Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

January 26th, 11:26 am

Friends of the Nickel Plate Trail – Meeting Canceled

The latest INDOT map shows Miami County in ORANGE (Travel Watch), meaning conditions may be unsafe and only essential travel is recommended. Because of this, tonight’s Friends of the Nickel Plate Trail meeting is canceled.

Our next meeting will be:
📅 Tuesday, February 24
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 St. Charles School in Peru ... See MoreSee Less

Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

January 23rd, 5:28 am

The monthly meeting of the Friends of the Nickel Plate Trail is coming up Monday, January 26th at 7PM at the Saint Charles School building at 80 W 5th Street. Parking is located on the East side of the school. All are welcome! Come and see what's happening with your great trail.We would love to have more people attend our meetings and we would really like to get your ideas. The best way to volunteer to help is to attend these meetings, see what the issues and opportunities are and help us with your suggestions. ... See MoreSee Less

Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

January 15th, 5:55 pm

The monthly meeting of the Friends of the Nickel Plate Trail is coming up Monday, January 26th at 7PM at the Saint Charles School building at 80 W 5th Street in Peru. Parking is located on the East side of the school. All are welcome! This is a change of day of the week to Monday instead of Tuesday for this month. ... See MoreSee Less

Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

January 7th, 4:32 pm

The Nickel Plate Trail is a wonderful community resource — but we receive no government funding to maintain it. That means repairs, upkeep, and improvements are all made possible by people like you.

Your donations help us:
Remove trees that fall across the trail.
Rebuild bridges and guardrails.
Repair and reinstall broken signs.
Fill cracks, remove roots, and grind down bumps
Trim back brush and keep the trail safe and enjoyable

Support the dedicated volunteer crew who regularly care for the trail

We simply couldn’t do this without donations.

✨ You can now donate easily through Zeffy — a secure, fee-free platform that ensures your full donation supports the trail.

👉 Donate here:
www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-make-a-difference-21087

If you enjoy walking, biking, or running on the Nickel Plate Trail, please consider making a donation. Every gift — large or small — truly makes a difference.

Thank you for supporting the Nickel Plate Trail 💚 ... See MoreSee Less

Donate to the Nickel Plate Trail!

www.zeffy.com

The Nickel Plate Trail is a non-profit 501c3 organization. Our funding is through grants and private donations by people like you. Please give what you can. All cash donations are tax deductible and w...

Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

December 18th, 2:17 pm

NO DECEMBER MEETING DUE TO HOLIDAYS
Next Meeting January 27, 2026 @ 7PM at the St. Charles School, Peru

Nickel Plate Trail Minutes
November 25, 2025
Attendees: Ted Cox, Steve Gough, Gloyd Johnson, David Cota, Bill Shewman, Doug Martin, Joe Vernon, Navy Vernon, Dan McCarthy, Phil Hart, Tim Finster, Mike Kuepper, Tom Bennett, Sam Goodman, Bill Hanson, Terry Hanson, Jeff Kassebaum, Bill Wilson
The meeting began at 7:00 PM at the St Charles School in Peru. After introductions, Steve moved to accept the minutes, seconded by Bill, motion carried.
Steve presented the treasurer’s report. Steve summarized the transactions. $1500 donations, interest was 190.85. Expenses were 771.02. YTD income is 53,538.54. Expenses are 30,046.34. Steve listed the funds available to the NPT. Steve presented an overview of the budget for the upcoming next level trail project. Expenses for the MAC Tail were engineering, gravel, Gaunt & son for paving. The MAC balance is getting low with much work to go. The paving is completed from Bunker Hill to McGrawsville. There will be additional grant money available. Jeff motioned to approve, Ted 2nd, motion carried.
Joe reported on the “round-up” program. Arby’s in Peru put the NPT on the program in November. Joe explained how the Round-Up program works. A big thanks goes out to Joe Vernon making this available to the NPT. To date $800 has been collected through Arby’s.
Dan reported what we’ve been doing to update our website. Our web hosting has been costing about $200/mo. We’ve had a quote to update our site for 10K. Dan has found a source’s daughter-in-law who has experience in this area and volunteered to update our site internally which at this time will not cost anything. The design has been started and has been looked at by the website committee. There was some discussion about the approval that was passed by the board but then we are going in a different direction due to cost. We want to make sure we follow a procedure when it has been approved. It’s agreed better communication needs to happen when decisions are made. The weak point of our current site is old maps and information.
Jeff reported on the work that we did in October on the problem area near Birmingham. IMI donated twenty tons of gravel and Miami Trucking donated the hauling. Ten volunteers worked. We were able to improve the deep cracks by filling in with the donated gravel. Jeff is asking for help in Howard County to cut back brush that is encroaching on the trail.
Ted discussed the modifications on the trailer. Dave discussed the possibility of an additional blower covering the southern part of the trail which would allow anyone to hook up and blow the south trail.
Navi reported that she met with the “map” people with a list of items that need to be changed. Navi discussed the problems with getting all the information on one sheet. A discussion followed about railroad vs actual miles and how we should go about displaying. Railroad miles were originally used because they were fixed and easy to identify when the trail was being built. An exceptionally long discussion ensued. It’s important to get this solved to move on with the new map. Jeff brought up the signage along the trail that needs to be updated/completed.
To help with getting information and updates concerning the trail out to folks that have a great interest in the trail, Ted volunteered to take a stab at publishing a newsletter.
We still need to finish the Cassville bridge approaches. There has been a proposal to put in posts that will allow us to backfill with rock. My question is, are we still headed in this direction, and has there been any progress?
Ted reported volunteer hours from: Dan McCarthy, Ted Cox, Bill Willard, Brian Reinhart, Tim Finster, Steve Wolfe, Dave Campbell, Jeff Kassebaum, Navi Vernon, Joe Vernon, Jim Lahman, Pat O’Neil, Steve Campbell, Noah Spencer, Steve Gough. Hours worked in October were 209, hours worked in September were 181.3, total hours worked since July 2025 is 835.8.
October 13th Dave, Jeff, and Ted spent the day working with Panhandle volunteers at Star City grinding upheavals and sealing cracks. We are hoping to collaborate with the Panhandle folks on common issues that may help all of us. We taught them how to grind the upheavals to enable them to do this type of work on their own.
It is extremely important that volunteers, when working on the trail, report to dispatch and advise them of who, when, where, and what you will be doing. We had an incident in Fulton Co where a homeowner reported a vehicle on the trail. The sheriff’s department had to check it out, taking valuable time away from their duties. It is also important that you only drive on the trail when there is a purpose.
Joe had NPT volunteer hats made that are now available to the volunteers. Also, Joe reported and displayed the holiday cards that Bill Shewman designed and made in a brief period. NPT will send these cards to donors, volunteers, and supporters of the NPT. Huge thank you to Bill Shewman for sharing his talents and skills with the NPT.
Mike is still working with Peru for the Peru connector. Mike does this to keep the grant in force. Mike also discussed the extension from Bunker Hill to Grissom. Mike made progress on acquiring a parcel of land and the engineering work that is progressing.
Mike expressed his thanks to all the volunteers and all the work that is going on and how we are growing with new members that are doing much to update our systems.
Adjournment motion by Ted, seconded by Steve; meeting ended at 8:39 PM.
Respectfully,
Ted Cox
Next meeting: January 27th @ 7:00 PM St. Charles School, Peru

Q: How do bicycles help the environment?
A: By recycling! ... See MoreSee Less

Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

November 24th, 12:10 pm

Next Meeting November 25 ,2025 @ 7PM at the St. Charles School, Peru

Nickel Plate Trail Minutes
October 28, 2025
Attendees: Ted Cox, Steve Gough, Gloyd Johnson, David Cota, Bill Shewman, Doug Martin, Joe Vernon, Navy Vernon, Dennis Grossnickle, Dan McCarthy, Phil Hart, Tim Finster, Mike Kuepper, Dave Campbell, Sam Goodman, Karen Burkeybyle, Terry Burkeybyle, Bill Hanson, Terry Hanson, Chris Baker. Darlene Moore, Mark Anderson, Chris McGuire, Patty McGuire
The meeting began at 7:00 PM at the Fulton Co Airport in Rochester. After introductions, Steve moved to accept the minutes, seconded by Dave.
Steve presented the treasurer’s report. It was a slow month. There was no income for October. Expenses 301.69 for materials to maintain the trail. YTD income is 51,847.69. Expenses are 29,275.32. Steve listed the funds available to the NPT. Steve presented an overview of the budget for the upcoming next level trail project. The budget should cover finishing the MAC trail. Jeff motioned to approve, Steve 2nd, motion carried.
Dave discussed the modifications on the trailer and put out the possibility of an additional blower to cover the southern part of the trail.
Navi brought us up to date on the renewal of the NPT website. She got a quote from a local entity on building the website. The quote was around $10k. We are still looking for ways to accomplish this. Dan gave the group a history of our website and the costs that have been incurred. Dan suggested we do the work internally to keep the cost down. Mike also made suggestions on how we can use what we have to help expedite the process. Mike asked the group to look at our website and make suggestions for improvement.
Jeff discussed the area around Birmingham that has always had a problem with the settling of the pavement causing cracking. Jeff has planned with IMI to bring in a load of gravel on Wednesday at 9:00 AM November 5th. We need as many volunteers as possible to help with the project. We will meet on the south side of Macy.
Jeff is also working with Howard County to see if they can help with the maintenance in the Howard County part of the NPT.
Joe Vernon Updated the group on updating the NPT map. He discussed items that he feel should be included on new signs.
We still need to finish the Cassville bridge approaches. There has been a proposal to put in posts that will allow us to backfill with rock. My question is, are we still headed in this direction, and has there been any progress?
Dan McCarthy, Ted Cox, Bill Willard, Brian Reinhart, Tim Finster, Steve Wolfe, Dave Campbell, Jeff Kassebaum, Navi Vernon, Joe Vernon, Jim Lahman, Pat O’Neil, Steve Campbell, Noah Spencer, Steve Gough. Hours worked in October were 209, hours worked in September were 181.3, total hours worked since July 2025 is 835.8.
October 13th Dave, Jeff, and Ted spent the day working with Panhandle volunteers at Star City grinding upheavals and sealing cracks. We are hoping to collaborate with the Panhandle folks on common issues that may help all of us. We taught them how to grind the upheavals to enable them to do this type of work on their own.
It is extremely important that volunteers, when working on the trail, report to dispatch and advise them of who, when, where, and what you will be doing. We had an incident in Fulton Co where a homeowner reported a vehicle on the trail. The sheriff’s department had to check it out, taking valuable time away from their duties. It is also important that you only drive on the trail when there is a purpose.

Joe brought us up to date with hats that he has made and the Christmas card project. Bill Shewman has volunteered to make a drawing that can be used for the cards.
Mike discussed the signage that will need to be installed on the MAC trail. Mike also discussed the progress of the Bunker Hill west portion of the project. We are getting close to having the details worked out. There is still engineering work that needs to be completed.
The official name of the “MAC” extension is Miami Central. MAC is an abbreviation.
Mike is still working with Peru for the Peru connector. We are still working to keep the grant in force.
Adjournment motion by Dan, seconded by Steve; meeting ended at 8:28 PM.
Respectfully,
Ted Cox
Next meeting: November 25 @ 7:00 PM St. Charles School, Peru

Q: Why are bank tellers not allowed to ride bicycles?
A: They tend to lose their balance. ... See MoreSee Less

Nickel Plate Trail - Indiana

November 22nd, 7:17 am

The monthly meeting of the Friends of the Nickel Plate Trail is coming up Tuesday, November 25th at 7PM at the Saint Charles School building at 80 W 5th Street in Peru. Parking is located on the East side of the school. Turn left after you enter the school and the meeting is down the hall on the left. All are welcome! Come and see what's happening with our great trail. We would love to have more people attend our meetings and we would really like to get your ideas. The best way to volunteer to help is to attend these meetings, see what the issues and opportunities are and help us with your suggestions. ... See MoreSee Less