Indiana Transportation Museum

If you ever have the chance, SEE the 1898 FL East Coast private car #90 Henry Flagler car. I tagged along a photo group which luckily they did not mind and boy oh boy, she is gorgeous.

I am a huge fan of travel by train. It is my favorite method of getting to and from Chicago and I try to not let the summer pass without at least one visit to the ITM. If you read my review of the Atlanta New Earth Festival, well, this is the place where you pick up the train to get there.
The ITM also runs the ever-​popular Indiana State Fair «shuttle» train to and from the Fishers train station and will be offering this same service to the newly relocated Oktoberfest (now held at the Indy Fairgrounds instead of German Park).
I’ve taken a trip from the ITM twice in recent years: to Atlanta to dine at Fletcher’s restaurant and to the aforementioned New Earth Festival. The museum also offers other special events including a pizza train, pumpkin train and polar express trip that are good for entertaining the kiddies. One of the most popular ITM outings, however, is the «Dinner in the Diner» trip… I’d tell you all about it, but it’s always sold out by the time I think to make reservations. This trip allows one to dine on a four-​course meal in an authentic 1930’s dining car while making a roundtrip between Noblesville and Tipton.
But here’s something really cool about the ITM: if you visit, apart from taking train trip, you can check out lots of old train cars of all types, many in various states of restoration. And, if you’re lucky, you may even get a private tour of the train car once owned by Henry Morrison Flagler of Standard Oil fame. The car was later purchased by the Hulman family and is now on permanent loan to the ITM. The ITM’s Web site describes the car as a rolling hotel suite and that is definitely not an overstatement.
It is absolutely fascinating to see what could be done in 1898 — this car has been very carefully restored in keeping with its original design and the gentleman who took us on our tour knew it upside-​down and backwards — we felt so fortunate to have been able to grab some of his time on the day of our visit! After touring the Flagler car, our guide also gave us a peek at two engine cars that were in the restoration/​repair process — fascinating!
While there’s no guarantee you’ll get to see the Flagler car if you visit the ITM — I guess it just depends on how busy the staff is — you should definitely ask about it — it’s one of the best-​kept «local flavor» secrets in metro Indy!