A Big Thank You….
…To the National Railway Historical Society! AIRS has been awarded $5,000 by the NRHS's 2025 Railway Heritage Grant program. These funds will help cover the cost of rebuilding the Indiana Northern #4's air compressor!
The #4's air compressor, a 9-1/2 inch Westinghouse, was donated to AIRS by the Illinois Railway Museum last year. AIRS volunteers disassembled and inspected it over the winter to create a scope of work for making it operational again. The generosity of the NRHS will make the necessary repairs possible, and once rebuilt it will be placed in storage for future use when the #4 is returned to steam.
The Indiana Northern #4 is a 1913 Baldwin 0-4-0 switcher that served the Oliver Chilled Plow Works of South Bend, Indiana and later became one of the last steam engines to operate in Missouri. It is an example of the locomotives that were the backbone of the often overlooked industrial railroads; covering the first-mile-last-mile gaps between the Unite States' mainline rail network and the raw resources, factories, and people that built America. AIRS has worked to return the #4 to service since 2020, and aims to use the locomotive as a traveling exhibit highlighting the essential role that industrial lines and their workers played as part of our heritage.
Read more about the NRHS 2025 Heritage Grant Awards:
