Vandals struck the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson this week. More than 30 windows in historic buildings, cabooses, passenger cars, and locomotives were damaged.
The museum is still waiting for an official estimate, but the damage could easily be thousands of dollars. Many of the glass panels that were damaged is FRA-approved glazing specifically designed for railroad use. Those glass panels can cost hundreds of dollars each.
Volunteers at the museum were quick to respond Saturday morning to the damage after another incident occurred earlier in the week. Camera systems in place at the museum are expected to reveal the culprits and the North Judson Police Department is already involved.
The museum is an all-volunteer organization and depends upon donations to keep things running. With the COVID-19 problems this year, the museum has only been running limited train excursions, further cutting into their bottom line. This act of vandalism not only hurts the museum financially, but it also impacts those who volunteer thousands of hours each year restoring the historic railroad equipment.
“This is a tragic event for the museum,” said Robert Barcus, Treasurer at the museum. “We work so hard to restore and protect these historic artifacts, only to have them destroyed by vandals.”
The museum has setup a donation link on their Facebook page to help defer some of the costs. If you can, please consider making a donation.
