Update - February 12, 2008: Steam engine Nickel Plate 587 is under restoration in our shop.  In April of 2007, the Indiana Transportation Museum received a Transportation Enhancement grant for the restoration and heavy maintenance of 587. 

ITM volunteers were eager to start the two year process. By the next week end, the tubes and flues were being removed.  In June, the boiler was cleaned using commercial high pressure water jets and by mid July, the cab was ready to come off.   The cab, which weighs about a ton, was set into cribbing built to support it.   

At the end of August, the boiler and firebox was almost ready for the Ultra-sonic testing.  Each course of the boiler and firebox, inside and out was marked into twelve inch squares.  Each square was labeled with its coordinates. then two half dollar sized spots were ground smooth in each.  That’s approximately 2400 spots to Ultra-sonic test.  ITM volunteers and contractors tested and noted each reading.  In November, the results were sent to our engineer, who figured the material thickness and safety factors we need to operate.    

This year is NKP 587’s Ninetieth Anniversary.  There is no better way to honor that milestone other than to get her back under steam and pulling passengers.

Update - April 30, 2007, Hobbs Station: We had over fourteen different people helping out on the locomotive over the course of the week. The contractor got all the tubes cut. Everything went very smooth and we were thinking it might take eight days to get the tubes cut and out we accomplished this goal in three days. On Sunday the contractor disconnected the welded ends out of the boiler and it is now ready for scale removal then a boiler wash.

Since Jan. 2003, the NKP No. 587 has been out-of-service, due to a federally-mandated boiler tube refitting. This is common for steam engines, and along with other continuing maintenance issues, is a major reason why the American railroads converted to diesel locomotives. The dedicated team of ITM members that service the No. 587 have performed most of the work that can be done with volunteer labor.

The museum is actively seeking funding for the rehab, along with a suitable protected space in which to perform the work. All donations of time or money (or both) will be appreciated. While the ITM would like to have the NKP No. 587 back in service for the 2006 season, this is an ambitious goal and one that can be altered by many factors.

NKP No. 587

Nickel Plate Road No. 587 is a coal-burning steam locomotive built in September 1918 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nickel Plate No. 587 was one of the 625 engines of its type commissioned by the United States Railroad Administration during World War 1 rearmament and one of 15 identical locomotives built for the former Lake Erie & Western Railroad. During 1922 the Lake Erie & Western and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad (bucolically known as the Clover Leaf Route) were acquired by the Nickel Plate Road. Operations of the three railroads were consolidated during the next two years and a systemwide renumbering program was adopted for locomotives and rolling stock. In 1924 Lake Erie & Western engines 5540-5554 became Nickel Plate Nos. 586-600. The second engine of this group, LE&W No. 5541, thus became Nickel Plate No. 587. All engines in this group were classified Nickel Plate Class H-6o and subsequently repainted and relettered.

Nickel Plate No. 587 is perhaps the best remaining example of a United States Railroad Administration (USRA) light Mikado steam locomotive, an outstanding design developed during World War I rearmament. This versatile and universally successful locomotive design was utilized in both freight and passenger service on railroads throughout the United States, and its design elements ultimately served as the basis of larger, more powerful locomotives built during the final three decades of steam locomotive construction in this country. Nickel Plate No. 587 escaped major modification during its 37 years of active service and thus represents the essential USRA light Mikado design in virtually original form. Of the 625 USRA light Mikados constructed between 1918 and 1920, No. 587 is one of only six known to exist in 1984, and of its original group of 15 it is the sole survivor.

Nickel Plate No. 587 is known as a Mikado locomotive because its wheel arrangement (two pilot wheels, eight driving wheels and two trailing wheels, or 2-8-2 type) was first used in an order of locomotives for the Japanese National Railways built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works during 1897. However, an order for 2-8-2 locomotives built by the American-Locomotive Company for the Northern Pacific Railway in 1905 represented the initial development of the Mikado design in its most familiar form . . . a medium-sized freight locomotive of American lineage and dimensions. Considered an outstanding locomotive in its time, the Northern Pacific design quickly eclipsed its predecessors and opened a new era of contemporary locomotive development. Hand-fired, these locomotives had a firebox grate area of 43.5 square feet, said to be about the maximum area that a fireman could handle continuously.

During its 37 year career on the Nickel Plate, No.587 was a frequent visitor to Indianapolis, on the route to Michigan City via Castleton and Noblesville. The locomotive was retired in March 1955. When Nickel Plate No. 587 was donated to the City of Indianapolis, and placed on display in Broad Ripple Park in September 1955, community leaders welcomed the opportunity to preserve a genuine steam locomotive for the education and enjoyment of Hoosiers of all ages. By 1983, however, vandalism and the elements had made ongoing preservation of the locomotive difficult. Following public hearings the locomotive was leased to the Indiana Transportation Museum.

The restoration of Nickel Plate No. 587 required nearly 5 years, consumed many thousands of volunteer man-hours and a quarter of a million dollars in donated money and materials. Through the efforts of Museum volunteers the Nickel Plate No. 587 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In September, 1988 Nickel Plate No. 587 made its triumphant return to active service pulling an excursion train between Indianapolis and Logansport Indiana.