Rare BL2 locomotives arrive at Indiana museum (with video)

After mechanical work, Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum plans to operate locomotives on museum's trains

Black and white locomotive pulls two blue and white locomotives as train crosses bride — A Chesapeake & Indiana GP38-2 leads two BL2 locomotives across the Kankakee River bridge at English Lake, Ind., en route to delivery to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum on Saturday, June 19. (Don Nickel)

NORTH JUDSON, Ind. — The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum has received the two BL2 locomotives it will operate through a lease with the locomotives’ owner.

The former Bangor & Aroostook Railroad diesels, purchased during the bankruptcy sale of Iowa Pacific Holdings subsidiary Heritage Rail Leasing, were delivered to the North Judson museum on Saturday, June 19. They arrived via short line Chesapeake & Indiana Railroad behind former Southern high-nose GP38-2 No. 5115, with a former Illinois Central caboose also in tow.

The rare Electro-Motive Division products built in 1949 are two of just 59 of the 1,500-hp locomotives designed for branch line service (hence the BL designation in EMD’s catalog), seven of which have been preserved. The Hoosier Valley units, Nos. 52 and 56, wear the paint scheme of the Saratoga & North Creek Railway, a New York tourist line that ceased operations in 2018.

Plans are for both locomotives to be restored to operation by the museum, located on a former Erie Lackawanna line in northwest Indiana. These will be the first EMD locomotives operated by the museum, which was founded in 1988.

Man sitting in cab of locomotive — John Eagan sits on the fireman’s side of Bl2 No. 52 in Lacrosse, Ind., as it prepared for its final move to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. The locomotive will need a new radio and speedometer to be made operational. (Steve Smedley)

Rail historian and author John Eagan of Crown Point, Ind., was one of about 20 railfans that followed Saturday’s move. “The first time I rode in a BL2, a Monon hostler took pity on me,” Eagan says. “I was 16 years old, did not have a driver’s license, and I peddled (a bicycle) from South Holland, Ill., to Hammond [Ind.]. And here is this thing and I thought, ‘What is this?’”

Sitting in the cab of No. 52, Eagan said, “This is like being at your grandfather’s house … this is like going back in time. The last BL2 I was in was maybe 1970 on the Monon and here we are in 2021 and we still are in a BL2.Iit’s still possible. You have got to thank the volunteers, the

Dark blue locomotive leads two BL2 locomotives — A CSX train delivers the two BL2s for interchange with the Chesapeake & Indiana at Wellsboro, Ind. (Don Nickel)

owners, and everybody else associated with saving something like this, because this is history.’” The Monon’s six BL2s represented the second-largest fleet of the unique units.

Ken Davenport, a South Carolina resident and former Conrail locomotive engineer, owns the two units. He rode in the engineer’s seat of No. 52 during its move from Lacrosse, Ind., to North Judson.

“I started out to buy one, got a blue-light special to buy both, so I decided, why not let us buy both of them?” Davenport said. “I am sending them to the perfect place, the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. I know they are going to be in good hands. There are only seven left, and only five of them capable of operating, and here they are going to have two of them.

“Not every museum in the country can say I have a BL2, and guess what, these guys got two of them!’”

Davenport also owns former Monon Railroad SW1 No. DS-50, now at the museum after it was damaged during a December 2018 trucking accident near Logansport, Ind. The switcher’s cab was sheared off when the truck passed beneath a bridge with insufficient clearance after a routing error and failure of a pilot car to notify the driver after its over-height pole contacted the bridge. A new cab is at the museum and will be installed as time and volunteer work permits.

“We are really excited about these locomotives,” says Todd Flanigan, the museum president. “The plan is to get both locomotives operational and blue-carded and use them on the tourist trains in the future. There has been a huge following (for the BL2s’ move) from the very beginning to the arrival today.”

Flanigan’s son, Kyle, the museum’s secretary, said the railroad has no current plan to repaint the locomotives: “Railfans will get the opportunity to photograph the units in their current paint scheme.”

Don Nickel, a long-time museum member and a licensed engineer with the Nickel Plate Express tourist railroad in Noblesville, Ind., said he felt extremely fortunate to have introduced Davenport, the locomotive owner, to Todd Flanigan. “It’s a great day for rail history and for preservation,” Nickel said.

One unfortunate note: while in transit, a number board was stolen from No. 52 and a marker lamp from No. 56. “I don’t understand people that steal,” Eagan said. “Being a cop for 42 years, I’d love to find out who stole things off these units, selfishly. Because now others can’t appreciate them because they are gone.

Additional information about the museum can be found online at the museum website or Facebook page.