Singer 1 to Hoosier Heartland

Singer 1, the 1898-vintage 250-volt GE switching locomotive formerly at the Indiana Transportation Museum, has been donated by its owner to the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company. The photo above, from the HHTC website page on the locomotive, shows it being moved into that organization's barn.

Singer 1 is an unusual little industrial critter. It was used at the Singer sewing machine factory in South Bend, Indiana until retirement in 1955, after which it was bought by Bob Selle. For a time it was stored at the Illinois Railway Museum's original site in North Chicago, then later it was stored for a time in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois. In 1971 it made its way to Noblesville, where it was displayed in good condition at the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication (later ITM) for many years. When ITM was evicted in 2018 the locomotive - still privately owned, never having been sold or transferred to ITM - was moved to Francesville, Indiana, where it has been stored since. It's the first complete piece of traction equipment owned by HHTC and also the group's first piece of freight equipment, joining a trio of interurban cars and a streetcar.