The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum’s railroad tie replacement project continues to be considered by the North Judson Town Council. After council members had asked for more information before agreeing to help fund the effort, Clerk-Treasurer Andrew Rowe says Bob Barcus attended Monday’s meeting.
“He’s a member of the board at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum and just sort of gave us an update on the dynamics of the railroad ties out there,” Rowe explains. “So many out of so many ties need to be new and in new shape for us to maintain a class one rail line.”
Rowe says at this point, it doesn’t appear the museum would be able to get a full truckload of 200 ties until October, “But it’s sort of in a maintenance mode, where as ties need replaced, they would be able to fix those and implement the new railroad ties.”
In any case, he says it’s important that the museum and town are willing to work together. “With the litigation that went on when I first came in – I hadn’t been exposed to a whole lot of that, but all I knew was that there were some contentious issues surrounding the railroad,” Rowe says. “So it was good to have an individual from the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum here to come talk to the council in a proactive way, looking towards the future.”
He noted that a museum representative is taking part in the town’s comprehensive planning process, while the museum is also working on a comprehensive plan of its own.
