Broad Ripple Village was warm and muggy on August 31, 1955, the day arrangements were made to receive the NKP 587 [587 Engine - Nickel Plate Railroad - 2-8-2 configuration - (2 front wheels, 8 powered wheels, 2 rear wheels) - built in 1918]. Fifteen feet tall, 90-feet long, and weighing in at 150 tons, the NKP 587 was a retired steam locomotive that the New York, Chicago & St. Louis (Nickel Plate) railroad donated to the City of Indianapolis. Arrangements included closing Broad Ripple Avenue so that a crew of track builders ("gandy dancers") could fabricate a turntable and railroad spur at the grade crossing where the street crossed the Monon's track.

This crew did not have much time (or open window) to complete its tasks so that 587 could be moved off the Monon's tracks and away from its passenger and freight trains. In 1955, the Monon dispatched at least six trains daily over its main line between Indianapolis and Chicago, Illinois. Yet nearly a month's worth of labor remained before the 2-8-2 was formally dedicated by the Nickel Plate's chairman, L.L.White, on 20 September, 1955. Before the ceremony, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce held a luncheon for approximately 500 civic and railroad leaders. By the way, the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad received the name "Nickel Plate" in 1882, courtesy of the Norwalk, Ohio newspaper. The city fathers were upset when the new railroad announced it had chosen neighbor and rival town, Bellevue, Ohio as its location for the main freight yard and roundhouse. Norwalk's leaders then accused Bellvue for behaving as if the NYC&StL was "nickel-plated."

NKP 587, a USRA (United States Railroad Administration) light 2-8-2, class H-6o, Baldwin Loco 8/18--- why was this particular engine displayed? As far as the Nickel Plate's Frankfort, Indiana, locomotive shop was concerned, this loco had been recently retired from service and, therefore, was surplus to the railroad. Additionally sprucing the 587's appearance with a few gallons of black enamel would not be costly. NKP's public relations policy was proactive with the communities it served, and Indianapolis was one of those communities. The Nickel Plate's route into Indy now serves as the route of the Indiana Transportation Museum's Fair Train.

Essentially, the 587 is an Everyman's locomotive. Seventy-five years ago, it was one of thousands of steam locomotives that pulled freight and passenger trains across the country. Born from a committee, 587 and her sisters helped fill the nation's need to move war supplies more efficiently during the First World War. Specifically, 587 and fourteen copies were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pa. in August and September 1918 for the Lake Erie & Western R.R., which was owned by the New York Central System. Its LE&W number was 4451. At the time, the LE&W owned no new locomotives and was not essential to the mission of the vast New York Central. But war's outbreak caused a horrendous increase in traffic, one that the LE&W was ill-equipped to handle. So the USRA delegated 15 Mikados (2-8-2s) to the beleagered railroad. Beyond the lower Great Lakes area, this development went largely unnoticed; 4451 and her sisters (nos. 4450-4464) toiled in relative obscurity.

In 1922, the New York Central sold the LE&W (joked about as the Leave Early and Walk) to a growing Nickel Plate Road, which bought the "Clover Leaf Road" at the same time. The NKP quickly renumbered and relettered LE&W 4451 to Nickel Plate Road 587 so that it would conform with NKP's numbering series for its own engines. Then 587's new owner gave it a new assignment, to haul freight trains between Conneaut, Ohio and Buffalo, NY., the Nickel plate's eastern terminus.