HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. -- After canceling the popular State Fair Train this year, the Indiana Transportation Museum has made the decision to cancel the Polar Bear Express, according to officials at the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority.
The museum was the center of a Call 6 Investigation after seven long-time volunteers were fired for blowing the whistle on unsafe operations and accusations of mismanaging at the museum.
After county officials were sent the letter in March, they suspended the museum from using the tracks that run through Hamilton and Marion counties and the Indiana Attorney General opened five separate investigations into the museum.
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The museum told Call 6 Investigates that the Polar Bear Express was extremely successful in 2015, attracting more than 10,000 passengers to the museum. Museum officials had forecasted to have even more passengers this year.
The museum’s Board of Directors sent a letter to volunteers on Tuesday informing them of the cancelation.
Sadly, the ITM Board of Directors made the decision to not operate the Polar Bear Express this year. As you know, this is very disappointing to our many loyal passengers as well as those who hoped to experience the wonder of PBX for the first time. This is an unfortunate situation but not one that is avoidable.
We will have a new, non-mobile event at Hobbs this season called Polar Bear Junction which ties into the story we've told for the past few years. Their will be a North Pole, hot chocolate, candy canes and Polar Bear ornaments for the children. Santa and Snowflake just might make surprise appearances. We hope you will support this new event. The schedule and details will be posted on itm.org, the ITM Facebook page and other social media outlets within the next few days. I will also post volunteer openings in Volgistics as soon as all details are finalized.
Please come out and support Polar Bear Junction by bringing your family and friends and by volunteering. Thank you.
