A historic locomotive made its last stop of the year in Hillsdale on Oct. 1. 

“It’s a lot of work,” said Carl Lyvers, the engine’s fireman. “It’s a labor of love, because you couldn’t pay me enough to do this.”

The Indiana Northeastern Railroad Company’s Engine 765 left Edon, Ohio, at 9 a.m. and arrived in Hillsdale just before noon. The train, which can carry 450 people, was sold out like its previous August trips, according to Kelly LoPresto, the city’s grants and economic development manager. 

Zac Maierle, a Grace College student from Elkhart, Indiana, said he bought his ticket after seeing a Ft. Wayne Railroad Historical Society post about the trip on Facebook.

“I’m like, ‘I can take a Saturday off of college to come and do a train ride,’” he said. “I’m a big train guy.”

Maierle said he always wanted to ride a locomotive.

“The little kid in me came out,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to do this absolutely forever, and now at 22, it’s something I’m crossing off my bucket list.”

The City of Hillsdale and the Rotary Club of Hillsdale set up a tent across the street from the Hillsdale Brewing Company, where city employees and volunteers gave visitors directions. 

LoPresto said the college offered bus tours, and visitors took advantage of the Hillsdale County Farmers Market. 

“This time, we do have a shuttle to downtown, just to make it easier for people,” she said.

Heather Tritchka, who works in admissions, and Professor of Chemistry Mark Nussbaum also volunteered at the tent with the Rotary Club. Tritchka said she volunteered to help visitors navigate local businesses.

“We thought it would be nice to have people on the ground that could direct people uptown,” she said. “We’re acting as wayfinders.” 

Nussbaum said the Rotary Club also offered maps and information about the town. During the engine’s previous stop in Hillsdale, Nussbaum said, he and his grandchildren rode the Little River Railroad to Coldwater and Quincy.

The train stop attracted Hillsdale residents to the tracks. Local artist David Youngman set up a table where he sold paintings, and used an easel in the street to sketch the train. 

Youngman said during the engine’s previous trip, organizers asked him to paint for them, though he had never painted trains before. But he soon found he enjoyed it. 

“I just love the people aspect,” Youngman said.

Daniel Meckstroth, father to Margee Meckstroth ’05, has volunteered with Indiana Northeastern for 10 years. He said he worked on trains for three summers in college, and has taken them as a lifelong interest. Meckstroth said he loves working on Engine 765, which runs at 4,000 horsepower and weighs more than 400 lbs.

“It gives me something to do in retirement. It gives me goosebumps just to be able to serve,” he said. “I mean, there’s something about railroading that attracts people.”

The locomotive has been everywhere, Lyvers said, including places like New York City; Chicago; St. Louis, Missouri and Huntington, West Virginia. But Lyvers said he enjoys the Hillsdale trip more than most places.

“It’s a nice ride, it’s scenic,” he said. “Most of the time when you’re riding behind the train, you’re looking at everybody’s dump.”

Indiana Northeastern has a “mutually beneficial” agreement to continue the Hillsdale trips for three more years, according to Lyvers.

Lyvers said he worked in a hospital for years, but began working on the train in 1977 after seeing the national Freedom Train in 1975, which celebrated the nation’s bicentennial.

“I saw the guys hanging out of their crew car and said, ‘I want to do that,’” Lyvers said. “It took me about five years and I found this. They were in the process of rebuilding, and I’ve been with it ever since.”

Lyvers considers working on the train his “dirty job,” he said. He said unlike his hospital job, when something frustrates him, he can “take a cutting torch or a wrench to it.”

Lyvers said he is willing to make sacrifices to keep the locomotive running.

“I like to watch the old people with tears, remembering what they used to do, and the young kids who are just totally enthralled,” he said. “That’s what makes all the grief and the sleepless nights worth it.”