Photo by Lisa Bicknell
This rusty chunk of iron is the chassis of an historic steam engine that belonged to the Indiana Transportation Mueum. After the city of Noblesville, Indiana evicted the museum, the engine was transported to Ravenna where it will be restored.
By LISA BICKNELL
CV&T News Editor
It was an eventful journey but, Nickel Plate 587 is parked safely in the Ravenna Rail yard awaiting restoration.
Moving the pieces of the 1918 steam locomotive in seven flat bed trailers proved to be quite a challenge.
One load, containing the chassis, got hung up on Hwy. 499, on the narrow curvy road at Panola where it blocked traffic from 11 a.m. last Tuesday until Wednesday morning. The driver of the truck told local news outlets that he was just following the directions provided to him by the Department of Transportation.
Area residents got a kick out of the train being in the area. Some recall that there was once a train station at Panola and trains rolled through on a regular basis.
While the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation has plans to eventually restore steam engines in Ravenna, the decision to ship Nickel Plate 587 to Ravenna came about unexpectedly after a legal battle between Indiana Transportation Museum and the town of Noblesville, Ind., which resulted in the city evicting the museum from Forest Park in Noblesville.
After the engine is restored, it will likely be moved back to Indiana when the Indiana Transportation Museum finds a new home.
According to an article by Kevin Keefe on the Classic Trains website, the old locomotive once led the campaign train carrying vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon in 1952.