Hesston Steam Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hesston Steam Museum
Hesston Steam Museum Location in Indiana
Location	Galena Township, LaPorte County, Indiana
Nearest town	Hesston, Indiana
Area	155 acres (0.242 sq mi; 63 ha; 0.63 km2)
Established	1956 (1956)

The Hesston Steam Museum is an exciting outdoor museum in Hesston, Indiana. It's run by the La Porte County Historical Steam Society. This museum covers 155 acres and is home to four different types of railroads. You can also see many other cool machines that use steam power and old-fashioned farm equipment.

A Look Back: How It All Started

The Early Days

A group of local steam fans really wanted to keep steam power alive. So, they bought 22 acres of land to hold a yearly get-together. They cleared out lots of trees and built a dam in Mud Creek to create Duck Lake. This lake gave them water for their steam engines.

In 1957, this group, then called La Porte County Threshermen, had their first big show. Big steam engines called traction engines were the main attraction. They provided most of the power for everything. Over the next few years, they added a sawmill in 1959, an electric plant in 1961, and a large crane in 1962.

In 1964, they bought a real steam locomotive! A man named Elliott Donnelley from Lake Forest, Illinois, became very interested in what they were doing. With his help, they bought the rest of the 155-acre site between 1965 and 1968. They also built a special railroad that could use two different track sizes (2 feet and 3 feet wide).

In 1968, the La Porte County Historical Steam Society, Inc. was officially formed as a non-profit group.

Building the Railroads

The museum's railroad started running on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day in 1969. More buildings were built, and more old equipment arrived to be fixed up and shown off.

A special Shay locomotive was completely fixed and ready by August 30, 1975. When Mr. Donnelley passed away in December 1975, his family gave the museum his own 14-inch wide railroad. This railroad used to run on his estate. Museum members carefully moved it to Hesston in 1976. They started rebuilding the 14-inch railroad in 1977, and it was finished in 1982.

The Fire and Rebuilding

On May 26, 1985, a fire sadly destroyed most of the large railroad equipment. Nine train cars, a Henschel locomotive, a diesel locomotive, and many tools were lost. Other locomotives, like the Shay, Porter, and India, were also badly damaged. The fire caused about $2.5 million in damage.

But the museum members didn't give up! They quickly bought two Plymouth gasoline locomotives. With a special train car bought with a grant, they got the railroad running again (though not with steam) in time for the 1985 show.

In early 1986, they started cleaning up after the fire. The India locomotive was pulled out of the wreckage on March 13, 1986. It was taken to the main shop for restoration. Amazingly, just 89 days later, it was back on the tracks and running on steam! The very next day, they started building two new 2-foot wide passenger cars.

A doctor from California, Dr. George Mohun, contacted the society. He offered them four locomotives and eight flat cars from a railroad in East Germany. This equipment had been stored on his ranch for 17 years. The museum borrowed money and bought the equipment.

The new equipment arrived on April 14, 1987. One of the locomotives, a CSK, was brand new but 47 years old! It was cleaned and inspected. It ran for the very first time in August 1987 and is now used regularly on weekends. The India locomotive was retired in 1988 because of a crack.

In 1990, a large Orenstein & Koppel 0-8-0 locomotive was moved to the shop for a major restoration. In 1998, work also began on building an enclosed passenger car for the 2-foot wide line. Later that year, two 3-foot wide passenger cars were bought from Cedar Point amusement park.

The Railroads at Hesston

The museum has four different types of railroads. They run on three different routes around the property.

Locomotives You Can See

Here are some of the cool locomotives at the museum:

Narrow Gauge Railroads

The museum has a special three-rail railroad. This means it has three rails instead of the usual two. This clever design allows both 3-foot and 2-foot wide narrow-gauge trains to run on the same 2.5-mile track! It winds all around the museum property.

14-inch Gauge Railroad

These trains are 1/4 scale, meaning they are a quarter of the size of a real train. They run on tracks that are 14 inches wide. These trains are powered by steam or gasoline. Many of them were built for amusement parks between the 1920s and 1950s.

7.5-inch Gauge Railroad

These tiny trains are built with great care by the people who operate them. Their tracks are only 7.5 inches apart! They travel through the museum's wooded hills and even go under a bridge on a 1-mile long winding route.

Other Cool Equipment

Besides the amazing railroads, the museum has many other steam-powered machines and old farm equipment.

The Sawmill

The Hesston Saw Mill was built in 1900. It's a great example of the sawmills that used to be common across the countryside in the late 1800s. This mill has a huge 60-inch saw blade with special teeth. It's powered by a unique steam engine from the Skinner Engine Company.

The Electric Power Plant

This power plant was the first one to provide electricity to the LaPorte County, Indiana courthouse! The large Allis-Chalmers engine originally powered a sawmill in Elkhart, Indiana.

Steam Traction Engines

The museum has several steam traction engines built between 1899 and 1922. These are like old-fashioned tractors powered by steam. You can see them in action during the Labor Day Weekend Steam & Power Show. They even use a threshing machine to process grains for the fall harvest!

The Tom Thumb Locomotive

In September 2022, the museum announced something very exciting: they finished building a half-size working model of the famous Tom Thumb locomotive! The original Tom Thumb was the very first working steam locomotive built in America in 1830. This amazing model was built by Rick Weber and was shown off at the museum's 66th Steam and Power Show.