Tell City railroad spur reaches completion

TELL CITY, Ind. (WFIE) - Thursday morning, Tell City officials put the final nail, or spike, into a project they’ve been working on since 2013.

“We have always had a dream of having an excursion train here in Perry County that runs from here to Spencer County," said Betty Cash.

Cash serves as the executive director for the Perry County Visitors Bureau. She says that the dream is closer to fulfillment than ever before.

According to Cash, the idea sparked 6 years ago with the building of the Train Depot. Now that the depot, landing, and railroad spur for boarding are complete, the county hopes they can operate a year-round excursion train.

“We have to keep from not crying because we are so super excited," said Cash. "We’ve done rides back in ’16, we did great rides last year but you know it’s very hard to keep them going. We’re only a volunteer base. Now we’re going to be able to grow it and grow it and grow it.”

The county is working with Indianapolis-based STEM Rail, LLC to finalize a schedule for those regular trips.

“We do a lot of fun themed rides and we will do more with a more consistent investor, more time put into it, and we’ll have a lot of great ideas coming forth for 2020," Cash said."

The negotiations that would keep this tourism track running year-round are ongoing, but the inaugural ride is scheduled for the spring.

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