RUSSIAVILLE, Ind. — For the first time since 1940, Union Traction Co. of Indiana interurban car No. 429 has moved under its own power. The 83-year-old vehicle is currently being restored by the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co.
No. 429 was built in 1925 by the St. Louis Car Co. and designed to hold 44 passengers. Like most interurban lines, Union Traction tied together numerous rural communities. Packing 500 hp and able to accelerate and brake at an extremely fast rate, which was ideal for interurban operation, car No. 429 was well suited for the many stops on the route. In the 1930s, the car was absorbed into Samuel Insull’s Indiana Railroad.
A century ago, Indiana’s high-speed, interurban, electric trains empowered Hoosiers to pursue an education, expand economic opportunity, visit loved ones, quickly ship perishable goods, and electrify rural communities. Now, No. 429 and the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co. are poised to reprise that role in a historic sense. The company is working to develop a working interurban line interpreting life during the interurban heyday.
“[We are] developing an electric heritage railroad to tell the story of Indiana’s development through the lens of the everyday Hoosiers who made it a reality,” says Cameron Nichols, Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co. president. “We are striving towards an immersive experience set within the context of an existing, everyday Indiana town as a community-based, historic asset, creating opportunity as the electric railways themselves once did.”
Serving as a gravel pit office for nearly 25 years, stripped of all components, followed by more than 50 years in storage and narrowly escaping the fate of being lost forever, No. 429 again gracing the rails within the Hoosier State is cause for celebration.
Progress on No. 429 can be credited to two Heritage Support Grants provided by the Indiana Historical Society and made possible by Lilly Endowment, Inc., more than 3,500 volunteer hours, and nearly $100,000 in contributions.
Electrify 429, a capital campaign for the operational restoration of No. 429 was launched in 2019 and aims to complete the car by its 100th birthday in 2025. The Heritage Support Grant funded the restoration of key mechanical components for propulsion, braking and suspension, culminating in test movements of the car under its own power in August 2023 and placing the project at 60% complete.
The Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co. collections currently totals six rail vehicles.
“The collection consists of three interurbans, the last Indianapolis streetcar, an 1860s horse car, and an electric locomotive from 1898,” says Nichols. “The collection helps us to tell the Indiana electric railway story from beginning to end, including the movement of freight.”
The company formed in 2018 to save the last remaining railroad cars representing Indiana’s electric railway heritage. The organization exists to spark imagination in people across all walks of life regarding the art, science, culture, technology, and economic empowerment of Indiana’s world-renowned electric railway industry from the 20th century.
Ultimately, the organization seeks to establish a permanent museum and shop facility with track under wire to operate its restored equipment.
We are currently exploring options around Indiana for a permanent site on which to restore, house, operate, and interpret the equipment,” says Nichols. “We are planning to install electrical overhead to power the equipment, and interurban no. 429 is being restored to accommodate its original overhead power source.”
Once the permanent location is identified, the organization will have to install new overhead infrastructure regardless of where the site is located. Nichols indicated that substation components have already been sourced along with a collection of hardware for stringing an initial length of catenary. The group anticipates launching a fundraising campaign for the catenary in addition to solicitations to help with track rehabilitation/construction.
Additional information on the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co. can be found here.
