Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern car leaves Noblesville

News comes from Facebook that the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company, a newly-formed private group of individuals from central Indiana, has made its first acquisition. Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern 81, shown above in a photo from HHTC's post, was moved out of Forest Park in Noblesville yesterday. It was moved to private property near Noblesville.

Car 81 is really pretty historic, though its condition obviously leaves a lot to be desired. It was built in 1902 by Jewett as Indianapolis & Martinsville Rapid Transit 61, making it the oldest Jewett-built interurban car in existence and the eldest of the three extant THI&E cars. In later years it was painted in the THI&E's flashy chrome yellow livery and gained the name "Central Normal." It's been in Noblesville since 1978 and has been stored indoors for perhaps the last 10 years or so. As for HHTC, it was formed for the specific purpose of saving several electric cars from the Indiana Transportation Museum collection being evicted from Forest Park. Car 81 is the first to be moved; the plan is to follow it up with Union Traction 429 and 437 and Indianapolis Railways 153.

ITM's shrinking collection, according to the PNAERC list, now stands at 11 cars, of which four are Lackawanna MU cars. Of course for many of these cars it's a bit of a misnomer to list ITM as the owner, since the nine cars still in Forest Park are technically owned by the City of Noblesville, but for simplicity's sake they're still listed under the ITM name.