On track for holiday success

Nickel Plate’s Dagny Zupin is riding the irony express . . .

Dagny Zupin did not grow up with a love of trains and did not imagine her life would follow the tracks of the Ayn Rand character she was named for. But five months after graduating from college, she is now half of the Nickel Plate Express team.

The protagonist in Ayn Rand’s magnum opus Atlas Shrugged was a woman named Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for Taggart Transcontinental Railroad.

Dagny Zupin is the Nickel Plate Express Communications Coordinator. She and Executive Director Dea Holt are together responsible for Hamilton County’s excursion rail service.

To add more irony, Nickel Plate express may be the only excursion railroad using Santa Fe passenger cars, which were manufactured in the 1950s. Atlas Shrugged was first published on Oct. 10, 1957.

The Reporter sat down with Zupin to talk about Nickel Plate Express and the improbability of her career.

“My dad is a huge reader who teaches high school government, psychology and U.S. history,” Zupin said. “His favorite thing to teach was a history through literature class. He said it was the ideal way to learn – through a story rather than just facts and dates. He had his high school students read Ayn Rand.”

Zupin’s father used Rand as a component of teaching economic theory and she was a student in several of his classes. Her father told her he does not agree with all of Rand’s views, but what he was always impressed with were the characters.

“They were always such strong people who had such strong values,” Zupin explained. “They did what they thought was right and for the right reasons. He was always very impressed by how strong her characters were and that’s why I was named Dagny. He thought she was impressive in the way she stuck to her guns, didn’t take anything from anybody and just did what needed to be done.”

She said the number of people who make the connection between her name and the Rand character are, “Few and far between” and she is mildly surprised when someone does ask about it.

The path to Nickel Plate Express

“Growing up my family never did anything with trains and neither of my parents were train enthusiasts,” Zupin said. “Now I am working with trains. For me to be named after a character who does that and to be working for a train company – especially in 2018 when train travel isn’t the norm – I think that’s incredibly ironic. It’s very odd when I think about it.”

During her junior year in college, Zupin took an internship with Hamilton County Tourism and said she loved it.

“Tourism is such a great industry to work in. It is easy to promote amazing experiences for families because it’s fun for them,” Zupin said. “I did that my junior year, then went back to school. In September that year Brenda Myers and Sarah Buckner called about the Nickel Plate Express project asking me to be an intern.”

Originally from Winamac, Ind., Zupin majored in public relations and minored in marketing at Ball State University, the same college both her parents attended. She now lives in Fishers, near the Noblesville border, and her job involves far more than just PR.

“We are a two-person staff running year-round train excursions, so I do it all,” Zupin said. “I help with programming, I do all the PR and marketing and I work on the train every weekend. I basically do whatever needs to be done. That’s what happens with a non-profit. We have a board that is very helpful, but they all have full-time jobs and can only do so much.”

According to Zupin, Hamilton County Tourism was the steward of Nickel Plate Express before they had the equipment here and before there were any full-time employees. Now Nickel Plate Express is a separate entity with its own staff and board of directors. Hamilton County Tourism does provide some grant support, as they do for several organizations in the county.

All aboard!

Each Saturday and Sunday in October Nickel Plate Express is running three excursions a day. The Pumpkin Express runs at noon and 3 p.m., the Ghost Express runs at 6:30 p.m.

“For the Pumpkin Express we are working with Hamilton Heights FFA,” Zupin said. “They have a pumpkin patch planted near their soccer field. You ride the train for about 20 minutes after your board in Atlanta. We let you off at the pumpkin patch. They have created a mini-fall festival for passengers with a hay ride, fall games and the pumpkins. FFA has been awesome to work with and all the proceeds from the Pumpkin Express benefit Heights FFA.”

The Ghost Express is an eerie, hair-raising evening instead of the kind of jump-and-scare experience you get at a theme park.

“You go to downtown Atlanta where there will be mediums helping you connect with the departed,” Zupin said. “You will board the train and go about 30 minutes to hear a ghost story before you come back. The mediums will be on the train interacting with the passengers and giving them readings on both legs of the trip. When you get back to Atlanta you go to the Roads Hotel.”

Roads Hotel has a rich history and has been called one of the most-haunted locations in Indiana.

Mike Couch started the Lost Limbs Foundation to help encourage and provide monetary support to families of amputee children. Lost Limbs purchased the Roads Hotel location with assistance from supporters of the charity.  Money collected from events, investigations and tours will go to keep the location available to the public, help amputee children and to pay back the initial investment in the property.

“Mike has been great to work with,” Zupin told The Reporter. “He is willing to try anything to help make this successful. I don’t think he expected to be giving tours for 200 people every weekend, but he always says, ‘If it’s going to help the charity, I’ll do it.’”

Thanksgiving and Christmas Nickel Plate will have the Reindeer Express, their festive holiday ride.

“We will have carolers in downtown Atlanta to make the atmosphere fun,” Zupin said. “When you get on the train there will be elves there to lead you in carols. Of course Santa will be there. Kids will have a Christmas craft to do on the train.”

For their first year of operation, Nickel Plate Express is hosting an impressive number of events with only two employees.

“The logistics are challenging,” Zupin said. “You have to be very organized. Even though Dea and I are hard workers and there are seven days a week, you have to know when to delegate and when to lean on people for support. That’s where our board has been very helpful. It is about thinking two steps ahead as well as knowing and utilizing your ‘life rafts’.”

Excursions currently go through Cicero, but eventually, Nickel Plate Express should travel all the way to Noblesville.

“Our contract is to go to Logan Street in Noblesville, near where our train car is parked right now,” Zupin said. “We go to the Cicero/Noblesville line. We cross Morse Reservoir and into Cicero. Once we get outside Cicero we stop and come back.”

Winter projects in the off-season after the Reindeer Express include painting, a new sound system, adding more restrooms and making the train more accessible to people with limited mobility. That would involve adding a few seats and a window to the lower level for people who would not be able to climb the stairs to the upper level.

More information about the Nickel Plate Express excursions, including ticket prices, is available at NickelPlateExpress.com.