I Found Another Lookout Mountain Photograph

When I wrote the article and sent a photograph of observation car Lookout Mountain, I was thinking the photo was the only time had I have captured that car.

While preparing for some upcoming stories, I found I had photographed Lookout Mountain one other time and gotten better images.

I attended the 1984 National Railway Historical Society convention in Cincinnati with Marty Surdyk, Bill Sudyk, Robert Surdyk and John Surdyk.

We rode two trips and chased the trip Sept. 2 trip that Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 pulled on the ex-Chesapeake & Ohio mainline along the Ohio River.

The trip originated at the ex-Southern yard in Ludlow, Kentucky. The train had to back over the Southern bridge over the Ohio River to Queensgate yard in Cincinnati to get to the C&O route.

The first three photographs were made on the Cincinnati side as the train is reversing, with a good shot of the Lookout Mountain.

The next three images show the train on the C&O crossing the river into Covington, Kentucky.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

CVSR Sets Dates for Return of NKP 765

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 will return to Northeast Ohio for a series of excursions in September the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad said today.

The Berkshire-type locomotive owned by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society will operate on Sept. 3, 10-12 and 17-19.

Tickets range from $25 to $65 depending on the fare class purchased.

Most excursions will last two and half hours and include photo runbys. On Saturdays the trains will leave Rockside Station in Independence at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

On Sundays trains will depart Akron Northside Station at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. A night trip will leave Rockside Station at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.

On Sept. 3 and 18 the 765 and its train will depart Rockside Station at 7:30 p.m. for a three-and-a-half-hour round trip. About halfway through the trip, a photo shoot with special lighting will be staged as the 765 sits on static display.

Tickets for CVSR members at the brakeman level and above will go on sale on July 16 at 9 a.m. and to the public on July 20 at 9 a.m.

A series of special events are also scheduled involving the 765 including dinner on the train aboard one of the California Zephyr dome cars.

Other alcohol related trips on tap include Gin and Jazz during which a local jazz musician will perform as passengers nibble on appetizers and drink gin; the Speakeasy with appetizers and Prohibition era cocktails; Lounge+ featuring an open bar; Bottlegger Brews featuring appetizers and beer; Morning Mixers with a bloody Mary and mimosa bar, along with a muffin; and Soiree, featuring heavy appetizers and an open bar.

One special trip will involve a murder mystery while another will feature trivia games while riding behind the 765.

More information is available at https://www.cvsr.org/steam/

Steam Saturday: Good Light, No Obstructions

Some of my best photographs of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad were made during the first half of the past decade.

Here are four of my favorites with good lighting and without the crowds and the obnoxious yellow tape and orange cones. All images were made on Sept. 14, 2014.
In the top photograph the Berkshire-type locomotive steams past the CVSR Brecksville station.

That is following by two images made in Peninsula with the second of those being when the 765 was being towed on the return trip. It still looks nice even with a light stack.

The bottom image was made of the train crossing Chippewa Creek in Brecksville.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steam Saturday: Some May 2013 NKP 765 Favorites

Here are some favorites from the Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 outings in late May 2013.

On Memorial Day weekend, the 765 pulled three roundtrip excursions from Lewistown to Gallitzin, Pennsylvania via Horseshoe Curve.

Jeff Troutman and I photographed the first trip on Saturday and rode the second trip on Sunday.

On Monday we set up and photographed at Horseshoe Curve before heading home.

A few days later NKP 765 worked its way home, too, to New Haven, Indiana.

In the top image, the steamer is shown at Fostoria, Pennsylvania on May 25. Next up is on Horseshoe Curve on May 27 and then in Cleveland heading westbound on May 30.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 Has the Signal

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. is putting on a show as it cruises westbound at milepost 123.2 on Norfolk Southern east of Orrville on June 21, 1983. These rails were originally laid by the Wheeling & Lake Erie and then for several years were part of the Nickel Plate system. Now they are again owned by the modern W&LE.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 on ex-AC&Y

The wayback machine has taken us back to June 25, 1983. We’re on the former Akron, Canton & Youngstown mainline, which is now owned by the Wheeling & Lake Erie. Here comes Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 running westbound out of Akron. Just as quickly as it came it’s gone with only a bit of coal smoke lingering in the air. But what a sight it was.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: NKP 765 on the N&W in Ohio

The wayback machine on Steam Saturday has taken us to August 1982. Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is pulling a train on Norfolk & Western tracks. This line was originally the Wheeling & Lake Erie. The photographer is unsure of the location but believes it is Orrville. This line is now a backbone of the modern W&LE.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: Steaming that New River Train

This weekend would have seen the annual fall excursions from Huntington to Hinton, West Virginia, through the New River Gorge. But this year’s excursions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 1966 and 2018 the trips were sponsored by the Huntington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

Following the 2018 trips, that group opted out due to rising costs. A new operator was found and the trips resumed.

Many New River Train trips were pulled by steam locomotives. In 1977 and 1978 Reading 2101 and the Chessie Steam Special were the stars.

Chesapeake & Ohio 614 pulled trips in 1980 and1981. Nickel Plate Road 765 was a regular from 1983 to 1988, and again in 1992 and 1993.

However, in 1993 the 765 was dressed as C&O 2765.

In 1994, NKP 765 was down for its 15-year rebuild so Milwaukee Road 261 was available.

That year turned out to be the last year for steam due to CSX’s reluctance to host it.

In this post are some highlights from 1987 and 1994. 

The 1987 images of NKP 765 pulling the train were made at Hurricane, East Bank, Montogomery, Cotton Hill and Thurmond.

The 1994 images of MKE 261 were made at Scott Depot, Montgomery and Prince.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Autumn Steam in 1988

Autumn 1988 featured mainline and tourist line steam in Northeast Ohio. On the Cuyahoga Vally Line, former Grand Trunk Western No. 4070 pulled trains between Independence and Akron.

On Conrail’s Fort Wayne Line, Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 pulled excursions sponsored by the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society.

This gallery includes the photographer’s favorite from September and October.

In the photograph above, the 765 passes the former Pennsylvania Railroad interlocking tower in Leetonia, Ohio, on Sept. 24

In the top and next image of the series below, NKP 765 is arriving at Conway Yard near Pittsburgh on Sept. 24.

The excursion was bound for Pittsburgh from Orrville.

In the next image the 4070 is at Hillside Road in Independence on Sept. 11 while the series rounds out with the locomotive being turned on the wye at Wi;llow in Independence on Oct. 8.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steamy Memories From 1985

Here are some more photographs made by Ed Ribinskas in 1985, most of them involving photographing a steam excursion. He said he remembers each image as if they recently occurred.

In the image above, Nickel Plate Road No. 765 is on the wye on May 12 at Homewood, Pennsylvania, alongside and over the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The Berkshire-type engine had developed a hot bearing near East Palestine, Ohio, during an excursion between Orrville and Pittsburgh.

The 765 had to be replaced with Conrail diesel locomotives. The steamer was turned at Homewood and then limped back to Orrrville.

In the first photograph below, a Bre/Leyland Railbus operated in a six-week trial run between downtown Cleveland and Mentor that started April 28.

The trial involved five roundtrips Monday through Friday over Norfolk Southern (former Nickel Plate) tracks.

The Cleveland terminus was Tower City. The railbus would leave on Cleveland RTA Rapid tracks and switch over to NS near the 55^th Street yard.

The Mentor terminus was at Ohio Route 615 where it is shown.

Ed said he rode the trip on May 3 and remembered that the late J. Gary Dillon, the long time vice president of the Akron Railroad Club, was aboard.

The next photograph is NKP 765 in Madison on June 16 during a ferry move from Buffalo, New York.

It was returning to Bellevue and having pulled a series of excursions between Buffalo and Corning, New York.

Next up is Norfolk & Western No. 611 during an excursion from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Bellevue.

The train is shown soaring over the Cleveland Flats westbound on Aug. 3 in an image made from the Abbey Avenue bridge.

The 611 is shown again during that same excursion, but this time at Old Broadway in Cleveland east of downtown on the return trip to Erie.

Finally, the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus train is cruising alongside Interstate 71 in Cleveland on Nov. 4 in an image made from Ridge Road.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas