Steam Saturday: Chasing NKP 765

Here are a pair of images of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 from 2012 when it was pulling Norfolk Southern employee appreciation excursions on the Sandusky District between Bellevue and Bucyrus.

Paul Woodring was with me on this day chasing the Berkshire locomotive.

Both photographs were made on the morning of July 21 near Flat Rock. The NKP 765 was accompanied by NS 8100, the Nickel Plate heritage locomotive.

In both images the train is moving southward, although on the railroad the direction of travel is eastbound.

Photographs by Robert Farkas 

Steam Saturday: Not That Long Ago, Right?

It’s Aug. 21, 2012 and Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is cruising westbound through Canton en route to Bellevue.

The Berkshire type has recently pulled some excursions in Pennsylvania and is ferrying westward.

Those of us who chased the 765 on this move or during its time in Ohio that year probably don’t think this happened that long ago.

It was just few years ago, right? Actually it was almost eight years ago.

The tracks here used to be the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad between Chicago and New York.

The NKP was a nominal competitor with the Pennsy in the Chicago-New York passenger market even though the Nickel Plate didn’t have it own track east of Buffalo, New York.

But more that five decades after the PRR last operated its own passenger trains on the run that history has been lost to all except those with an interest in railroad history.

Behind the auxiliary tender of the 765 is the NKP heritage unit of Norfolk Southern.

There is some PRR heritage to be seen here in the signal bridges with Pennsy-style position light signal heads to protect the crossing at WANDLE between the NS Fort Wayne Line and the Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Canton Subdivision. Those signal bridges have since been removed.

It is far from certain that NKP 765 will ever operate on these rails again.

But NS 8100, the NKP heritage unit, could well be helping to pull a regular NS freight train.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Timely Heads Up Yields Good Result

ARRC treasuer Ed Ribinskas can hear inside his house in Painesville the horns of the Norfolk Southern trains traveling over the former Nickel Plate Road mainline. The crossing at Riverview Drive and the trestle over the Grand River are but minutes from his home.

Some timely heads up notices on the Internet enabled him to be in the right place at the right time early Saturday afternoon. The NS 8100, the NKP heritage locomotive, was leading train 310 eastbound to Buffalo.

Ed caught the train crossing the trestle along with a handful of other railfans. This is Ed’s first contribution to the ARRC blog since he bought a digital camera late last summer. Look for more of Ed’s work to appear on the site in the coming days and weeks.

Photographs by Ed Ribinskas

Lucky Friday the 13th Find

It seems that Norfolk Southern No. 8100, the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit, likes to be in front of my camera.

On a “lucky” Friday the 13, it was leading NS No. 835, a train of mostly empty hoppers bound for Altoona.

After work I passed a little time photographing other trains until this black and yellow beauty showed up, seen here passing through Macedonia, Ohio.

Three of the NS heritage units have passed this spot in less than 24 hours, although two of them were at night.

The Norfolk & Western heritage unit led a train through Cleveland night while the Conrail unit was a trailer in a motive power lash up. The NKP unit also spent Friday on the Sandusky District headed to Bellevue, the spiritual home of the Nickel Plate.

Photographs by Roger Durfee

Tired of Seeing the NKP 8100 Yet?

Now that everyone is probably tired of seeing the Norfolk Southern No. 8100, here are a few more images of this Nickel Plate Road Heritage locomotive in Ashtabula.

I went back to Ashtabula on Saturday and stopped by the harbor in the afternoon to catch some more photos of that clean 8100, plus a few others. Here is the selection.

The 8013/8100 duo is at the harbor, but note the ore boat out on the lake. It’s the Edgar B. Speers from the information that I got from the website Boatnerd.com.

Also shown are NS 1064/1061 on a 62Z with the ore boat off in the distance.

Here are several views of the left side of the NKP unit and a rear view to show the stripe and number placement.

I hope that everyone had a good Easter.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

NS 8100 Poses in Astabula

I had made a trip to Youngstown on Wednesday in search of the latest Norfolk Southern heritage unit, No. 8100, which wears Nickel Plate Road colors.

It was on an empty stone train from Leetsdale to Ashtabula, but delays caused it to pass through Youngstown in darkness.

I headed for Ashtabula after work on Thursday to try my luck again. When I arrived it was still tucked away in the yard, trailing with its nose up against some cars.

With the unit not in a good position for photos I headed for the CSX main. Although CSX was busy, something told me to head back to the harbor and check things out.

It was a good thing that I did because the power set had been moved to a near perfect spot for photos.

After getting permission to head down to the yard from the local railroad people I put on the PPE and started burning some pixels. Needless to say, this is one sweet looking unit.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee