Website Set up for NKP 765 Excursions

A website has been established to sell tickets and provide information about the Indiana Rail Experience excursions set for this year to be pulled by Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765.

The Lima-built Berkshire type locomotive will pull a series of excursions in July, August and September that will run in Indiana, with some trips also operating in Ohio and Michigan.

The first of those excursions will be the Indiana Ice Cream Train on July 8 and 9 departing from Angola, Indiana, for 45-minute train rides. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children (ages 3-16).

On those same dates the 765 will pull an adults-only Wine, Whiskey and Spirits train from Angola during the evening.

Tickets are $99 per person for wine and whiskey class seating and $90 per person for beer class seating. That includes two complimentary beverages per passenger, hors d’oeuvres and a dessert.

The longest trips will be the Tri-State Scenic Excursions on Aug. 27 and 28 that will operate between Edon, Ohio, and Hillsdale, Michigan.

Tickets are $79 (open widow coach), $99 (open air car), $139 (deluxe coach), $149 (diner lounge seating), and $249 (first class).

Also available are suites ranging from $499 to $529. An entire car can be chartered for $4,500 and has been dubbed executive class. The car is a restored open platform car.

The American History Train will operate from Angola Sept. 23-25. All tickets for those trips will cost $29 per person.

The site can be reached at https://www.indianarailexperience.org/the-tri-state-scenic/

Details Released on NKP 765 Excursions

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.

For more information visit https://fortwaynerailroad.org/2022/05/indiana-rail-experience-events/?mc_cid=ccf4cc2438&mc_eid=2e616b48c4

NKP 765 Won’t See Akron in May

There will be no steam excursions from Akron in May and resumption of Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad service to the city is not expected until July.

The change in operating plans was prompted by erosion of the bank of the Cuyahoga River to within three feet of the tracks north of Boston Mill.

The National Park Service, which owns the tracks, is overseeing a riverbank stabilization program to shore up the bank.

The erosion occurred in early March following heavy rains. Since then CVSR has been operating only from Rockside Road station in Independence.

The steam excursions, to be pulled by former Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, will now operate out of Rockside Road for all trips.

Trips are scheduled for May 13-15 and 20-22. Schedules have been changed on the CVSR website to reflect the changes.

In a news release, CVSR said it is contacting those who purchased tickets for excursions from Akron’s Northside station.

Those who wish a refund of their fare must notify CVSR by March 29. Otherwise, the CVSR will rebook them on a trip from Rockside Road.

The 765 is owned by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and usually visits the CVSR in the fall.

The CVSR news release said the timeline of work for the riverbank stabilization program is still being worked out.

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