The last ITM electrics

It appears that the last electric cars owned by the Indiana Transportation Museum, formerly IMOTAC, have been scrapped. Lackawanna MU cars 4336, 4337, and 4361, all of which were relocated from a siding in Cicero, Indiana to an empty lot in Logansport in November 2019, have been cut up per a post on RyPN (thanks to Wesley Paulson for tracking this down). The above photo, from several days ago, shows the early stages of the scrapping process, with what appears to be a backhoe demolishing an Army troop sleeper or something.

Of course these three cars are no real loss, and given their atrocious condition it's no surprise that they're gone. It's more of a surprise that they were moved to Logansport at all and not scrapped in place in Cicero. But the recent history of ITM is a story of poor decisions and misplaced resources. To my knowledge, there are still railroad cars here and there owned by ITM, so the organization still casts a shadow, thin though it might be. But there's nothing owned by the group that remains on the PNAERC list.

ITM equipment moved

Appearances to the contrary, the Indiana Transportation Museum isn't dead yet. The photo above is from a recent post on the Schlatter Boys Transport Facebook page and shows one of ITM's three remaining electric cars, all of them Lackawanna high-roof MU trailers in awful condition, en route to its new home. These three cars were among a motley assortment of equipment stored north of Noblesville near Cicero, Indiana on two sidings owned by an aggregate company of some sort. As such the equipment was not seized by the City of Noblesville but, rather, was evicted earlier this year by the owner of the sidings. Conventional wisdom suggested the equipment would all be cut up where it sat but it seems ITM has mustered the resources to move at least some of the cars to a concrete pad in Logansport, where they will now await further developments. The PNAERC list has been updated to reflect the fact that the core of the ITM collection, such as it is, now sits in Logansport rather than in Cicero.

North Shore car acquired by IRM

The Illinois Railway Museum has announced that it has acquired North Shore 172, a standard steel coach built by Cincinnati in 1920. This is the fourth-oldest North Shore coach in existence and the only one from that line's 1920 order for cars. IRM is the car's fourth owner; after the North Shore it was very briefly owned by the Hyman-Michaels scrap company but since mid-1963 it has been owned by an ex-North Shore employee. Since the late 1960s it has been stored in Noblesville at the Indiana Transportation Museum, where in the early 1970s it was one of two cars that inaugurated public operations at that site (the other car, CA&E 308, is also at IRM). It was operated regularly until about the early 1990s at which point its deteriorating condition saw it removed from public service. Since 2000 or so it has been stored in the barn at the ITM site as shown above.

The car was moved out of Noblesville in October (for photos and more info see our sister blog, Hicks Car Works) and has been at a temporary storage location in the interim. IRM's intention is to restore the car and operate it along with the museum's fleet of other North Shore cars. With the transfer of car 172 to IRM, there are only three electrics listed on the PNAERC roster under ITM ownership: the three derelict Lackawanna MU trailers stored on the siding in Cicero.

Last Electric Car Leaves Forest Park

The last electric car has officially departed Forest Park and the old Indiana Transportation Museum site, drawing to a close 50 years of traction preservation at that site. The dubious honor went to Lackawanna 4328, a standard high-roof MU trailer built in 1917, which was acquired by the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. At HVRM it joins two much newer mainline MU cars, Illinois Central "Highliners," as well as a pair of privately-owned South Shore coaches. There are still three electric cars owned by ITM on the PNAERC roster, all of them Lackawanna MU cars identical to 4328 (except that they're in much worse condition), but they're stored on a siding in Cicero, Indiana to the north of Noblesville. Rumor has it that the owner of that siding - recall that ITM has never owned a square foot of land, so even the equipment they own that wasn't seized by the city of Noblesville is on land owned by someone else - has sued ITM so those cars may be leaving at some point in the near future as well. Of course there's plenty of steam road equipment still in Forest Park too, but that collection has begun to leave as well, starting with an L&N diner moved to Tennessee this week.

ITM started out as the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication, or IMOTAC, and initially its collection was heavily traction-oriented. The organization's first car, whose acquisition predated the move to Forest Park by a few years, was Chicago Aurora & Elgin 308; public operation was for many years limited to electric cars; and during the museum's first decade only a few pieces of mainline railroad equipment were obtained. But by the early 1980s, with the ability to operate over the old Nickel Plate mainline into Indianapolis and the leasing of NKP Mikado 587, the focus changed to running mainline steam and diesel excursions. The most successful and long-lasting of these were the Fair Trains to the state fairgrounds and by the early 2000s the museum's preservation mission had largely become secondary to maintaining the Fair Train operation. The last electric car ran around 1999 and after that the traction collection languished until the museum lost its lease on the land in the park last year. Offers by the city of Noblesville to give ITM a year to evacuate were met by lawsuits and an eviction notice was served in July. ITM as an organization still exists, with some equipment in poor condition in Cicero and a few other pieces extracted in early July scattered around the state, but it is gone from Forest Park forever.

Indianapolis Peter Witt moved to new home

The latest electric car to leave the old Indiana Transportation Museum site in Forest Park, Noblesville is Indianapolis Railways 153. The news, and the photo above, come from a Facebook post (no log-in required) by the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company. HHTC has moved car 153 to its site where it is being kept under cover along with the organization's three interurban cars.

Car 153 is very historic. It's the last electric streetcar from Indianapolis and is arguably the most modern streetcar preserved from before the streamliner/PCC era (Portland 813 is of the same vintage but has older-style K-control, rather than 153's PCM control, and lacks the more modern Peter Witt door arrangement). As such it's a significant piece, but unfortunately it has suffered grievously during its years of neglect in Forest Park. It was very close to being scrapped but HHTC stepped in and saved the car, installing steel beams to reinforce the underframe to allow the car to be moved. And of course even when ITM acquired the car in the 1970s it was a body, lacking trucks, control, and an interior.

Electric locomotive leaves Noblesville

Bob Harris has confirmed that yesterday, the 26th, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City 55 left the former Indiana Transportation Museum site in Noblesville. It has been moved to the nearby Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company site where usable components will be salvaged for use on interurban cars owned by HHTC and also for use on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73, which is not part of the HHTC collection. The locomotive's trucks are close to what was used by the Union Traction 427-series combines and will be placed under Union Traction 437.

CRANDIC 55 was built in 1926 by Detroit United and is one of only three extant pieces - all freight or non-revenue equipment - in existence from that system. It later went to the Eastern Michigan and then, in 1935 when it was only nine years old, to the CRANDIC in Iowa. It ran there for 18 years, until the wires came down in 1953, but it remained stored on the property until the mid-1960s when it was noticed and acquired by members of the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication, later ITM. It was moved to Noblesville but never ran and garnered little attention. In recent decades its condition has deteriorated badly to the point where it would be a major project just to make the locomotive presentable. Only three electric cars now remain in Forest Park: Indianapolis Railways 153, North Shore 172, and Lackawanna MU car 4328.

The exodus continues

In a recent post on RyPN, the Ironhorse Railroad Park of Chisago City, Minnesota has confirmed that the most recent departure from the old Indiana Transportation Museum site in Noblesville is Twin Branch Railroad 4. This fairly unique locomotive was one of two built in 1928 to operate a one-mile-long railroad serving a power plant in Mishawaka in northern Indiana. Both locomotives were built as battery locomotives, but later on they gained rooftop pantographs and acquired the ability to operate as normal electrics. It's thought that they retained their batteries for off-wire operation though. Upon retirement around 1970, TBRR 4 was acquired by ITM (then IMOTAC) and moved to Noblesville. During the 1970s and 1980s it was occasionally used for switching but for the last couple of decades has been on static display.

Ironhorse Railroad Park is an unusual destination for this unusual locomotive. IRP hadn't been on the PNAERC list at all until now; it's a small railroad museum in Minnesota mainly devoted to steam railroading. Other than a superficial resemblance to large steeplecabs used in mining operations in northern Minnesota, TBRR 4 has little local significance. But it's thought that the engine was acquired in part to prevent it from going to scrap, and for that we can be grateful it has found a new home.

There are now just four electrics left in Forest Park: a Lackawanna MU car, an interurban, a locomotive, and a streetcar body. At least some - and perhaps all - are likely to leave shortly.

South Shore car leaves Noblesville

The rapid exodus from the former Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville continues. On Wednesday the car to leave was Chicago South Shore & South Bend 205, which departed for a temporary storage location where it will be stripped for parts and scrapped.

Car 205 was built in 1927 by Pullman and lengthened in later years. Its preservation-era history is a little muddled but it was acquired first by the National Park Service and then later by ITM. It's been stored static in Noblesville for many years. Of some half a dozen South Shore 200-series trailers initially preserved, 205 is the second-to-last. Soon only car 203 at East Troy will be left as an example of the type. Components from car 205 will go towards the restoration of Lake Shore 73 as well as other preserved cars from the South Shore Line. Thanks to Bob Harris for the information.

I should also mention, in connection with car 205, that a correction has been made to one of the organizations listed in PNAERC. RAIL Foundation, which has been listed as the owner of several pieces of equipment, is actually not an active organization any more. Equipment listed under their ownership in recent years is actually owned by one person who was a principal of the former organization. That equipment has been updated to "Private Owner - Michigan City."

The traction collection in Noblesville now stands at eight cars, down from 24 at the beginning of ITM's dissolution.

Third car moved to Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company

Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company, which was formed earlier in 2018 for the purpose of acquiring for preservation several pieces of traction equipment from the Indiana Transportation Museum, moved its third car from the ITM site in Noblesville to its own property on Friday. This car is Union Traction 429, the "Noblesville," and it joins identical car 437 which was previously moved by HHTC.

Car 429 was arguably the jewel of the ITM traction collection, such as it was. The car was built by St. Louis in 1925 and ran into the 1930s under UTC and later Indiana Railroad. In 1968 it became the first piece of electric passenger equipment from Indiana acquired by ITM, which at the time was known as the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication: IMOTAC. Though always a body, ITM acquired the correct trucks and other electric equipment for the car and did a rather nice cosmetic restoration. It was the only piece of electric equipment to go into ITM's barn when it was built and to stay there until the present day. Overall it would have been a strong candidate for full operational restoration, had ITM's traction program not collapsed in the 1980s and 1990s. It is thought that HHTC intends a full, but non-operating, restoration.

There is one oddity about the 429: it's not certain that it's the 429. When the car body was acquired by IMOTAC it was very quickly sand-blasted, with all original traces of lettering erased, and painted as the "Noblesville" - the city that was home to the museum. Whether that's a fortuitous coincidence or a bit of historical revisionism is probably lost to history.

The ITM collection, as listed on the PNAERC roster, now stands at nine cars: four Lackawanna MU cars, two locomotives, two interurban cars, and a streetcar body.

EDIT: Through other sources HHTC has stated that they do intend an operational restoration of car 429, which is good to hear, and which also suggests they plan on building an electrified demonstration railway on which it can operate. Presumably plans for full restoration also apply to their other cars including UTC 437, THI&E 81, and Indianapolis Railways 153, the last of which is still in Forest Park in Noblesville.

Second car to Hoosier Heartland

The Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company is growing again. Yesterday their second car, Union Traction 437, was moved from the old Indiana Transportation Museum site in Forest Park in Noblesville to HHTC property. Photos are available on their Facebook page, which is also where the above photo is from. Car 437 is the second of the four electric cars that HHTC purchased from ITM before that organization's eviction.

The car is one of two identical Union Traction cars in existence, the only existing cars from that line. It was built by St. Louis in 1925 and while running for Union Traction was named the "Marion." It's been stored outdoors at ITM since it was acquired in 1981 and is in rough, but potentially salvageable, condition. For its part, the ex-ITM collection in Noblesville is now down to six cars - including the other two cars purchased by HHTC - plus some Lackawanna MU cars.

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.

Two electrics leave Noblesville

The City of Noblesville has now officially evicted the Indiana Transportation Museum from Forest Park. Most of the remaining electrics owned by ITM are still in the park and are now under the authority, if not the property, of the city. A previous post on Wednesday had noted that Singer 1 was moved to temporary storage in Francesville on Wednesday the 10th. It's now been confirmed that the locomotive was sold to RAIL Foundation of Michigan City. Definite plans for the diminutive locomotive have not been finalized but it is intended that it be preserved and placed on display. For the time being its ownership has been updated.

Another piece of electric equipment that left Forest Park on Wednesday was the Lafayette Birney body shown above (well, you'll have to use your imagination!) in a photo taken about a week ago. This car, whose number is unknown, has also been acquired by RAIL Foundation and moved into temporary storage in Francesville. It is intended that the car be preserved and, eventually, restored.

These two departures leave a total of 12 pieces of electric railway equipment still listed under ITM ownership. Three are Lackawanna MU cars stored in Cicero on a privately-owned siding, so it's thought that those cars are still under ITM ownership and control. Of the other nine, ownership is uncertain given the eviction order but most are thought to have been sold (at least on paper) to other organizations. For the time being, I'm following my longtime practice of not considering a car's ownership to be formally transferred until the car itself has moved, hence the nine pieces of equipment remaining in Forest Park will remain listed under ITM ownership until they're relocated. Whether that happens sooner or later is tough to predict.

Noblesville update

The Indiana Transportation Museum officially gets evicted from its site in Forest Park in Noblesville in a day or so, and plans for the equipment seem to have been changing quickly. The current status or condition of the equipment - at least, the electric equipment - haven't changed quite as quickly. Most of the traction collection is in the same state and location it was a week or two ago.

The big change is with Singer 1, the diminutive 250v switching locomotive that was stored in a small display building along with the Indianapolis mule car. The Singer locomotive was evidently moved on the 10th into storage in Francesville, Indiana, north of Lafayette about halfway between Noblesville and Chicago. Final plans for this locomotive have not been solidified. Its new location - as well as a control type (it's the only piece of equipment on the roster with K-21 control) - has been noted on the PNAERC roster.

Of the other electric equipment on-site, Twin Branch 4 has had its condition changed from "displayed" to "stored" given that ITM is no longer really open to the public. A visit to ITM by yours truly allowed me to add a motor type - it has WH 908CD motors, the same type as the Phelps-Dodge locomotives preserved in Arizona - and allowed me to figure out what type of master controller it has. It has 349C2 master controllers but unfortunately I don't know whether its control wiring scheme is HB, HBF, or what (it's a battery locomotive so I'm assuming not HL). Anyone know?

I was also able to get updated photos of some of the electric cars at ITM and they're online here, on our sister blog Hicks Car Works.

Noblesville update

A couple of people I know stopped by the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville this past weekend and sent in some updated information.

The last two of the museum's 4000s have been scrapped. Car 4257, shown above in a recent photo, was built by Cincinnati in 1922 and sold by the CTA in 1975. It was originally bought by the Oakland County Parks & Recreation Commission and I think was one of the 4000s stored in Michigan City on the South Shore for a few years. Sometime around 1980 it was acquired by ITM and has been sitting in dead storage in Noblesville since.

And then there's the 4388, shown above on the scrap track a couple of weeks ago with signs of having been switched by an end loader or something similar. This is another typical 4000, built by Cincinnati in 1924 and sold by the CTA to ITM (then IMOTAC) in 1979. The loss of these two cars is no great tragedy, as there are still many 4000s in various stages of repair in other museums, but it does bring to a close a large chapter in ITM's history. The museum at one time owned no fewer than 11 of these cars, by my count, with some acquired for restoration and others acquired as parts sources for the planned restoration of interurban car bodies.

A loss of considerably more significance is the recent scrapping of Evansville & Ohio Valley 154, shown above in a photo taken a few weeks ago. This was a standard interurban-style General Electric steeplecab built pretty early, in 1912, for an obscure line in Portsmouth, Ohio called the Portsmouth Street Railroad & Light Company. Later it went to a slightly better-known interurban line in southwestern Indiana, the Evansville & Ohio Valley, before rounding out its career on a short industrial line owned by Cook Transportation. It was an early acquisition by IMOTAC, purchased by the museum in 1965 around when it moved into Forest Park in Noblesville, but has never run at the museum. Although historic its condition had worsened steadily over the years and no museum stepped up to purchase it.

That said, there was a surprising turn when it was revealed that the Indianapolis Peter Witt, car 153, actually has not (yet) been scrapped as previously reported! The scorched patch of earth thought to be its former location was actually further out in the museum yard, while the Peter Witt still resides back in the forest swallowed by trees. So for the moment, at least, it has been put back on the list.

The traction collection at ITM continues to shrink. Other than Lackawanna MU trailers, of which the museum still has four, the only electric cars stored outside are the aforementioned Peter Witt, CRANDIC 55, South Shore 205, Union Traction 437, the Twin Branch engine, and a forlorn Lafayette Birney body. Four other electrics, a couple of them privately owned, are stored inside. The museum's electric collection now stands at 14 pieces.

CTA work motor scrapped in Noblesville

More scrapping is underway this week in Noblesville at the Indiana Transportation Museum. A video was posted here of the last of the CTA 4000-series work motors, S369, being dismantled yesterday, on June 12th, using a claw boom. The car is pictured above in a photo taken a few days ago. This car was built in 1924 for the Chicago elevated as car 4390 and in 1972 was rebuilt as work motor S369. It went to ITM (then IMOTAC, the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication) in 1979 and has been stored there ever since.

As of last week, the "scrap track" on which S369 was sitting also contained the museum's two remaining 4000s, 4388 (visible to the left of S369 in the above photo) and 4257 (out of view to the right), as well as Evansville & Ohio Valley 154, a complete and relatively historic - albeit badly deteriorated - interurban steeplecab. The video shows that 4388 hadn't been scrapped yet as of yesterday - though it may go away today - but it doesn't make it clear whether 4257 and the steeplecab are gone yet or not.

ITM is now down to 16 electric cars on the list (from 24 last year) with three of the 16 on the "scrap track" and another four of them Lackawanna MU cars.

Indianapolis Railways car scrapped

UPDATE: As of late June 2018 it seems this car is still in existence! It was located so far back in the trees that on a previous visit it appeared to be gone. We regret the error.

Original post:
I received confirmation this weekend that earlier in the month the last existing streetcar from Indianapolis Railways, IR 153, was scrapped by the Indiana Transportation Museum at their site in Noblesville.

This is probably the most historic car to be cut up so far at ITM. It was built by Brill in 1932 and ran until the end of Indianapolis streetcar service in 1953. It was arguably the most modern "traditional" streetcar in the United States and one of very few preserved cars built during the Depression for street railways. These cars were pretty similar to the Portland 800s, of which one survives in operating condition, but utilized the more modern single-end Peter Witt arrangement later used on PCC cars.

The body of car 153 was acquired by ITM (then IMOTAC, the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication) in 1972; it is pictured above at the Noblesville site in 1979. As can be seen, it was far from unsalvageable at the time; though missing windows and with some minor damage, it seems to have had fairly little rust. Seashore has certainly restored far worse to operation.

Unfortunately car 153 became one of the most forgotten streetcars in a museum. It was never moved nor put on trucks, and a forest of sorts steadily grew up around it. The above photo is from 2007 and shows that the car has become largely overgrown. I dimly recall from a visit to ITM a few years before this that the car was difficult to see, much less access, during the summer when the site was a bit more overgrown.

The car's longtime site is now a scorched patch of earth. So car 153 has been removed from the PNAERC site; the only known piece of Indianapolis Railways electric equipment to survive is now a trolley bus at the Illinois Railway Museum which itself only escaped an aggressive scrap drive a few years ago. ITM's electric collection is down to 18 pieces (of which four are Lackawanna MU trailers) and the scrappers are supposed to be on site this coming week; supposedly the next cars in line are the three remaining CTA 4000s. Stay tuned.

Second car leaves Noblesville for preservation

A second car has left the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville for preservation. This time it's Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee 606, later Chicago Transit Authority S-606, a wooden line car built for the railroad in 1923 and shown above in service in a 1952 Don Ross photo.

It doesn't look quite so good now. After the North Shore quit the 606 was sold to the CTA, which renumbered it S-606 and rebuilt it somewhat for use as a line car for its Skokie and Evanston lines that still used overhead wire at the time. Around 1975 the car suffered a grievous fire which led to its immediate retirement and in 1978 the hulk was sold to ITM and moved to Noblesville. It has been stored there in steadily worsening condition since (the above photo is from 2001).

Its new owner is RAIL Foundation, which has moved the 606's body (really more of a stripped frame at this point) to Murphysboro, Illinois where the organization is rebuilding South Shore wooden interurban combine 73. The trucks and mechanical components have been put into off-site storage. The eventual plan is to recreate the 606's body, using the original frame and what metal components can be salvaged, and restore the trucks and equipment for use under the car. It's a daunting prospect but if it happens this really will be a phoenix story like few others in rail preservation.

Chicago 'L' car leaves Noblesville

This news is a couple of weeks late, but a Facebook post here confirms that one of the 4000s at the Indiana Transportation Museum has, indeed, been moved to the RAIL Foundation site in Michigan City. It's impossible to tell from the photo but other sources suggest that this is car 4293, built by Cincinnati in 1922. It was acquired by ITM directly from the CTA and was the second 4000 to operate in Noblesville. It seems that after car 4454 (recently scrapped) was taken out of service, apparently in the 1980s, car 4293 was fixed up and painted in 1920s Chicago Elevated green and orange. It ran until sometime around 1999 or so, when it suffered a failure and was taken out of service, thus closing out forever the era of traction operation in Forest Park. I recall riding it in about 1996 and then seeing it again in 2001, by which time it was in the workshop and partly disassembled.

Anyway, car 4293 was in the best condition of the 4000s at ITM so it's good to see it saved. Its move to Michigan City makes it the first electric car to leave Noblesville intact since Chicago Aurora & Elgin 308 was sold to the Illinois Railway Museum back in 1996.

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.

CTA work car scrapped in Noblesville

Reports have come in that the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, IN has started scrapping some of its traction collection. It's not clear on how many cars are being cut up but it seems the museum is starting with some of its Chicago 4000-series 'L' cars that were converted for work service. ITM has (or had) seven 4000s including two that had operated at the museum at one point or another and five that had been rebuilt by the CTA for work service. The one that is thought to have been scrapped within the past week is car S354, built in 1923 as car 4381 and rebuilt for work service in 1965. It came to ITM in 1978 and was fitted with a crude overhead platform, visible in the 2001 photo above, for use as a makeshift line car. Along with the other CTA work cars it's been in very poor shape for years. It's been removed from the PNAERC list, taking the ITM collection from 24 to 23 cars total.

It's possible that additional 4000s, and perhaps more historic cars in the museum's collection, may meet the torch in the coming days or weeks. The museum has been evicted from Forest Park in Noblesville, apparently having only until June 1st to evacuate, and from most accounts there seems to be little interest on the part of museum management in the traction collection. Any updates from folks in Indiana are appreciated.