PLEASANT LAKE – For decades, the 144-year-old Pleasant Lake train depot sat unused and abandoned in the small, unincorporated town located in Steuben County.
During its heyday, the station saw up to 12 trains on the weekends delivering passengers from Fort Wayne to the once popular vacation spot in the far northeast corner of the state.
But by the time the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society acquired the property in 2023, the depot was in dire need of repairs.
Over the past three years, the nonprofit has worked to restore the site, including resetting the foundation, overhauling the exterior, replacing floors and windows and returning the depot’s original Pleasant Lake sign.
Crews are now completing interior upgrades. The inside features a station-agent desk decorated as if it were in service in 1945, vintage Coke and cigarette machines and a coal stove used to heat the building in winter.
“It looks like a film set,” executive director Kelly Lynch said. “That’s something we hear a lot, which brings me a lot of pleasure. It is really shaping up.”
Soon, the site will serve as the flagship campus for the group’s Indiana Rail Experience, which offers excursions in historic train cars to locations all across Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
Last week, the site added a vintage passenger car that once served in the Korean War.
Before Amtrak purchased it, the U.S. Air Force in 1960 used the car to evaluate transporting ballistic missiles on railroads. Since 2024, it had been used by Pufferbelly Ice Cream in downtown Fort Wayne.
Now, it will serve as a classroom, meeting room and event space at the depot in partnership with Camp Chief Little Turtle, a recreation site used by Scouting America.
The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has so far invested $470,000 in grants, donations and other funds to restore the Pleasant Lake depot and railyard. That funding has allowed the site to develop into a popular regional attraction, Lynch said.
Pleasant Lake train depot
📍 1469 W. Main St., Pleasant Lake, IN, 46779
🗓️ For up-to-date hours and to book a train ride, visit this website.
The largest draw is the train excursions that leave from the depot and transport passengers on more than 100 miles of railroad lines. The train is often pulled by a rare, 1940s steam locomotive, and includes other vintage cars that have been restored by the organization.
The final campus project will be the restoration of the depot’s historic passenger waiting room. That work will be supported by a $15,000 grant from the Steuben County Community Foundation.
Lynch said for a nonprofit to raise enough funds and complete an ambitious project in just a few years demonstrates the passion many Hoosiers have for the state’s railroad history.
“We’ve gone from a pop-up tourist railroad to a sort of bona fide destination attraction,” he said.
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FPI News reporter Carson Gerber covers healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, immigration … and just about any other topic that’s shaping how we live in Indiana today. Reach him at 765-204-4250 or carson.gerber@fpinews.org.
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