Steam Saturday: NKP 765 in Black and White: 4

Here is the fourth and final part of this series of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 in black and white converted from color images. All three images were made on Sept. 9, 2010, in Medina.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

NKP 765 to Pull Indiana Rail Experience Trips

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 will again be in action this year pulling excursions for the Indiana Rail Experience on the Indiana Northeastern Railroad.

The excursion schedule includes ice cream trains and tri-state steam excursions. 

Some excursions will run out of Pleasant Lake, Indiana, where the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society in 2023 purchased a former New York Central depot that it has renovated.

Other trips will start in Angola, Indiana, and Edon, Ohio. Some excursions will be led by diesel locomotives.

Visit the Indiana Rail Experience website for more information. 

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 in Black and White: 3

Here is the third part of this series of black and whites taken from color images. These are from Sept. 9, 2010, on the Wheeling & Lake Erie west of Medina.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 in Black and White 2

Here are two more views of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 processed into black and white. They are from Sept. 9, 2010. Both image were made on the W&LE when NKP 765 was making its eastbound ferry move to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s Steam in the Valley 2010.

The top and middle photos were the only time I caught so much black smoke. The third photo was made west of Medina.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: Strutting in Wellington

This image came from a box of slides set aside to redo using modern photo editing. It is a grubby mid-1982 day in Wellington where Nickel Plate Road 765 is strutting its stuff on what today is the Wheeling & Lake Erie.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: Smoke Plume in Peninsula

It is Sept. 17, 2011, in Peninsula. Former Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is southbound on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for Steam in the Valley 2011. As the train departs a narrow mini-canyon of trees, a beautiful plume of white fills the trees.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 in Norwalk

It is steam Saturday so let’s spin the dial on the wayback machine and see what we can find. Shown is former Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 pulling an excursion train eastbound in Norwalk on June 24, 1983. At the time this image was made these tracks would have been part of Norfolk Southern. The line is now the Wheeling & Lake Erie.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: En Route to Pittsburgh

We are overlooking the Conrail Fort Wayne Line tracks tracks in Massillon where Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is eastbound headed to Pittsburgh on May 11, 1985. 

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 in Oak Harbor

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is eastbound in Oak Harbor, Ohio on May 21, 1983. The Berkshire-type steamer is on rails that once were part of the Nickel Plate system. The train is about to cross the Portage River.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

NKP 765 Concludes 2023 Excursion Season

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 No. 765 has pulled its last excursion trains for the Indiana Rail Experience in 2023.

Future planned excursions in the program this year will be powered by diesel locomotives.

A report published on the website of Trains magazine said the fall foliage excursions pulled by the 765 in Indiana and Michigan were sell outs.

The steam locomotive’s owner, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society is already looking ahead to the 2024 Indiana Rail Experience schedule but has a list of things to do in order to get ready.

This included completing the restoration of former NKP SD9 No. 358; rehabilitating the former New York Central depot in Pleasant Lake, Indiana; raising money for and restoring passenger cars recently acquired by the Society; and recruiting new volunteers.

Society officials said longer range plans include rebuilding a siding on Indiana Northeastern Railroad to be used for passenger car maintenance and storage, and exploring acquiring additional real estate beyond the Pleasant Lake Depot.

The 358 is expected pull Indiana Rail Experience excursions next year while the 765 may visit some rail lines beyond the Indiana Northeastern system.