.

Looking west up the tracks.

Chicago and North Western box car 284 built by Pullman Standard in 1953. It served the railroad until it was retired and sold to Lawrence Foods of Elk Grove Village, Illinois in 1983. Lawrence Foods donated the box car to our museum in April 2010.

Nickel Plate Road box car 15797 built by General American Car in 1937 and has carried the number 15797 its entire career. Norfolk Southern donated the car to the City of Orland Park, Illinois then Bill Vogel donated the car to our museum in May 1994.

A signal.

Metra Electric Highliner coach 1617 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1971.

Interlake Steel Corporation 95 ton switcher 11, nee Acme Steel 11 built by General Electric in 1952. The locomotive was donated to our museum by Acme Steel and arrived on January 13, 1995. This locomotive has gone through an extensive rebuild process and has been restored to its Interlake Steel Corporation lettering.

Missouri-Kansas-Texas open car 13833.

Elgin, Joliet and Eastern transfer caboose 184 built by the railroad in 1970. It was donated to the museum by the EJ&E in April 1989 and is currently equipped with a wheelchair lift for handicapped passengers.

Bessemer caboose 1989, nee Elgin, Joliet and Eastern 510, built by International Car in 1956. This caboose was on lease to the B&LE when it was donated to the museum by the EJ&E in May 1989.