Riding that 765 Train (Part 1)

Nickel Plate Road 765 backs up beneath Rockside Road to make way for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad train scheduled into Rockside Road station in about 15 minutes.

First of two parts

The idea seemed to come out of nowhere. I was thinking ahead to chasing Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 during its first weekend on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

What could I do with the 765 that I haven’t done before? Why not ride behind it?

Actually, I have ridden behind the 765, but that had been in September 2010 out of Akron. I had not ridden behind the 765 on the north end of the CVSR.

I knew from writing stories for the Akron Railroad Club blog that coach tickets were $25, which is not much more than the fare to ride the CVSR’s National Park Scenic.

Besides, I wanted to experience what it was like to be inside the Boston Mills cattle pen during the photo runbys of the Berkshire-type locomotive.

In the early years of steam returns to the Valley, you could walk into the station area and mingle among the paying passengers.

But in the past few years security has been tight, keeping the riff raff away from the station and confining non-passengers to Boston Park or the parking area of the Boston Mill ski resort on the west side of Riverview Road.

It was late in the week when I went onto the CVSR website to buy my ticket. I planned to ride the afternoon trip out of Rockside Road station, but it was sold out.

There were plenty of tickets for the morning trip, scheduled to depart at 9:30 a.m., a half-hour after the departure of the first run of the Scenic.

The 765 trip had five coaches and I deliberately chose No. 5. My thinking was that most people would buy tickets in the first car that came up.

Presuming that the morning trip didn’t sell out, I figured that coach 5 would be the least crowded.

As it turned out, my reasoning that coach 5 would be less crowded proved to be correct.

I arrived at the Rockside Road station at 8:15 a.m.,which was just in time to see the steam train slowly rolling past the station and north of Rockside Road to clear up for the Scenic.

I found a parking space close to the tracks and was trackside in plenty of time to photograph the 765 being towed northward on its ferry move. The early morning light was nice.

CVSR personnel do not allow passengers on the platform before the arrival of a train, so my views of the inbound ferry move of the Scenic from Fitzwater yard were limited and hindered by a wood fence.

The Scenic arrived at 8:45 a.m. and departed on schedule at 9. The 765 rolled into the station about 10 minutes later.

Rockside has two gates to the platform and I had stationed myself at the northernmost one. A CVSR trainman said coach 5 would board from there.

It turned out, though, that coach 5 was spotted south of the southernmost gate. So I had to walk nearly the length of the platform to board.

The advantage of being at the northernmost gate, though, was a more open view of the steam locomotive as it came into the station.

Longtime Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society member Rich Melvin retired as a steam locomotive engineer last year, but is still part of the operating crew.

He handled the radio communications during Saturday’s trips and appeared to be performing a supervisory role.

He directed the engineer to make lots of smoke and steam as the 765 entered the station.

The CVSR trainman opened the north gate to the platform shortly after the steam train halted.

However, the south gate remained closed and a long line of people stood behind it.

I was the sole person on the platform other than CVSR personnel as I walked toward the vestibule for coach 5.

It turned out that nearly all of the premium fare passengers, those in the open-window coaches, the Saint Lucie Sound and the dome car Silver Bronco, would board through the same vestibule that I did.

That was because those cars were beyond the south end of the platform. I was the first passenger to board coach 5. I elected to sit toward the rear of the car.

The next car to the north was the concession car and the doors between coach 5 and that car were open, allowing the scent of fresh popcorn to waft through my car.

I sat on the west side of the train because the lighting would be better for from-the-train photographs. It also meant I would not see as many trackside photographers because most would be on the east side of the tracks to take advantage of the best light angles.

We left shortly after our scheduled departure time of 9:30 a.m. The operating plan was to go as far south as Botzum, reverse direction and stop at Boston Mills for the photo runbys.

I would later learn, though, that going to Botzum was just a suggestion and maybe even a subterfuge to mess with photographers listening on the radio. In actual practice, the crew would run as far as they could until 10:30 a.m., stop and reverse direction.

It takes a few minutes to do the latter because control of the train is transferred from the 765 to the diesel on the north end – in this case RS18u No. 1822 – and a brake test must be completed.

We didn’t make it to Botzum, instead getting as far as Indigo Lake. I would later learn that some photographers had heard the highball for Botzum  and were waiting at Howe Meadow. They never saw the 765 pass their position.

Not far into our journey, the conductor radioed the 765 to say we needed to make a stop at Brecksville station to pick up three passengers.

I was surprised that at no point during our journey were there ever any announcements made to welcome us aboard or to provide instructions for the photo runby. In fact, there no announcements about anything.

Nor did the car host check our tickets. Not once during my trip did any CVSR personnel ask to see my ticket.

The run down to Indigo Lake was uneventful. There were photographers and train watchers along the route, but not a high number of them.

On the return leg, the train made an unexpected stop in Peninsula. In response to a question from the engineer of the 1822, Rich Melvin had said he would spot the train at Boston Mills.

But as the train came into Peninsula the 1822 engineer confused it with Boston Mills and halted the train.

The conducted immediately asked the 1822 on the radio “what’s going on?”

The engineer said he was waiting for the 765 to spot him, but stopped when that did not happen.

The conductor told the engineer that was to be at Boston Mills, not Peninsula.

Melvin chimed in with a similar retort. The engineer admitted his confusion and we continued northward.

Gotta sell tee shirts and sweat shirts to earn money to buy coal.

A CVSR trainman ponders his duties once the 765 and its train arrive at Rockside Road. In the background is the Scenic train.

Capturing the move of the 765 into the station on a tablet.

The 765 engineer heeded Rich Melvin’s command to make smoke and steam as the engine arrived into the station at Rockside Road. What a nice show.

Rich Melvin surveys the platform at Rockside Road as the train arrives.

For a brief time I had the platform virtually to myself and was the first to board at the south end.

Outside the windows of CVSR coach 166 a line has formed to board.

Camera are out at Jaite.

Crossing the Cuyahoga River.

If I wasn’t riding I, too, might be watching and photographing at Deep Lock Quarry.

Tags: Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, Nickel Plate 765, Nickel Plate Road 765, Nickel Plate Road No. 765, NKP 765, NKP 765 excursions, NKP 765 on CVSR