07/30/2026
🚂🏗️ A vintage passenger car built for military medical service during the Korean War arrived at the Pleasant Lake Railyard on Wednesday, July 29, marking the completion of the second phase of our campus development.
Since shifting its focus to Steuben County, the Fort Wayne Railroad and its partners have transformed the once-neglected property into a destination for passenger excursions, railroad education and community events. The attraction continues to serve Fort Wayne and the wider Northeast Indiana and Tri-State region while welcoming visitors from throughout the country.
In a fitting connection, the car traveled from Pufferbelly Ice Cream at Cass Street, which was once linked to Pleasant Lake by the same rail corridor used by the heritage railroad today. Plans call for the car to be shared with the neighboring Camp Chief Little Turtle as a classroom and meeting space, and to support events on site.
The car’s arrival complements newly finished site improvements, which include a new stamped-concrete passenger platform, signage, security, and landscaping. This work was supported by a $250,000 grant awarded to the Fort Wayne Railroad by Visit Indiana in 2024.
The milestone builds on the restoration of the historic Pleasant Lake depot. Privately funded and completed in partnership with 3rd Street Construction, the project included extensive exterior and structural improvements to the 1882 building, including foundation and flooring repairs, restored woodwork, new windows and transoms, electrical and security upgrades, and the return of the depot’s original Pleasant Lake sign.
The final campus project currently planned is the restoration of the depot’s historic passenger waiting room. That work will be supported by a $15,000 grant from the Steuben County Community Foundation.
More than $470,000 has been raised to bring the Pleasant Lake campus to life. The effort has been made possible by local volunteers, private donors and strategic partners, including Visit Indiana, Norfolk Southern, Indiana Historical Society, M.E. Raker Foundation, the Olive B. Cole Foundation, Steuben County Tourism Bureau and Indiana Michigan Power.
The Fort Wayne Railroad also recognizes Steel Dynamics and the volunteer community leaders behind the original effort to locate and develop downtown, as well as Steininger Development, for their support of the car’s rehabilitation and original placement along Fort Wayne’s downtown riverfront.
Originally constructed as Car No. 89552 for military medical service during the Korean War, the car found various uses throughout its life, including on the Minuteman Mobility Test Train, a 1960 U.S. Air Force project that evaluated deploying intercontinental ballistic missiles on railroad networks to reduce vulnerability to surprise attacks.
On Amtrak, the car was converted to head-end-power and renumbered No. 1614, where it was assigned to the railroad’s modern incarnation of the Broadway Limited, which operated through Fort Wayne, and later used on the Tennessee Bicentennial Train.
Although it had successfully acquired a mile of railroad right-of-way from Norfolk Southern in Fort Wayne, delays involving floodwall relocation and other development provisions made Pleasant Lake a more immediate path toward establishing an operating regional attraction in 2022.
Since that decision, volunteers have restored the historic depot, rebuilt railroad infrastructure, improved the surrounding property, and assembled and renovated a complete vintage passenger train set. Through its tourism program, the Indiana Rail Experience, the non-profit now operates excursions over more than 100 miles of the privately owned Indiana Northeastern Railroad in a special partnership.
