By Railfan & Railroad

NORTH JUDSON, Ind. — The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum has been awarded a $12,944.28 grant to help the museum deal with losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant was awarded by the Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana Destination Development Corporation and was made possible by the CARES Act, which has distributed funds to various cultural institutions across the country in recent months. 

The grant will help the museum pay for eligible facility expenses such as utilities, information technology, security, insurance, and cleaning. Museum officials said the grant will help make up for lost income this year due to the pandemic. 

“We weren’t able to run trains for several months, but we still have certain unavoidable expenses like utilities and insurance that have to be paid,” said Robert Barcus, treasurer at the museum. “Combine that with all of the extra measures we had to take after reopening and our expenses really started to add up.” 

The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum is one of a number of rail-related organizations to have benefited from the CARES Act, including the Oklahoma Railway Museum and the Conrad, (Mont.) Depot Society Train Museum.