The Indiana Railway Museum is a

railroad museum A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives (steam, diesel, and electric), railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment. They may also operate historic equ ...

located in French Lick, Indiana,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, dedicated to preserving and displaying artifacts related to the history of

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s in Indiana.

History

The Indiana Railway Museum was founded in 1961 in the

Decatur County Decatur County is the name of various past and present counties in the United States, all named for Stephen Decatur: *Decatur County, Georgia *Decatur County, Indiana *Decatur County, Iowa *Decatur County, Kansas *Decatur County, Tennessee *Decatur ...

town of Westport with one locomotive and three passenger cars. The museum relocated to Greensburg and then in 1978 to its present location in French Lick after the Southern Railway deeded a total of sixteen miles of right of way stretching from West Baden, Indiana, approximately one mile north of French Lick, to a small village named Dubois, to the south.

Collection

The museum's collection includes more than 65 pieces of rolling stock and locomotives. The museum has three steam locomotives on display that are not operational and three operational diesel locomotives. Excursions are typically powered by a diesel locomotive. Usually, the train consists of an ALCO RS-1 or EMD

GP16 The EMD GP16 are a series of rebuilt diesel-electric locomotives, a result of a remanufacturing program initiated by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) in an effort to spare the cost of purchasing new motive power in the late 1970s. This in ...

pulling 3 ex Chicago and North Western Railroad bi-level commuter cars, a concession car, 4 ex Rock Island passenger cars, an ex Northern Pacific Budd dome car, and an ex

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

caboose.

Locomotive Roster

IRM #4 - ALCO RS-1 - Ex

Algers, Winslow and Western Railway The Algers, Winslow and Western Railway was a Class III short-line railroad that served the surface mining operations in Pike County, Indiana. It operated approximately 19 miles of track which reached from the coal mines west of Cato south ...

#4, Built as Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic #103 IRM #6 - GE 80 Ton - Ex US Navy #65-00356 IRM #78 -

ALCO S-2 The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

- Ex Michigan Southern #78 IRM #97 -

Baldwin Baldwin is a Germanic name, composed of the elements ''bald'' "bold" and ''win'' "friend". People * Baldwin (name) Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, Qu ...

2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...

- Built as Mobile and Gulf #97 IRM 101 -

ALCO S-4 The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

- Ex

#1 IRM 208 -

, built as

Angelina and Neches River Railroad The Angelina and Neches River Railroad (Angelina & Neches River Railroad) is a short-line railroad headquartered in Lufkin, Texas. ANR operates an line from Dunagan, Texas, to an interchange with Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacifi ...

#208 IRM 1813 - EMD

- Ex INRD 1813, built as

Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

#1810

Rail line

The museum owns 16 miles of an ex- Southern Railway and Monon line running from

West Baden Springs West Baden Springs is a town in French Lick Township, Orange County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 574 at the 2010 census. It is well known for its West Baden Springs Hotel and for being the birthplace of Larry Bird. History W ...

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

, through

French Lick French Lick is a town in French Lick Township, Orange County, Indiana. The population was 1,807 at the time of the 2010 census. In November 2006, the French Lick Resort Casino, the state's tenth casino in the modern legalized era, opened, drawing ...

, then southwest to the towns of Cuzco and Dubois in

Dubois County Dubois County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 43,637. The county seat is Jasper. Dubois County is part of the Jasper Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Dubois County was formed on Decem ...

. The track beyond Dubois is operated by the Dubois County Railroad, a for-profit subsidiary of the museum. The line interchanges with Norfolk Southern at Huntingburg.

Excursions

The museum operates the 10-mile stretch of the line between French Lick and Gradman as a heritage railroad known as French Lick Scenic Railway. Excursions are based on a 20-mile round trip through portions of the scenic Hoosier National Forest and the 2200 foot Burton Tunnel and takes approximately 2 hours. On occasion, the museum runs a train called the "Spirit of Jasper" in cooperation with the City of Jasper. The train operates out of the rebuilt Jasper train depot, and sometimes runs to French Lick with the "Jasper to French Lick Express".http://spiritofjasper.com/

References

External links

French Lick Scenic Railway
- operated by the Indiana Railway Museum

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070929111757/http://www.ispls.org/pdf/RailroadListIN.pdf Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors: Railroad List {{Adjacent stations, system=Monon Railroad, line=Orleans-French Lick, left=West Baden Railroad museums in Indiana Former Monon Railroad stations Heritage railroads in Indiana Museums in Dubois County, Indiana Museums in Orange County, Indiana