A Great Day For Old Friends

An old friend of the City of Bellevue came home yesterday. It was the Nickel Plate Railroad's locomotive #765. She is a "Berkshire" class loco, built in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works. The Berks were the last steam locos built and were known as "Super Power" locos. The 80 Berks were all based here in Bellevue and put the "speed" in the motto "High Speed Freight Service". There are only 3 KNOWN survivors, the 765 owned by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, the 779 (last steam locomotive built) on static display in Lincoln Park in Lima, and a "sister" the 1225 of the Pere Marquette Railroad. She lives in Railroad Park in Owosso, Michigan.

The 765 has been through here several times over the years, but never under her own power, always "dead in consist" (just another freight car). She would come in from Fort Wayne in a train and the NS would shove her into the connection with the Wheeling & Lake Erie who would fire her up and take her wherever she needed to go.

The Norfolk Southern (of which the Nickel Plate ultimately became a part of) hasn't allowed steam locomotives on their rails since 1994 when they shut down what had been a pretty impressive steam operation. At the time of the shutdown one of their locos ,the 1218, was undergoing a refurb, and the other, the 611, had just been refurbed. Both are in a museum in Spencer, North Carolina.

This is the 30th. Anniversary of the formation of the Norfolk Southern Railroad and they decided that having a steam train pull an excursion train for their emplooyees would be a good thing. Instead of using one of their own locos, they contracted with the FWRHS for use the 765 for a full schedule of trips through the end of summer.

The 765 is accompanied by one of the NS "Heritage" diesel units in full Nickel Plate livery. They have had 20 units painted in the livery of every railroad that has become part of the NS.

There are two reasons for me posting this here. Our late friend Jim Tighe was involved in the last refurb project on the 765. The last time I spoke with him, he tipped me off about these trips. At that time I was able to share with him the photos of the NS "Heritage" units, which he really enjoyed seeing. Besides that, who doesn't like trains???

For my friend Jim.........

I couldn't get captions under the photos so here goes. In the first shot, taken yesterday afternoon, when she makes that crossing in front of her (Kilbourne St., SR18) she officially enters the Bellevue Yard.

The train will be running three trips today from Bellevue to Bucyrus, and two tomorrow. Fact is, Dwayne Brooks is with her right now in Bucyrus on the third trip of the day.

The next were taken this morning on her first trip down to Bucyrus, coming out of the main yard down through the "mini-plant". The last shot was taken down at West Attica where the line crosses SR 4, and 1/2 mile south the CSX Railroad.

(Note to self......if you're going to stand fifteen feet from a steam locomotive doing 50 mph for cryin' out loud don't be wearing a white tee shirt. My Hudson Meet PCS shirt is full of little black soot specks.)

Thank you for the pictures Russell! That must have been a sight to behold, very cool!

Thanks for the pics.......However 611 and 1218 are in Roanoke Va at the Transportation museum there. Instead of the PCS meet in Florida I opted for the Norfolk Southern 30th Anniversary Festivities in Spencer NC in which all 20 custom painted locomotives were gathered and "unveiled". I even caught 6 on the way there a week in advance with paint still drying as well as 9 of them leaving after the event as one train!

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/402338

Cary, thanks for the correction. That must have been a sight to behold. The only "heritage" unit I've seen so far is the 8100, and it is awesome. Our son Rob has seen quite a few of them in different areas around here. I'll keep looking for them though.

Russell: Thanks for the fabulous shots. Must have been quite a feeling to have it thunder by.

the impressive part is how smooth it is. thanks for sharing the rail fan trip

There is nothing more magnificant that riding a steam train. As a young boy, occassionaly, when there was no school, I would walk a couple of miles to the train station, and get on the train and ride it into Hoboken NJ. My father or someone from his office would pick me up and bring me back to the office, where I would wait till 5 o'clock and we would drive home together. Later on, I learned how to take the Hudson Tube train from Hoboken to the Exchange Place station, and get picked up there. Once I forgot to get off at Exchange Place, and I wound up in New York City, since that was the next stop. The train used a tunnel under the Hudson River to get into New York.

One of the most impressive signs in Hoboken was the Cocomalt and My T Fine manufacturing plant. The aroma of chocolate filled the air.. I don't know if it is true, but I was told back then that the neon sign was 40 feet tall.

WOW thanks

Thanks Russ and Carey for those reports and photos. Many of us have discussed the overlap between car and truck lovers and train fans.
Kevin

John ED Renstrom said:

the impressive part is how smooth it is. thanks for sharing the rail fan trip

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You're exactly right Ed, as the train passed all the cars sounded smooth as glass... none of the typical screeching and clunking around. It was quite an amazing thing to see, hadn't been that close to a steam train since I was a kid (grandma's house sat about 20 feet from the rails of the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway).

Thanks to Russ for the head's up this morning! I chased this train for 2 hours today, they turned it around on the tracks right in front of my old house in Bucyrus. It was an honor seeing it today knowing our departed friend Jim Tighe had a hand in the restoration of old #765 and she's a real beauty...


Barreling into Bucyrus under Route 30


I took this photo too soon... only had one shot at this and was a bit too quick on the shutter to really fill the frame


One of the train cars as it passed


Fast forward... backing up in town to turn around (this area may look familiar, it's just down the street from my old house where we chased down the business train!)

Want to hear it? Took this short video too... click the link
http://s907.photobucket.com/albums/...steam train/?action=view&current=MVI_1576.mp4

A couple close-ups in town...




Finally... a departing shot before the train headed back up north for the night in Bellevue...

very cool ....thanks for sharing

My dad worked for CNR ( Canadian National Railroad ) for over 40 years right out of the war. he had some very cool pictures of steam.....when I upgrade my membership I will post them ( very soon)

There is a spot just west of Woodstock,Ont were you can sit and watch both canadian national and canadian pacific main lines,but the old steam engines,will never be beat for excitement,nostalgia,and a great feel of the good old days.

yes there is a spot out here in the east ( at Port Hope, Ontario) where you can watch both lines crossing the trestle beside each other..

Thank you all for the kind comments. One can never be sure how a non-procar related post will be received on these forums. It was my pleasure to post it, we (Barb, Zachary, Mackenzie and I) had a blast yesterday getting the pictures. As I've stated before, I make no claim on being a "photographer", I take pictures that make me happy. If anybody else enjoys them, so much the better.

Now for the part of this whole thing that really makes me happy!!! Depending on where you live, a lot of you will be able to see this train over the next 2 months. Please visit the Fort Wayne Railroad Hiostorical Society web site at http://fortwaynerailroad.org/ go the the excursions and events tab and you'll find the whole schedule posted there! There is also a lot of other real interesting reading on the site. They even have a "tracker" feature (the 765 is carrying a GPS device) where you can follow along with her travels.

If you know where the Norfolk Southern Railroad system runs near you, it's not hard to figure out how to see her. The "Deadhead Moves" are when they are moving the train for her next event(s). As far as I know all of the excursion runs are on weekends.

HAPPY RAILFANNING FOLKS!! If you haven't been one before, this train will turn you into one.

This thread should be in the off topic forum NOT general discussion. I come here to see pro cars, NOT TRAINS.

Great photos, Russ, thanks.

I do hope I get to see or ride the NS excursions this summer. Dad and I used to ride and work as crew on the old Southern / Norfolk Southern Steam Specials in the late '70s and early '80s. Dad would work as a Car Host, and I worked initially in the commissary (snack bar) car, serving sodas. As I got older, I ended up, accidentally at first, as the train EMT.

This is what passes for steam excursions here in Maryland - at the Walkersville Southern Railroad about 4 weeks ago. Oh, it sounds great and it smells great, but somehow, it's not quite the same.

For those of you interested in this thread (sorry John), the 765 and her train are over in Pennsylvania now and she is performing FLAWLESSLY. This weekend she's running along the river west and south of Pittsburgh (Conway area). Next weekend she'll be over in Harrisburg. Enroute over there she'll be photographed on the famous Horseshoe Curve at Altoona. What I wouldn't give to see that.

Hope you get to catch up with her Steve!!

Russell Street said:

For those of you interested in this thread (sorry John), the 765 and her train are over in Pennsylvania now and she is performing FLAWLESSLY. This weekend she's running along the river west and south of Pittsburgh (Conway area). Next weekend she'll be over in Harrisburg. Enroute over there she'll be photographed on the famous Horseshoe Curve at Altoona. What I wouldn't give to see that.

Hope you get to catch up with her Steve!!

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Its not that I have a problem with the thread, its just that I think it belongs in the off topic forum because it has nothing to do with pro cars.

Here's a picture of a lifetime, The Norfolk Southern Business train meeting the 765 and her train on the Rockville Bridge at Harrisburg, PA., what a picture!!!!

Jim Tighe would really have loved this one. Photo credit to the Fort Wayne Railroad Histroical Society.