It’s early September 2014 and Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is on the road en route to Northeast Ohio where it is slated to pull a series of excursions on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. For some railfan photographers, getting a 765 ferry move was just as important than getting it in the Valley.
For today’s steam Saturday we gone back five years to catch Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 in Bellevue. The Berkshire-type locomotive is on the Brewster Connection to the Wheeling & Lake Erie heading east to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for Steam in the Valley 2015.
Had this been a normal year, some railfans might have today been headed for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to see Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 in action.
We can’t, of course, assume that the NKP 765 would have been in the Valley, but it seems a good bet that had there been no pandemic the steamer would have made the trip from Indiana to pull a series of excursions on the CVSR has it has done for the past several years.
All we know for certain is that there will be no steam in the Valley in 2020.
Nonetheless, we still have many memories and here are two of them.
In the top image, NKP 765 and the Nickel Plate Road heritage locomotive of Norfolk Southern are in Bucyrus on July 21, 2012.
In the bottom image, NKP 765′ and its tool car on on a ferry movement to the CVSR on Sep. 9, 2010.
It is shown on the Wheeling & Lake Erie heading east near Norwalk after having passed under the U.S. Route 20/Ohio Route 18 bridge.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 will be operating during an October event sponsored by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.
The Autumn Railroad Festival on Oct. 1-4 will feature trips behind the 765 as well as other attractions, including food trucks and railroad displays.
Tickets for the event are limited and will cost cost $8 for a train ride and $5 for general admission.
Also being sold will be tickets for the 765 Experience, which enables participants to operate the locomotive as well as get a tour of the maintenance facilities that are used to maintain it.
Those tickets will cost $284 for the tour and throttle time, and $150 for throttle time only.
Sales will begin for FtWRHS members on Sept. 1. Other tickets will be sold starting Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. on the society’s website.
The train rides will last approximately 20 minutes and depart from the society’s facility in New Haven, Indiana.
Various precautions will be in place to protect against COVID-19. These steps, which have been approved by the Allen County Health Department, will include staff and volunteers who interact with the public wearing wear gloves and face coverings.
Plexiglass barriers will be in place at the souvenir table register, which also will have reduced displays to minimize waiting and exposure of merchandise.
Trains will operate at 50 percent or less capacity and no more than 40 people will be admitted to the grounds.
All equipment and frequently touched surfaces will be sanitized between trips.
To reduce dwell time, trains trips will be staggered every 30 minutes. No one will be admitted to the event who has not already purchased a ticket.
All events are being held outdoors with the shop not open to visitors. Attendees are encouraged to follow state guidelines/mandates regarding face coverings.
However, train passengers must wear a mask or suitable face covering. Children age 3 will be exempt from this rule.
Other steps that are being undertaken are described on the FtWRHS website.
Participants in the 765 Experience must be at least age 16 and have a valid driver’s license.
This was one of those days when a cloudy sky was a benefit to photography.
Had it been sunny much of the detail of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 would have been lost in the shadows.
The Berkshire-type locomotives is steaming through Alliance on May 30, 2013.
Note that trailing it are the Pennsylvania Railroad and Conrail heritage locomotives of Norfolk Southern.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is based in New Haven, Indiana, but we see it so often in Northeast Ohio that it’s easy to think it belongs here.
It was built in Lima, Ohio, but that is in the western part of the state.
Most of the 765’s recent appearances in Northeast Ohio are been due to its operating on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
With the CVSR shut down through the end of September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems unlikely the 765 will be making a return to the area this year.
But maybe it will in 2021. Until steam returns to the valley we’ve got a ton of memories and photographs with which to remember the Berkshire.
In the top image, the 765 is southbound in Canton on Sept. 17, 2010, on one of its total track tour excursions.
It is easy to forget sometimes that Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 has been around as an excursion engine for more than four decades.
But if has and if you back in time to when it pulled freight trains in revenue service it’s lifespan is even longer.
It is shown pouring out the smoke as it chugs eastbound on now Wheeling & Lake Erie tracks in Spencer on June 20, 1982.
This post has been edited to correct the location that was given incorrectly in the original.
The Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation has received the 2019 preservation award from Trains magazine.
The $10,000 grant will be used in the restoration of former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2716.
The museum plans to use the funds to pay for rebuilding the hot water pump on the Kanawha type locomotive’s boiler system.
Trains said it received 37 applications for the award, including bids for funding for renovation of rolling stock; steam and diesel locomotive rebuilding; and preservation of archives.
The Kentucky group earlier this year was awarded $46,000 from the John Emery Trust to pay for new boiler tubes for No. 2716, which was retired by the C&O in 1956 and donated to the Kentucky Railway Museum three years later.
No. 2716 has twice been restored to operating condition. The Southern Railway restored it in 1981 and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society overhauled it in 1996.
After both restorations the 2716 ran only for a brief time before being sidelined with mechanical issues.
The Heritage Corporation is leasing the 2716 from the Kentucky Railway Museum.
A former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 Kanawha-type locomotive completed a ferry move on Sunday within Kentucky.
C&O No. 2716 was moved from the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven to the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation in Ravenna where it will be restored to operating condition.
Leading the 2716’s ferry move into Ravenna was Clinchfield Railroad F7 No. 800.
The move began on Friday and involved CSX and R.J. Corman Railroad Group. It passed through Louisville, Frankfort and Lexington along the way.
Also moving from New Haven to Ravenna was restored C&O caboose 3203.
KSHC also said that it has received a donation of $6,000 from model railroad manufacturer ScaleTrains and $46,000 from the John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust.
CSX said it will donate to KSHC SW1500 switcher No. 1100, formerly Louisville & Nashville No. 5000.
Restoration of No. 2716 is expected to take a year and a half.
Nickel Plate Road 757 is currently on public display on one of the coach yard tracks at the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum.
In what is being billed as a Berkday celebration, the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum in Bellevue will mark the 75th birthday of Nickel Plate Road No. 757 on Aug. 17.
The Berkshire-type locomotive will be feted during a party that is in part a fund-raising event to raise money to continue the restoration of the engine built in Lima, Ohio.
No. 757 was based in Bellevue during its revenue service days. Retired in June 1958, the steamer was stored in Bellevue into the 1960s with the intent of donating it to the city for static display.
But the city lacked a railroad museum and didn’t have the resources to afford to create a display location.
The locomotive was moved to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania which displayed it for several years.
Mad River and the Pennsylvania museum in 2017 worked out a deal that would send the 757 back to Bellevue, where it arrived last February.
Tickets for the Berkday party will cost $75 per person and include admission to the museum as well as access to the cab of the 757.
The festivities will begin at the museum’s former New York Central freight house with a program explaining the history of the 757, how it was returned to Bellevue and the museum’s plans to display and use the locomotive.
Participants will then enjoy a barbecue buffet and birthday cake catered by Bone Boys BBQ in a 1927 NKP dining car parked next to the freight house. There will also be 757 merchandise for sale.
Presentations and meals will start at 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the museum during regular business hours or by calling 419-483-2222 or 567-228-9866.
They can also be purchased online at https://bringback757.org/news/ Online sales will incur a $3 handling fee.
The party will be held rain or shine and no refunds will be given unless cancelled by the museum due to unforeseen circumstances.
No tickets will be sold at the door on the day of the event.
All proceeds will be used for the restoration and display of locomotive 757.
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