Community mourns loss of local railroad legend

NEW HAVEN - The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society reports one of its founding members, Glenn E. Brendel, died unexpectedly at his home in New Haven on Tuesday. He was 71 years old.

As a boy, Brendel grew up in a railroad family, and began to love the industry early on. Brendel visited with tower operators and railroad employees of the Baltimore & Ohio and Wabash Railroad in his hometown of Spencerville, Ind., as well as with locomotive engine crews on the Nickel Plate Road in Fort Wayne.

In the early 1970s, Brendel joined other railroad preservationists when they approached the city of Fort Wayne to save and restore the Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive No. 765, installed as a monument in Lawton Park, to commemorate the city's "Elevate the Nickel Plate" project.

Brendel incorporated the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society in 1972 with Wayne York, Walter Sassmanshausen and John Eichman. He served as president in its first three years.

Brendel led the first, all volunteer organization in restoring No. 765 to operating condition and the locomotive would become a premiere attraction.

In 1982, Brendel negotiated the lease of the 765 to the Southern Railway for an excursion schedule, allowing it to serve over a quarter of a million passengers and operate over 52,000 miles in 16 states from 1979 to 1993.

At the same time, Brendel became one of the founding members of the Railroad Passenger Car Alliance, a trade association of historic passenger car owners and operators for equipment used in excursion service.

In 1993, Brendel secured a Transportation Enhancement grant to underwrite another rebuild for the locomotive after it again began to see the wear and tare of travel. It took five years, but the 765 returned to operation in 2005 and operated its first passenger trips in 16 years in 2009. The 765 is now one of five mainline steam locomotives in operation in the United States and largest east of the Mississippi.

Brendel, who had served in a variety of capacities as director, locomotive crew, and member in his 38 years of service with the society, was honored with the title of Director Emeritus after stepping down as president in 2010.