Nicole S.
Yelp
Did you know that Indianapolis has a hotel where you can sleep in a real train car? Yes, it's true, and it's probably the most unique hotel room my family and I have ever booked.
These train hotel rooms are at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Union Station in downtown Indianapolis, which was the first Union Station in the United States (and it continues to be a real working station today). Crowne Plaza also has regular hotel rooms, but if you want the train experience, ask for the Pullman Train Rooms.
Thirteen real train cars have been converted into hotel rooms, and the train cars even sit on a real train track. All cars are named after famous early- to mid-20th century people, including Charlie Chaplin, Jean Harlow, Winston Churchill and Amelia Earhart, to name a few. Our family was given a room on the green line, and our hotel room was named after P.T. Barnum, the American showman who founded Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Inside the train car is a cozy and streamlined hotel room. Because the room is inside a real train car, the room is more rectangular than a typical hotel room, with several windows lining one wall. You can request a train room with either two double beds or a room with one king bed.
Union Station is a real working train station, so when we checked in, the attendant told us we might feel the vibrations of trains passing by. And we did! It wasn't disruptive at all, and honestly, if we weren't trying to notice it, we might not have. But the gentle rumbling that happened every so often just added to the ambiance of sleeping in a real train car.
The Crowne Plaza Hotel has a pool inside the hotel, but when our family visited, the pool was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Instead, we trekked around the hotel in search of the "ghosts" that were located throughout all three stories of the hotel: 28 life-sized, white statues that pay homage to the history of the hotel and Union Station. We spotted flapper girls, nuns, shoe-shiners and even a trio of boys trying to hitch a ride on a train.
We also walked around Union Station and learned a bit about its long and storied history. It was fun reading the plaques that told about the history of the hotel, and glimpsing the beautiful architecture all around us.
Sleeping in a real train hotel room was a fun and unique experience for my family -- one that we'll never forget!