Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is slated to return to the rails in late May as part of the 2023 season of the Indiana Rail Experience.
The Indiana Rail Experience said the 765 will help pull select excursions that will include an ice cream train out of Angola, Indiana, on Memorial Day weekend.
Other events set for this year include all-day excursions to Hillsdale, Michigan; wine and whiskey trains; a railroad open house featuring steam and diesel locomotives at the Indiana Northeastern shops in Hudson, Indiana; and fall colors and Christmas trains.
The ice cream trains will operate on May 27 and 28. Tickets will go on sale on April 19. Some excursions will be pulled by diesel motive power.
Ticket classes include coach, first class, lounge and dining car seating. Group packages and private rail car charter packages are available.
Indiana Northeastern is upgrading one of its GP30 locomotives to improve its traction, Trains magazine reported on its website.
The former Reading Lines unit is being given new power assemblies and electrical upgrades.
Railroad officials told the magazine that the work is designed to avoid the wheel slippage that can occur when the locomotive begins pulling a heavy train.
EMD introduced the GP30 in 1961 and gave it a unique “skyline casing” along the cab and car body.
Operating 105 miles of track in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, Indiana Northeastern has two GP30s on its motive power roster.
The overhaul work is being done at the railroad’s shop in Hudson, Indiana. It previously did mechanical work in a one-stall facility in Hillsdale, Michigan.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 poses in Angola, Indiana, before pulling the first of four Indiana Ice Cream Train trips on Saturday.Getting underway for the first excursion of the day.The locomotive engineer of NKP 765 relaxes in Angola before making his first run.Indiana Northeastern GP9H No. 5903 pulls the second ice cream train south of Angola.NKP 765 is along for the ride as the ice cream train continues on to Pleasant Lake.Passing the former New York Central depot in Pleasant Lake on the way back north.
The Indiana Rail Experience with Nickel Plate Road 2-8-3 No. 765 got underway this past weekend with the Indiana Ice Cream Train excursions on Friday and Saturday.
The sold out 45-minute excursions departed from a former New York Central depot in Angola, Indiana, on track now used by the Indiana Northeastern. The station itself, which houses a restaurant, is on the campus of Trine University.
The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, owner of NKP 765, has an agreement with the short line railroad that serves Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, to run a series of excursions this year and beyond.
I made the drive north on Interstate 69 to Angola on Saturday morning with a stopover in Waterloo to catch a late westbound Lake Shore Limited and three Norfolk Southern eastbounds.
Arriving in Angola around 11 a.m., it was easy to find the Ice Cream train because it was parked just south of West Maumee Street, the main east-west artery in town.
The nose of the 765 was pointed north. Later in the day that would mean less-than-ideal lighting conditions.
I had not seen the 765 since September 2018 so it felt good to visit a long-lost friend. The Berkshire-type engine gleamed in the late morning sunlight under a cloudless sky.
Although there was a crowd milling about, it was easy to make images of the static locomotive without people barging into my photos.
The Ice Cream Train departed four times each day, alternating going north and south of town. Passengers were given a cup of ice cream before boarding.
The first trip went north. After photographing it leaving the boarding site, I gave chase even though I really didn’t know that well where I was going.
I saw smoke in the distance so I knew I was close behind. I kept going, looked down a road to my left and caught a glimpse of the train.
I turned left onto the next road that, presumably, went to the tracks. A crowd of locals and railfan photographs had gathered at the crossing.
The sight lines and lighting were good. But after several minutes of waiting, some of the railfan photographers began leaving. The locals quickly followed suit.
It turned out we were one crossing too far north of where the excursion train stopped and reversed direction to return to Angola.
I drove back into town without having made any images on this chase. I kept going to look for a photo site for the second excursion.
I found one not too far out of town. A guy from Geneva, Illinois, was already there. Two other fans showed up shortly after I arrived and set up their video cameras.
After waiting for a while, I spotted the headlight of Indiana Northeast GP9H No. 5903, which pulled the train southward.
After getting my photographs, I followed the train, which I had been told would halt just south of the depot in Pleasant Lake.
A least two of the vehicles ahead of me on Old Route U.S. 27 were railfans and I followed them, hoping they knew where they were going. They did.
Several photographers and a few locals were on hand next to the volunteer fire department. An interesting site at the firehouse was two people on horseback talking with the fire department staff.
The 765 was a short distance beyond the depot and a photo line had formed.
After getting my images I tried to catch and get ahead of the train. But that effort failed due to my unfamiliarity with the streets on the south side of Angola.
I waited for the third excursion of the day to leave and snapped a few images before heading back home.
There are excursions planned for late summer and during the fall with additional trips, perhaps, to be announced.
Next time I’m up that way I’ll be better prepared to chase now that I have explored the territory.
Nonetheless, I was more than satisfied with what I was able to get.
Details about the planned trips in the Indiana Rail Experience featuring Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 were published this week online.
The longest trip planned will be an all-day 100-mile excursion named the Tri-State Scenic. It will run on Aug. 27 and 28 and run from Edon, Ohio, to Hillsdale, Michigan, and return.
There will be a two-hour layover in Hillsdale for passengers to visit a local farmers market, take walking tours and have lunch on their own.
Tickets are not yet on sale but are expected to start at $79 per person. Ticket classes to be offered include deluxe coach, open air, first class and executive class.
The train is expected to allow open vestibule viewing. It will be hosted by the Indiana Northeastern Railroad.
Other excursions set for the summer include the Indiana Ice Cream Train July 8-9. It will operate hour-long excursions from downtown Angola, Indiana, four times each day. Tickets will start at $15.
The Indiana Wine & Spirit Train will run on July 8-9 and Sept. 23. It will be a 2.5-hour evening excursion aboard a first-class passenger train with the wine, whiskey, beer, cigars, hors d’oeuvres, and dessert.
Passengers must be at least 21 years of age to ride. Passengers also may charter an entire private car. Tickets start at $90. The trip announcement did not say where the train will operate.
The Angola American History Train will operate Sept. 24-25 from Angola for a visit to a recreated World War II trop camp with re-enactors.
The excursion is being held in conjunction with Angola American History Days. Tickets start at $29.
A photo freight will operate on an unspecified date with tickets available by invitation only. Prospective passengers may join a wait list for the trip that is being maintained on the website of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.
The train will operate between South Milford, Indiana, and Edon, Ohio, and to Hillsdale, Michigan.
It will feature freight and passenger cars as well as EMD diesel locomotives. There will be a night photo session, period actors, and vintage vehicles.
FtRHS said on its website that events are being hosted in cooperation with the Little River Railroad, Norfolk & Western Business Car No. 300 Preservation Society, City of Angola, and City of Hillsdale, Michigan.
The Indiana Rail Experience is a partnership between the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Inc. and Indiana Northeastern.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 will be exploring new territory in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan this summer.
The Indiana Northeastern has agreed to host excursions behind the Berkshire-type locomotive between July and October over multiple years.
The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society said information about the trips and ticket information will be released later this month or in early June.
Indiana Northeastern was founded in 1992 and operates over 100 miles of track that was once owned by the New York Central and Wabash railroads.
It handles more than 5,000 carloads a year for 25 shippers. The railroad has offices and a locomotive repair facility in South Milford and Hudson, Indiana, respectively.
The excursion agreement is being named the Indiana Rail Experience.
The Fort Wayne group said it will collaborate with the Little River Railroad, Norfolk & Western Business Car No. 300 Preservation Society, Steuben County Tourism Bureau, and City of Angola.
The Indiana Northeastern Railroad has acquired a pair of six axle locomotives, its first.
Until now the short line railroad that serves Indiana, Ohio and Michigan had relied on four-axle EMD diesels.
Now Indiana Northeastern has purchased a pair of SD40-2s from Motive Power Resources in Minooka, Illinois.
The units formerly worked for Canadian Pacific and Southern Pacific with the ex-SP unit still having its flared SD45 car-body.
Indiana Northeastern president Gale Shultz said two factors prompted his railroad to seek larger locomotives.
“In the next year, we have to equip for positive train control to get in and out of the Norfolk Southern yards at Montpelier, Ohio,” Shultz said. “We are running 85-car unit trains and I can’t see spending money on one of the old girls.”
Shultz said both SD40-2s have been rebuilt from the frame-up by Alstom Canada and were last used in a CSX Transportation lease fleet.
“’These are sixteen cylinders, new controls and wiring, we hope to have the first one here in a week,” he says.
Indiana Northeastern General Manager Troy Strane told Trains magazine that one six-axle unit will be paired with a four-axle unit to move unit grain trains.
“I think one of these can easily do the work equal to two or three of our four-axles. We have a lot of small hills and curves, its real railroading and moving these unit trains is rough on the power,” Strane said.
The SD40-2s are unlikely to be repainted into Indiana Northeastern colors until next spring because they are needed immediately to help with the grain harvest that is getting underway.
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