Hello everyone!

I have joined this forum in an attempt to gather support for our Roundhouse here in Frankfort Indiana. Our town is divided on the concept of preserving this treasure that is in danger of being lost forever. Many people in our community are wanting to save it while others are against it. The main reason many are against it is they are afraid of using tax payer dollars to get this project done. However, there are various grants available, many people don't realize what this could bring to our community.

I am calling on all train enthusiast who do not want to see another roundhouse to disappear to please send an e-mail or letter of encouragement to those in our community that can make or break this. They do have their ears open but they are not getting anything from the local people. Please send your thoughts and let them know that the Frankfort Roundhouse will be supported by tourism, enthusiast, and all you old timers. You help in this would be very much appreciated.

Frankfort Mayor Chris Pippenger e-mail cpippenger@cityoffrankfort.net

Vern Kaspar, owner of WILO Radio (Frankfort's local radio station) vjk@ffni.com

Elaine Lawson, talk show host for WILO office@kasparradio.com

Chuck Toney, Frankfort Building Services ctoney@cityoffrankfort.net

Bruce Moyer, City Council Member jmoyer@cityoffrankfort.net

John O'Brien, City Council Member jobrien@cityoffrankfort.net

Sam Paul, City Council Member spaul@cityoffrankfort.net

Joe Palmer, City Council Member jpalmer@cityoffrankfort.net

Eric Woods, City Council Member ewoods@cityoffrankfort.net

Marilyn Chittick, City Council Member mchittick@cityoffrankfort.net

Scott Shoemaker, City Council Member sshoemaker@cityoffrankfort.net

Your support is greatly appreciated,

Thank you!

Here is a recent video on youtube of the Frankfort Roundhouse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq7olTfU07Y

Visit the Frankfort Roundhouse website http://www.frankfortroundhouse.com

Who currently owns it? What condition is it in? Active rail access? Would this become a rail museum or used for another purpose?

Currently Norfolk & Southern own the property but they have moved their office to another location. They have agreed to donate the property but it has not happened yet since there is a bunch of red tape they have to go through. The Roundhouse itself is deteriorating. Part of the roof have fallen in but all the brick walls are still standing. It still has the turntable but it is not operational at the moment. The whole area is overrun with weeds and small trees. Acquiring the property is not a concern. The concern is some in our community do not have a vision for it and are pushing to have it torn down. However, a great part of the community would like to see it saved. A grant has been applied for to do an Engineering Feasibility study on the site and another grant will be applied for to do a environmental study, core drilling, etc.

It does have active rail access since the yard is still in operation. However, the track going to the roundhouse have been removed over the years. They do plan to have a museum but have it serve as other community functions.

FR -

On my way down to Kentucky a while back, I stopped in to look over the roundhouse. It is as you described. At that time, the idea was to convert it into an office building. Can't see much potential in doing that. But it might have some potential to be saved as a roundhouse museum. It is my understanding that the turntable was purchased by a private individual with the idea that it be moved IF the roundhouse was eventually torn down. But that individual stated that the table would stay in place if the building was preserved. Although there are no tracks in the building, at least a few could be put back in, including at least one out to the turntable. Although there were no tracks to the table itself, and thus no access to the roundhouse that way, there was at that time, a track out to the concrete coal dock from a rear door of the building. I would think that any preservation effort of the roundhouse itself, should include this coal tower. The Nickel Plate Road herald is still quite visible in the concrete. Perhaps a NS donation would include this coal dock and at least the track (or right-of-way) out to it.

It would be difficult to bring the roundhouse back, but it COULD be done. And it might prove an attraction to bring visitors in to Frankfort. The road from Interstate 65 was being improved when I was there and it might be only about a 10 minutes drive off of I-65. I think that what you should do is show the good people of Frankfort that potential.

Good luck in your efforts.

Les

Plans were to make part of it a museum and the other part some sort of community / convention center with shops and so on. This could change and it is my opinion it should be dedicated strictly for rail heritage purposes only.

The turntable is still in place and we haven't heard anything more about it leaving.

I found it on Google Earth. Access isn't too bad, and its quite a large building on land which can be split from the remainder of the active yard. I imagine that the NS will be donating the roundhouse and property to a non profit organization and not the City of Frankfort? At least I hope so. You don't want to have any government involvement aside from some assistance with grants and/or loans. Having govt. as a landlord is a recipe for disaster.

It is being donated to a non profit organization. The Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust which is A 501(c)(3) Non-profit Indiana Corporation. Check out their website at http://www.frankfortroundhouse.com

Update on the Frankfort Roundhouse. The following is an article which appeared in our local paper on August 24th. This is good news for the Roundhouse

The Frankfort-Midwest Railroad Heritage Trust and the Norfolk Southern Railroad have signed an agreement regarding a non-revenue lease of the office building at the old roundhouse.

Trust Chairman Dave Little said it will gain possession of the building on Sept, 15.

“This building is their old shop,” Little said. “They moved to a new building.”

Shan Sheridan, interim executive director of the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, said the acquisition allows the local group to move onto the premises to help remedy issues the city has with the property.

”We will now have a little more control over that,” Sheridan said.

The agreement was signed Thursday afternoon. Sheridan added it is another step toward having the approximately 15-acre property completely donated to the Frankfort group.

The Frankfort-Midwest Heritage Trust was formed in 2005 to acquire the roundhouse complex from Norfolk Southern. The group had won the support of then-Frankfort mayor Don Stock. 

Listed on the 10 Most Endangered Landmarks by the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, the roundhouse has been vacant since the early 1990s, according to Little.

Being able to rent the old office building is key for future operation or future restoration of the property, Little said.

“We want to start cleaning up the area, which is what the city would like to have done, and keep it from being a continual eyesore,” he said. “We’re getting cooperation from the city and we are anxious to get in there and help get this place clean.”

Norfolk Southern owns the abandoned Clover Leaf-Nickel Plate Railroad Roundhouse that was built in 1924 and its associated structures.

Environmental challenges loom from the property’s long history as an industrial site. The rare, steam-age survivor faces demolition by neglect. Steady water infiltration has claimed several of the roof trusses and speedy repair needs to occur before the building collapses.

Sheridan said the group is in the process of obtaining a grant that will a feasibility study to be conducted. 

”We have a search committee that has been formed who will score those entities and then we will grant one of those firms that applied to do a feasibility study on the grounds.” Sheridan said. “That all ties together because we wanted to make sure this feasibility study was done before we even took possession or signed on the dotted line.”

Sheridan said the opportunity of securing ownership. 

“It’s going to be a long process,” Little said. “It takes time to do these things.

If it were me, I would gather up a few people and perform a little "vigilante stabilization" of the roundhouse by temporarily fixing those holes in the roof.

I still don't understand what the City's role in all of this is since the intent is to have NS donate the structure to a non profit group.

You have your work cut out for you. But don't we all?

A note of caution. When we were fighting Wawa for the old PRR yard, we asked for support on many railroad sites. We asked for people to send e-mail to the township council. Many, many people did but with a keystroke, they disppeared from the council's computer. So if you are planning to send the politicians an e-mail, copy someone who can verify that the messages were indeed sent. It was sad to watch them tear down two huge sheds that would have housed our work shops and held a dozen or more rail cars as well as the old factory that was going to be our main museum. But in the end,the owner of the ground donated the ground the rail yard was on and we have begun recovering many of the artifacts still in the ground.

Your building is a fantastic site to rescue. Good luck!

Later!
Mr. Ed

Oh yeah, that will go over real well with NS, who does not take kindly to trespassers. Especially trespassers crawling all over a failing roof. Might as well throw rocks at a hornet's nest. Be more beneficial.

Unfortunately, the roundhouse isn't top priority for the city. If we were to wait for the city, the roundhouse will definitely fall or be brought down altogether. The Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust is a group of local people who got together to save this landmark. This group is made up of local lawyers, business owners, and the Chamber of Commerce administrators along with local citizens wanting to save the property. Although the efforts have been stagnant for years, Norfolk & Southern has just leased the Roundhouse property over the the FMRHT group which clears the way for the processes to begin in the restoration efforts. The lease was necessary for now in order to allow the FMRHT group to gain access and start the process of applying for grants.

In other words, the Frankfort Roundhouse is now in the hands of a new entity and the wheels of saving this treasure is starting to turn.

Vigilante Stabilization is how I feel about it. But we can't rush in and do something that may cause problems down the road. Yes, the roof is collapsing but in reality, it will more likely have to come completely off and be rebuilt using whatever beams salvageable. Things are starting to happen but we still need everyone's support.

What I ask of anyone who believes in saving another roundhouse is to send an e-mail showing your support. Our grant writer has requested these letters of support so she can submit them along with other documents needed for applying for grants. If you have the time, I would appreciate if you could send an e-mail with your name and where you are from along with a line or two of why the NKP Roundhouse in Frankfort needs to be saved.

Please send your support letter to milleramy@comcast.net or shan@ccinchamber.org

I will start coming on here on a regular basis to give everyone an update.

More info and updates at http://www.frankfortroundhouse.com

See a recent roundhouse video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq7olTfU07Y

I was half joking in my earlier remark, but apparently that was lost to everyone.

Its great that your group now has the lease on the roundhouse. But I still have no idea why the City of Frankfort has to have a role at all in this project. It is still possible in this country for a group of people to do things without government ownership or involvement, although those days ARE rapidly coming to an end.

Your non profit group will raise the bulk of its money from private individuals and secondly from private foundations. If this project is not a priority of the City then its time to forget them and focus on private funding sources. Involve the City for stuff that is within their ability to provide such as improving access to the property (paving the road) or putting up signs to the roundhouse.

The city will not have any part in this and your right, it is probably for the better. For a while the city was pushing to have it torn down. The only reason why they couldn't was because it was on Norfolk & Southern's property and N&S wasn't wanting to get rid of it. Enter the Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust group. They struck the deal with N&S to acquire the property which now allows the process to begin in saving this treasure.

It is pretty sad when you have something like this setting in your town and city officials can't see past an old building deteriorating. Fortunately we have a good group of people who are on it and hopefully you will be seeing some progress.

I wouldn't discount the possibility of city involvement, at least in the funding. Grant programs are out there for community development, remediation, and other purposes which can only be pursued by municipalities. Finding the right person within the city and working to solve issues of mutual concern such as hazardous spills, eyesores, liability, drainage, etc in partnership could work to mutual advantage using these programs. I'm not an expert in these grants, but am aware of their use in other projects I was otherwise involved in, and where it did some good.

Besides, these people can make your life hell if you don't work with them. Show them a defensable business plan and some community benefits and get them on board.

dave