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Posted 5/9/2010--

NWIRPS Work Session Scheduled

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Posted 5/9/2010--

NWIRPS and HCC Grant Press Release

Hammond, Indiana—In conjunction with the Hammond Community Corporation (HCC), the Northwest Indiana Railroad Preservation Society (NWIRPS) is pleased to announce being selected as a recipient for a grant from HCC for the 2010 fiscal year. 

The grant, in the amount of five-hundred dollars, will applied to the Nickel Plate Road 624 display in front of the Hammond Civic Center.  Summer work sessions for applying the grant money to the display will consist of painting and lettering the former Milwaukee Road refrigerated boxcar into a “George Hammond Meatpacking” scheme as well as repairing the fence on the western edge of the property.  We are always looking for volunteers and new members.  Please call 219-718-3005 for more information.

Posted 5/1/2010--

Historic Harbor Rolling Stock Acquisition

March 10, 2010

Hammond, Indiana—In conjunction with Azcon Corporation of Chicago, Illinois, the Northwest Indiana Railroad Preservation Society (NWIRPS), operators of the Hammond Railway Museum, is pleased to announce the effort to acquire and preserve Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB) 6, a transfer-style caboose recently retired from the Harbor’s roster. 

Built in the late 1960s by the Penn Central, IHB 6 was designed to replace the Harbor’s aging wooden caboose fleet.  Originally painted Jade Green with white lettering, IHB 6 was one of over twenty transfer-style cabooses on the IHB roster.  Used on transfer runs as well as local deliveries, IHB 6 was one of the last remaining transfer-style cabooses on the Harbor roster until its retirement in December of 2009. 

Purchased by Azcon Corporation that same month, IHB 6 is in threat of being scrapped, closing the door on a railroading staple in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

 The Northwest Indiana Railroad Preservation Society is a 501(C)3 not-for-profit organization that preserves the railroading history of Northwest Indiana and Chicago’s South Suburbs.  For the society to acquire and preserve IHB 6, $8000.00 must be raised before the historic caboose meets its fate with the scrapper’s torch.

NWIRPS

PO Box 0624

Hammond, IN 46320

219-512-4078

219-718-3005

Photos of IHB No. 6 are here

Posted 11/17/2007--

From Brookston Indiana, NWIRPS members have recovered a vintage Monon railroad caboose--

Story is here

Posted 8/26/2007--

Sunday the 19th, NWIRPS members headed to Fort Wayne Indiana, home of Nickel Plate 765--

The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society was holding their annual open house event along with, for a nominal fee, a chance to sit in the engineer's seat and run this glorious steam locomotive.

Seated is NWIRPS member Mark Hajduk, instructed & supervised by Rich Melvin.

Posted on 6/25/2007--

The NWIRPS July meeting will take place on the 5th @ 6:00PM, at the Hammond Public Library.

Guest speaker Jeremy White, liaison of the town of Dyer Indiana and Amtrak, will be discussing the undertaking of maintenance of the Dyer depot, which is located on the former Monon railroad right-of-way. 

Jeremy will provide an overview of his project, similar to that of Crawfordsville's Amtrak Station.

HAMMOND, IN - The Northwest Indiana Rail Preservation Society (NWIRPS) has scheduled their first public meeting for June 07, 2007 at 06:30pm.  Location and agenda to be announced soon. 

Membership applications will be available.  

The first work session for the NKP 624 will be the following Saturday and Sunday, June 09 & 10 from 08:00am until 4:00pm. 

Volunteers will be required to sign a hold harmless agreement. 

Safety equipment for some tasks is required, so if you have steel toe shoes, safety glasses, gloves and ear plugs please have them available for your protection. 

Rakes, brooms, shovels, and other hand tools can be brought for general yard and cleanup use if you have them.

Kevin Heggi

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