Group Submits Bid for Rail Tourism Project

An artist’s rendering of Headwaters Junction.

A Minnesota real estate company is making a bid to develop the Headwaters Junction rail theme venue in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which will become the permanent home of Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive No. 765

Continental Property Group submitted the only proposal that satisfied the city’s vision of the project.

The city will decide by late this year whether to accept the proposal, which calls for developing Headwaters Junction on the site of a former New York Central now owned by the city.

Kelly Lynch, the executive director of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, said Headwaters Junction will be a rail tourism site featuring a roundhouse, interpretative displays, meeting space, and mixed use space for restaurants and retail businesses.

Continental also has proposed other mixed-used development in downtown Fort Wayne.

FtWRHS has raised $1 million in donations and conducted a feasibility that said Headwaters Junction could generate as much as $60 million in economic impact on a $15 million to $20 million investment.

NKP 765 is currently housed in a pole barn in nearby New Haven, Indiana.

Overseeing the Headwaters Junction project is a board of directors whose members include local leaders and rail preservationists.

Tags: Continental Property Group, Fort Wayne Indiana, Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Headwaters Junction, Nickel Plate Road 765, Nickel Plate Road No. 765