The 10-man team piecing together one of the country’s most somber artifacts have its installation down to a science.
With the aid of a crane, Dave Kloke, master mechanic and owner of Kloke Locomotive Works LLC, and his team carefully lined up the wheels of the Lincoln Funeral train on a set of tracks late Wednesday morning at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond. After a late start, the full-sized replica was intact within 21/2 hours.
All that was left was the funeral dressings, and the train – a copy of President Abraham Lincoln’s original funeral car in 1865 – would be ready to receive visitors. Some 2,000 to 5,000 visitors per day are expected to see Kloke’s labor of love this weekend, South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority Chief Executive Officer Speros Batistatos said.
Northwest Indiana is the train’s only Chicago area stop before it heads to a storage unit and hopefully a museum somewhere, Kloke said.
Kloke, of Elgin, Ill., started his project 10 years ago. Armed with a team of 25 workers, the group wanted to honor the president while completing it in time for the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s death.
It wasn’t an easy task. The original car – named the Leviathan #63 — was destroyed in a fire near Minneapolis in 1911, SSCVA Spokeswoman Erika Dahl said, so Kloke enlisted the help of several volunteers and Lincoln historians to get the train as close as he could to a replica while adhering to current federal specifications.
“Getting the U.S. pedestals (which cover the train car’s wheels) made was a little tough, since they had to be cast, plus there are 64 springs underneath the car, so we had to have them produced,” Kloke said. “But it’s pretty close. We tried to do the best we could.”
Kloke’s validation of a job well done came when one of the historians with whom he worked came to see it on one of the stops. Kloke said the man was in awe of his work.
“For the last year or two, I was consumed with getting it finished,” he said. “I would spend 12 hours a day, seven days a week.”
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Meanwhile, SSCVA Executive Vice President Katie Holderby said she’d seen a feature on “CBS Morning News” one day about Kloke’s version of Leviathan #63 and its travelsacross the country. The authority quickly sprung into action to get the memorial here.
“It was supposed to stop somewhere else, but that city had to cancel at the last minute,” Dahl said. “We were lucky.”
Batistatos admired the train, its coal car emblazoned with “Leviathan,” in giant gold letters, as the men finished the installation. He said the SSCVA is “incredibly proud” that it’s here.
“We’ve been able to do a lot of high-quality, family-friendly things here, but to me, this is one of the best things we’ve brought to Northwest Indiana. Dave’s commitment to Lincoln’s legacy and how (Lincoln) literally changed the country is awesome to behold,” he said. “Any picture of it doesn’t do it justice. You really can’t appreciate the detail unless you see it in person.”
Angela and Jimmy Earl, of Griffith, brought their son, Brenson, to see the installation.
“We like to get him out and see things instead of sitting in a classroom all day,” Angela Earl said. “This is pretty interesting.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
If you go:
The full-size replica of President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train will remain on display Thursday through Sunday at the Indiana Welcome Center, 7770 Corinne Drive. Ticketed tours will be available between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day; school tours will take priority between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for seniors 65 and up and children between 5 and 12. Children under 5 are admitted.
Source: South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority