The court order is the latest development in a long legal battle with the city of Noblesville. The museum had asked for an injunction of a previous court-ordered eviction to allow the group additional time to move equipment, but that request was denied on Friday by a county circuit court judge. The order allows the group until July 12 to relocate their equipment.
Officials from the Indiana Transportation Museum and Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. will oversee the equipment move, which includes the 1918-built 2-8-2, its tender, and an ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Railway post office car that the Kentucky Steam Heritage group has agreed to purchase. The equipment will be moved by truck to Ravenna.
The move will cost approximately $50,000 with the costs shared by both the Kentucky nonprofit group and the Indiana Transportation Museum.
Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. has agreed to store No. 587 until the Indiana museum can raise the funds to restore the engine to active service. The locomotive has been undergoing intermittent restoration work since 2003. Progress has been made on the engine’s firebox and other components, but major work has been halted since the museum’s lengthy battle with the city.
The partnership does not include the purchase of No. 587.
Trains News Wire reached out to Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. President Chris Campbell to learn more about the nonprofit’s involvement with the Indiana museum.
“Our initial talks were more about how we could help with the restoration as both our groups were going through similar projects,” Campbell says. “Eventually when ITM’s future in Noblesville became somewhat murky, we had discussions about moving the engine to our facility.”
Campbell says those decisions coincided with the CSX Transportation partnership to buy the Ravenna, Ky., property.
Campbell says they had a plan, but this court-order notice has forced them to execute it quickly.
“As for now, this becomes a rescue effort. We are glad to be here to provide assistance. Eventually, we hope to be beside ITM members and officials when 587 lights off for another operational career.”
John Spencer, a board member and director of assets at the Indiana Transportation Museum, says their group is optimistic that they can reestablish their operations elsewhere and eventually get 587 back running in Indiana again.
“We appreciate KSHC lending a hand at the 11th hour and getting the engine out of harm’s way.”
Fundraising efforts are underway to handle moving expenses, and any contributions received will help the Kentucky group quality for a 400 percent grant match from the Appalachian Regional Commission. The group is submitting a strongly supported grant application to the commission in August.
Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. says the two groups will share the cost of moving the equipment. The moving process will begin on July 3.
The routing has not been disclosed, however Campbell says the group will provide live updates as No. 587 and other equipment head for Ravenna.
To support the nonprofit group and for additional information on this project and the group’s flagship project, the restoration of Chesapeake & Ohio 2716, visit their website online.
Link: www.kentuckysteam.org/contribute
It is difficult to be respectful of Noblesvile and Fishers in this situation. INDOT right now is working on a plan to expand the “North Split” where I70 and I65 converge/diverge on the near Eastside of Indianapolis. This expansion would not be necessary if Noblesville and Fishers residents had another way to get downtown to their jobs instead of driving. Amazon placed Indianapolis on its final list of 20 cities for a second North American HQ. What did they want? Mass transit of which Indy’s INDYGO bus is a poor example. What do Noblesville and Fishers do? Tear up a rail line which could have been a major artery in a rail based mass transit system. With friends like that….ITM certainly had their “issues” and a psychologist might have considered the organization schizophrenic. But Indiana doesn’t deserve this self-serving example of “we get ours and to hell with anyone else.”
The heavy-haul movers from Kentucky were at the ITM this morning. At least a half-dozen semis and special equipment, large capacity cranes and numerous personnel from Maxim Crane in Newport, Ky were busy on all parts of the property. It was clear that moving so many pieces of heavy equipment was highly problematic given the short deadline, tight curves, restrictive clearances, etc. I watched one semi with an extended trailer take nearly 20 minutes just to back into the museum grounds. 587’s tender sits a bit isolated near some large trees and they’re going have to work to get the 250 ton capacity crane back there. There was even somebody from the Illinois Railway Museum. Moving all this rolling stock out by truck on a tight deadline is certainly puzzling as opposed to maybe getting NS permission to restore the connection on a one-time basis at Tipton— no time for that now. Maybe post several photos of the work-in-progress later.
The Gofundme funds raised to save the KCS 503 in Port Arthur are being used to move this locomotive as well as to purchase two cars and some trucks. Anyone else have a problem with this?
The ITM is between a rock and a hard spot. They were denied the ability to run the Fair Train (to/from the Indiana State Fair where parking is not plentiful) so they were not able to raise a large chunk of cash needed to move equipment. The track they run on was unceremoniously severed from the national network, so to re-locate, trucking is pretty much their only option.
I have no desire to wallow in someone else’s misery, but a reader has to be curious as to how matters at ITM came to this frantic point, like fleeing a wildfire and trying to get away with your most cherished possessions.
George, Noblesville and Fishers are hell bent on being like Carmel, IN. Trails and kickbacks are their primary desires and spending millions upon millions of other peoples dollars to do it. Why ride a train 10-15 miles to the state fair when you can walk or bike it. Sounds like the judge is in on it too.
I remember when the Monticello & Sangamon Valley did restoration work on this locomotive and it ran not only on their property, but also a double-header at the 1993 NRHS convention — a classic All-American locomotive, glad it did not end up with a midnight scrapping by the local government…