Nickel Plate Road No. 765 will be back on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad this weekend, offering weekend excursions and a few extras.
New this year will be a Friday excursion for CVSR members and volunteers that will leave Rockside Road station at 5:30 p.m. It is scheduled to return at 8 p.m.
During the two-hour round trip, passengers will be treated to hors d’oeuvres, cash bar service, and live entertainment from the 1940s.
There will be a brief de-boarding for a sunset view and run-by of the locomotive.
Also new this year is a program that enables the public to buy throttle time or fireman time during a short run from Fitzwater Yard to Brecksville station. Those “tickets” are reportedly sold out.
Two-hour public excursions will be run on Sept. 16, 22 and 23 from Rockside Road station and on Sept. 17 and 24 from Akron.
Boarding times for trains departing from Rockside Road on Saturdays are at 9:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. On Sept. 22, the excursion will depart Rockside Road at 6 p.m.
Boarding times from Akron are 11:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. All excursions will feature a photo runby at Boston Mill station.
Ticket are $25 for coach seating, $30 for an open widow coach, $38 for deluxe (table car), $40 for the dome car lower level; and $50 for the upper dome car.
The CVSR website said that the railroad will not disclose the location of the steam train to any non-ticket holders.
Park rangers will be on patrol and the park has suggested that non ticket holders consider watching the train at Station Road Bridge or Botzum.
Those locations have probably been suggested because they offer expansive parking lots.
A review of the schedule for the CVSR’s National Park Scenic suggests that unlike in past years the steam train will not meet the Scenic in Peninsula.
This presumes that the excursions will be two hours in duration as advertised and that the steam train can operate behind or ahead of the Scenic.