Vintage railcars to connect Dunes, visitor center?

From the NW Indiana Times ...
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/port ... 7277f.html

Vintage railcars to connect Dunes, visitor center?

PORTER | Porter Town Council members heard initial plans Tuesday for a project to link the beach at Indiana Dunes State Park with the Porter County tourism visitor center by using vintage rail cars.

Resident Sherrill Newman and Richard Riley, a railroad aficionado and proprietor of Riley’s Railhouse in Chesterton, presented a plan for Rail Head of the Dunes Transit Authority.

They said the project aims to operate and display vintage rail cars of the South Shore Line and its predecessors.

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No firm plans ... but this would use former South Shore rail cars, tracks and catenary. Getting the ROW seems to be the biggest issue.

This is a GREAT idea! Which is why it'll never happen

Chuck

Would be a great reason to restore the old cars in Chesterton that have been sitting derelict at an abandoned restaurant downtown.

I'm almost positive those cars had their motors removed.

The restaurant cars are not the ones in question ... although the last I looked that property was for sale and could use an active owner.

I believe the cars in question are 3, 4, 5 and 31 owned by Bob Harris.

This has been the long standing project to be used by the park service cars, but they were donates to East Troy when the Notre Dame line project was terminated.

So maybe he's rejuvinating the dunes run with his cars, maybe find a museum home for restoration projects hes got going.
He has a few other pieces of equipment non South Shore under restoration.