More equipment cut up at ITM

An observer from central Indiana contacted me yesterday to let me know that he had swung through Forest Park in Noblesville to see what was happening with the scrappers on-site at the Indiana Transportation Museum. It seems that they've been concentrating on some cars near the shop building, three out of the four shown in this photo.

The car nearest the camera in that shot is Chicago Elevated Railway 4454, a standard 4000-type 'L' car built by Cincinnati in 1924 and sold directly to ITM by the CTA in 1974. Back in the 1970s, and maybe into the 1980s, this car was regularly used at ITM but at some point it broke and was retired in favor of car 4293. It deteriorated badly in recent years and was in generally poor condition. Reports are that it has now been cut up with no parts salvaged, so it has been removed from the PNAERC list.

Car 4293, the second car from the camera in the linked photo, was the most recent car to run in service at ITM (around 1999 or so) and has not been scrapped. The third car in the photo was S354, previously confirmed to have been scrapped.

The car furthest from the camera in that shot, and shown better in the 2013 photo above taken by Zach Ehlers, is CTA S355. This car was originally number 4315 and was built about the same time as 4454 but was converted to a work motor in 1965. ITM acquired it in 1978 and it has never run in Noblesville. It too has apparently been cut up, trucks, motors, and all, and has been removed from the PNAERC site.

The final car confirmed to have been scrapped, and the first of the unique cars at ITM, is Indianapolis & Cincinnati 606, shown above in a 2001 photo. Built by Cincinnati in 1923, this was only surviving car from the I&C and was one of only three survivors from Union Traction, which acquired the car in 1929 and renumbered it 447. It ended up being retired by Indiana Railroad in 1938 (photo of car 446 here) and in 1977 the car body was acquired by ITM and moved to Noblesville. Intriguingly, a few cars of this series were sold to the Milwaukee Electric and rebuilt as articulated cars. The CERA book on the "TM" says one was car 606 but evidence on the side of this body proved that wrong. It's now a moot point, though, for although the car had an interesting history, its manifestly poor condition and the unfolding implosion of ITM have closed out its story. It is now off the PNAERC list.

It seems likely that this isn't the end of the torches in Noblesville; I will do what I can to keep abreast of the situation and update the PNAERC roster as appropriate.