Fort Wayne group to purchase right-of-way for rail tourism

nathansixchime · **Joined:** Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:03 pm **Posts:** 949

Quote:

"FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Headwaters Junction, Inc., the non-profit group working to create a railroad-themed park that will eventually become the home for Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, has agreed to purchase a mile of former New York Central right-of-way on the Fort Wayne, Ind. waterfront.

...

Headwaters Junction has been more than a decade in the making and calls for the construction of a tourist railroad and roundhouse to house and display the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s equipment and to serve as venue for events. Lynch points to the Toronto Railway Museum as an example of what he hopes to replicate on the Fort Wayne waterfront. The group also hopes to build a two-mile long narrow gauge railroad to connect Headwaters Junction with the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo."

Full story from Trains Magazine: http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/04/09-dream-for-nickel-plate-road-765s-home-starts-to-become-reality

Quote:

"We anticipate the rebuilding of the line to be a historically-inspired beautification project,"

Local reporting: https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/railroad-project-plans-new-tracks-along-riverfront/1909146976

NS 3322 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:05 pm

For reference, I mapped out the ROW.

ebtrr · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:55 am

Line appears to be south end stub of former Fort Wayne and Jackson, later New York Central, Penn Central, Conrail (parts). Stub north Pennsy main to northern Fort Wayne existed into Contrail era, but rest of line to Auburn (IN) appears to have been abandoned early (1960s?). Now just a few hundred feet of stub left. Line continued to Waterloo (NYC main) Bankers, MI, Ft Wayne, MI and Jackson, MI (NYC Main).

Steamguy73 · **Joined:** Wed Dec 24, 2014 3:15 pm **Posts:** 636

Look at the end of the line. A place called Lawton park. Hmmmmmm I wonder where Fort Wayne’s berk was first placed after retirement.

Randy Musselman · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:19 pm

Kelly,

Thank you for posting this. Its a very interesting development.

Any preliminary thoughts on the track gauge of the 2 mile line being considered to the Children's Zoo?

Best wishes to the FWRHS.

Regards,

Randy

nathansixchime · **Joined:** Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:03 pm **Posts:** 949

More than likely 2-foot gauge for the northern line. We're exploring a scaled, replica interurban car body or two.

There are actually two right-of-ways that head north out of the proposed site -- the old New York Central and the interurban run parallel. A new trail - The Pufferbelly Trail - is being constructed on the NYC ROW and we'll be occupying the interurban side. With trail construction already well ahead of us, we had to be mindful of construction, space limitations, and cost, so we opted for narrow gauge.

Alan Walker · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:57 pm

Something a la Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch?

Dave · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:31 pm

Go 60 CM using European industrial electric tram hardware. It's less than 2 feet so FRA won't be involved.

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1802

That mile of track will be just enough to run some holiday specials on I bet, similar to what #4449 and #261 groups are doing.

Will be great that the #765 will have a true home where her current fans can visit her, and also where she will be sure to gain new fans!