Elizabeth and I arose early in Montpelier, Ohio and after our morning preparations, walked across the street to Four Seasons Resaurant where we had an excellent breakfast. I then drove us to Edon and parked the car in the parking area.
Trip InformationFollowing a successful season of memorable events and recent recognition as Indiana's "Best New Experience from the Indiana Tourism Association, a 1940s-era railroad attraction has expanded its calendar of excursions in Northeast Indiana, Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio for 2023.
Operated by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and the Indiana Northeastern Railroad Company, the Indiana Rail Experience has events planned between May and December, including steam-powered fall color tours, Christmas train rides and a hands-on Indiana Rail Camp for young adults and railroad fans. The season will begin with the Indiana Ice Cream Train operating out of Angola on Memorial Day weekend and special events on Father’s Day weekend.
Returning will be the popular all-day excursions to Hillsdale, Michigan and Wine & Whiskey Trains that will operate throughout the year. Included in the calendar of events will also be a special Railroad Open House event featuring several steam and diesel locomotives at the Indiana Northeastern's locomotive shop in Hudson, Indiana.
Our TripI started the morning with an old friend that we had not seen for several years.
I then gathered the consist details as Elizabeth took her pictures. The consist was Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 765, extra tender RPCX 707, Tool Car 701 "Glen Brendel", Power Car FWRX 3679, RPCX snack car 367 "John D. Emery", MOTX coach 147 "Norristown Inn", RPCX coach 148 "Collinswood Inn", RPCX 42 "Franklin Inn", RPCX 194 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy dome coach 194 "Silver Diner", RPCX 3128 "Paul Revere", RPCX 106 New York Central "Woodland Stream" and observation car "Roanoke".
The rear of the train.
Indiana Northeastern SD40M-2 3125, ex. Motive Power Resources Incorporated, exx. 3125, CIT Group/Capital Finance, Incorporated 3125, exxx. Southern Pacific 7409, nee Southern Pacific SD45 9006, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969.
The rear of our excursion train bound for Hillsdale, Michigan. We would pass through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan on this trip, thus the name of the today's excursion.
We checked in and picked up our tickets then walked through the train as we had plenty of time before departure. We returned to our seats, the engineer blew his whistle and soon we were off with Elizabeth and I going to the vestibule for picture-taking on a route that neither of us had ridden before.
A typical farm of Ohio.
Many photographers were chasing our train this morning.
I noticed that there were many farms along our route.
More railfans.
We crossed by many fields and by dense forest.
The old railroad grade turned into a bicycle trail.
Fields and trees are the order of the day this morning.
Down at the end of the road!
Railfans on an old road bridge.
This person missed his picture.
This person did not know the train was running today.
The Angola Golf Club.
Here we turned north at the junction as we curved to the right.
Many townspoeple came out to see our steam train.
Steubenville has a long siding.
Curving towards the next town of Hamilton.
Another field along our route.
Hamilton Lake.
On the way to Stuebenville.
At Steubenville, we turned north towards Hillsdale at the junction.
Nearing Pleasant Lake.
Curving near Pleasant Lake.
A field before the town.
Curving into Pleasant Lake.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Pleasant Lake station built in 1882.
A radio tower along our route.
A farm in Indiana.
Curving into Angola.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Angola freight station built in 1911.
Curving north out of Angola.
Our route continues to curve to the right.
Two farms on hilltops.
Crossing another small stream.
Curving into Fremont, Indiana.
Indiana Northeastern GP9 1692:2, ex. Burlington Nothern 1766, nee Great Northern 693, built by Electro-Motive Divsion in 1957.
Indiana Northeastern GP30 2230, ex. Larry's Truck and Electric 2230, exx. Conrail 2230, exxx. Penn Central 2230, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 2230, built by Electro-Motive Divsion in 1963.
Fremont Lake.
The train took a curve out of Fremont.
More fields along our route.
We started to see the same photographers as we made our way north.
Fields in Northern Indiana.
We are in very northeast Indiana but are about to enter Michigan.
We are now in Michigan.
No different than Ohio or Indiana.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Montgomery station in Michigan.
Curving across a highway.
Curving further north in Michigan.
A field along our route.
We were nearing Hillsdale.
Curving our way to our Hillsdale stop. Since the position of the train meant our car, "Franklin Inn", stopped on a switch, everyone had to walk through two cars to detrain.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Hillsdale station built in 1881. We walked into town and got ice cream at Coneys and Shakes during the long layover here. We returned and visited the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's tent and purchased T-shirts, magnets and two steam engine pins.
Norfolk and Western observation car 300 "Roanoke" built by Pullman in 1917. It was modernized by the Roanoke Shops in 1955, repainted and assigned the name "Roanoke" on October 15th, 1977. It was then re-nenumbered NS 5 on paper, but not the car itself, on December 2nd, 1985 then deemed surplus and sold at auction in 1987. It was rebuilt to Amtrak standards at Eastern Rail Services in 1988 and placed into warehouse storage in 1991. In 2019, it was acquired by the Norfolk and Western Business Car 300 Preservation Society, Inc.
RPCX 10626 8 double bedroom-lounge "Woodland Stream", ex. Amtrak 3201, exx. Penn Central 4412, nee New York Central 10626 "Woodland Stream" built by Pullman in 1949.
RPCX cafe-lounge 3128, ex. Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, exx. Glenn Bowman 2006, exx. California Western, exxxx. Amtrak 3125 when converted to head-end power in 1981, exxxxx. Amtrak 8365 1976-1977, exxxxxx. Amtrak galley-lounge 3327 1976, exxxxxxx. Amtrak parlour car 3641, exxxxxxxx. Penn Central 3128 1968, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 29 seat parlour/5 seat drawing room 7141 "Paul Revere", built by Budd Company in 1951 and used on the Pennsylvania's Congressional and Senator trains on the Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York and Washington, DC. It was converted to a cafe-lounge in 1989, sold in 1995 into private ownership where it was used on the California Western Railroad where it became stranded in Willits due to washouts on that line in 1998. The car was saved from the scrappers torch when purchased in 2006 by Glenn Bowman and then trucked from Willits to the Union Pacific Railroad in Sacramento for shipment to Ohio. The car has since been rebuilt into a private cafe-lounge with the original Pennsylvania Railroad paint scheme.
Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society dining car 194 "Silver Diner", ex. Amtrak griddle diner 8551, exx. Amtrak 8500 when converted to head-end power, exxx. Amtrak 8051, nee Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 194 built by Budd Company in 1948. It was once featured on the California Zephyr which operated between Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City and San Fransisco. After 70 years in service, it was retired in 2016, acquired from Amtrak in 2019 and restored in 2022.
BOMX coach 147 "Norristown Inn", ex. Steam Railroading Institute 147, exx. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum 147, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 147, exx. Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority 107 "Troy", exxx. Penn Central 1513, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 21 roomette sleeping car 8275 "Norristown Inn" built by Budd Company in 1949.
RPCX coach 142 "Franklin Inn", ex. Cuyahoga Valley Railroad NRHX 142, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 142, exx. Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority 112 "Pleasant Ridge", exxx. Penn Central 1537, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 21 roomette sleeping car 8258 built by Budd Company in 1949. It operated through Fort Wayne, Indiana during its original careers. Converted to a traditional coach in 1963 for the World's Fair in New York City, 148 wound its way through commuter train service until were eventually obtained and renovated by the National Railway Historical Society (Washington DC Chapter) in 2008. It operated in occasional rail excursion service and was in limited seasonal use when purchased in mid-2022.
RPCX coach 148 "Collinsville Inn", ex. Cuyahoga Valley Railroad NRHX 148, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 148, exx. Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority 108 "Hazel Park", exxx. Penn Central 1508, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 21 roomette sleeping car 8254 built by Budd Company in 1949. It operated through Fort Wayne, Indiana during its original careers. Converted to a traditional coach in 1963 for the World's Fair in New York City, 148 wound its way through commuter train service until were eventually obtained and renovated by the National Railway Historical Society (Washington DC Chapter) in 2008. It operated in occasional rail excursion service and was in limited seasonal use when purchased in mid-2022.
RPCX snack car 1671 "John D. Emery" nee Santa Fe baggage car 3671 built by American Car and Foundry in 1965. Acquired by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society in 2019.
Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society power car 3679, ex. Amtrak 1252, nee Santa Fe baggage car 3679 built by American Car and Foundry in 1955. Thanks to a grant from the David A. Donhoo Trust and Central Indiana Foundation, the car was upgraded into a head-end-power car that produces 480 volts of electricity for the passenger train, a vital necessity in daily operation. It carries two 300 kilowatt diesel-electric generators and a store room for passenger train supplies.
Tool Car 701 "Glen Brendel", nee US Army kitchen car 89665, built by the St.Louis Car Company in 1953. Acquired by FWHRS in 1979 and converted to a tool car in 1981 for use behind Nickel Plate 765.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, later New York Central Lansing Division office.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Hillsdale freight station.
Nickel Plate Road 765 waiting on passengers to return. The train departed late and we would all ride around the wye at Hillsdale.
The reverse move on the wye.
The trip around the wye is now complete. Once on the nove again, it was announced that there would be a photo runby at the state line at Ray, Indiana.
Reverse move one at the state line of Michigan and Indiana.
Photo runby one.
Reverse move two.
Photo runby two. Everyone reboarded the train and we headed back to Edon. It had been a great trip riding behind an old friend, Nickel Plate 765 and I was one happy railfan. Elizabeth then drove us to South Bend where we had dinner at Jersey Mike's which really hit the spot, then checked into the Marriott Hotel at South Bend, Indiana for the night.
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