This morning Matt Melzer and I went to Bob Evans where I had French Toast and pork sausage patties. We went by Randy's motel but he was not feeling well so some friends would take him to Train Festival 2009 later today. Matt and I drove to Owosso and I left him to meet Bob and Elizabeth in line again to board the last all-day trip at Train Festival 2009 behind Nickel Plate 765.
Nickel Plate Railroad 765 History
Nickel Plate Railroad 2-8-4 765 built by Lima in 1944. It was one of the Berkshire fleet known for its "superpower" technology and aesthetic charm. Once a fast-freight and passenger engine for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad - more commonly known as the Nickel Plate Road - the 765 is now a celebrated icon of American innovation and goodwill ambassador. Powered exclusively by volunteers as part of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's educational programs, the locomotive has been restored to the way it looked and sounded when it was originally built.
The plaque, mounted on the tender of 767/765, explaining the locomotive's preservation in 1963 as a "monument to a great period of development in our country -- the era of steam railroading." In the 1940's and 50's, the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana and the Nickel Plate Road sustained an interesting love-hate relationship. The iron roadbeds of the Nickel Plate, New York Central, Wabash and Pennsylvania railroads surrounded Fort Wayne. The Nickel Plate was nestled within the city; its West Wayne Yards were only blocks from downtown. The railroad's busy route on the northern end of the city kept Fort Wayne from expanding and persisted to displease motorists, who were constantly held up by the trains. Fort Wayne had already dealt with the problems inherent with ground level roadbed, as the Pennsylvania and Wabash to the south had elevated their tracks decades prior. To the north, a heated battle between the railroad and city ensued for years, with citizens chanting, "Elevate the Nickel Plate!"
With ground broken in 1947, the elevation of the Nickel Plate Road began in 1953 and ended in 1955 with a formal celebration that saw Nickel Plate Berkshire 767 parade across the elevated tracks, breaking a ribbon among station platforms crowded with spectators. A less informal event had been held some time before, when Nickel Plate Berkshire 765 became the first actual train to traverse the new rails. After earning the reputation as the "best of the west end" on the Fort Wayne Division, Berkshire 765 had been stored during its retirement in the enginehouse of the Nickel Plate Road in Fort Wayne. At the end of the steam era, several of the eminent Nickel Plate Berkshires locomotives were stored at the Nickel Plate's relatively new East Wayne yards, which had replaced the cramped quarters of the more urban West Wayne. Both 765 and 767 were among the sleeping sisters in the engine house and after sufficient slumber, 765 was fired up in 1958 to supply heat to a stranded passenger train in Fort Wayne. As other steam locomotives were scrapped, the engine would be saved at the request of the city that had once demanded the trains off the streets.
The City had asked for 767, but 765 proved to be in much better cosmetic and mechanical condition and, unlike other engines on the Nickel Plate, had been stored indoors for several years. During an inspection, 765 was deemed to be an ideal candidate for donation to the City of Fort Wayne. The roundhouse was asked to quietly change the locomotives' numbers and 765 -- renumbered as 767 -- was placed on display in Lawton Park within sight of the Nickel Plate elevation in May 1963. The real 767 was scrapped in Chicago in 1964. Fort Wayne's engine became a downtown showpiece, but after years of exposure to the elements, a group of local enthusiasts formed the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society to secure the locomotive for restoration. Seven days shy of the locomotive's 35th birthday on September 1st, 1979, 765 moved under its power for the first time in twenty-one years. The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society had become the first non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in the world to restore and operate a mainline steam locomotive.
After a series of test runs on the Toledo, Peoria & Western in 1980, 765 would begin its rise to stardom as a fan trip favorite. Leased by the Southern Railroad for 22 trips in 1982, the locomotive earned its stripes on routes through mountainous terrain and rocketed across the midwest in later excursions out of Chicago, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, New York, to name a few. 765's reach extended as far east as New Jersey and south to Georgia, and found a calling on the head-end of the New River Trains through West Virginia, carrying behind it the longest passenger train excursions in history. Throughout the 1980's and early 90's, the FWRHS successfully partnered with CSX, New Jersey Transit and Norfolk Southern. 765 was also seen in the company of other locomotives such as Nickel Plate 587 and Norfolk & Western "Northern" 611 and their respective caretakers.
For 14 years, the locomotive proudly displayed the sights, sounds and smells of a bygone era of railroading, accumulating over 52,000 miles service entertaining and educating hundreds of thousands. In 1993, the 765 entered the shop for a complete overhaul that has since returned the engine to the condition it was in when it was first constructed. In 2005, a freshly rebuilt 765 left the restoration shop, on its way to make railroad history once again.
The Trip
Nickel Plate Road 765 pulled into the boarding area with a consist of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 765, Milwaukee Road Skytop observation "Cedar Rapids" 800040, Milwaukee Road "Super Dome" 800862, New York Central 3 "Portland" 800084, Great Lakes Central coach 5447, Friends of 261 coach "Lake Pepin" 800799, Friend of 261 coach "St. Paul Pass" 800798, Milwaukee Road baggage car 2450 800287, former VIA concession car 762, Steam Railroading Institute MSTX 1363 "William Berkompas", Friends of 261 coach "Arizona" ATAX 800861, Friends of 261 coach NSR 202 "Wenonah" 800261, Steam Railroading Institute coach Canadian National 5226, Steam Railroading Institute coach Canadian National 5228, open air coaches Ohio Central 705 and 704 and Steam Railroading Institute tool car MSTX 462 "Mark Holton".
After the first class passengers boarded, the train was moved up and the three of us boarded the other former Canadian National coach 5228.
View of Train Festival 2009.
At 9:53 AM, the steam train departed Owosso for Alma for the second day in a row.
The line that Little River 110 took us out on Friday.
Not only did we have train chasers and photographers on the ground, but a helicopter was following our train.
Rolling across the Michigan countryside.
A farm along our route.
Clouds were building and I thought we have more rain later today.
Chasers getting back into their cars to get to their next photo location.
Fields with trees always interest me.
The corn was growing high this summer.
Interesting clouds.
Another barn along our route.
Trees and clouds.
Those clouds were getting darker as we made our way northwest towards Alma.
Chasers and that helicopter.
More fields.
Snow ploughs awaiting their winter duties.
Barn and white barns.
The horses were unfazed by our train.
The cemetery across from the park in Ithaca where photo runby occur on the return trips.
Scenes on the way to Alma.
A red barn.
The Pine River.
One leg of the Alma wye before we arrived in Alma. I would again remain on the train to save our seats but would get off to take some pictures.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 765. I returned to the train and had a pair of Milwaukee Road 261 hot dogs.
The steam engine reversed the train towards the wye for a repeat of yesterday's wyeing.
Through the trees, Nickel Plate Road 765 came down the northeast leg of the wye.
The steam engine proceeding to the switch and then would reverse to the point of our train.
The Pine River as we reversed to the boarding area.
A VIA Rail poster in our coach. The rain then poured forth for the heavens just as the passengers returned. Would our photo runbys get rained out? We departed at 2:30 PM and it stopped raining just before we left.
The leg of the wye that I photographed the steam engine on a little while ago.
The clouds darkened and rain was horizontally falling just before we reached Ithaca. We slowed, stopped then everyone detrained for the photo runbys.
The sun was out for reverse move one.
A sunny photo runby one.
Reverse move two.
A cloudy photo runby two.
Reverse move three.
A rainy photo runby three.
Reversing the train up so we could reboard.
Nickel Plate Road 765 took the curve at Ithaca and I bought a Nickel Plate 765 T-shirt.
Some people just cannot handle an all-day steam trip, but we all know I can! The train returned to Owosso, ending the final trip of Train Festival 2009. A special thank you to all involved in putting this great event together! I walked onto the grounds for my final pictures.
Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449 built by Lima in 1949.
Pere Marquette Railroad 2-8-4 1225 built by Lima in 1941. The largest and most impressive piece in the Steam Railroading Institute's collection, it is one of the largest operating steam locomotives in Michigan. The locomotive was used for ten years between Detroit, Toledo, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Chicago; hauling fast freight for the products of Michigan factories and farms, including war material when Detroit was the "Arsenal of Democracy", producing huge volumes of vehicles, aircraft and armaments. The Pere Marquette Railway merged with the Chesapeake and Ohio in 1947, but the 1225 continued in service until its retirement in 1951 in favour of diesel locomotives.
In 1957, the locomotive was saved with the help of Forest Akers; Dodge Motors' Vice President and Michigan State University Trustee, who saw it as a real piece of machinery for Engineering students to study. Displayed as an icon of the steam era, it sat at MSU until 1969, when a group of students took an interest in the locomotive. The Michigan State University Railroad Club was formed at that time with the ambitious goal of restoring 1225 and using it to power excursion trains that would bring passengers to football games at the university. In 1982, under the newly-evolved Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation Inc, the donated locomotive was moved to the former Ann Arbor Railroad steam backshop in Owosso where the restoration continued until 1985 when it moved under its own power for the first in 34 years.
Nickel Plate 2-8-4 765 and Little River 4-6-2 110.
Train Festival 2009 scene.
Nickel Plate 2-8-4 765.
Little River Railroad 4-6-2 110 built by Baldwin in 1911, weighs about 58 tons and is the smallest Pacific built for a standard gauge railroad. It wass custom-built for the original Little River Railroad in Townsend, Tennesse and ran until 1939 in what is now Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The engine hauled log trains from the forest to the lumber mill. In 1940, the engine was sold to the Smoky Mountain Railroad until the 1950's then in the 1960's, the it was abandoned in Shook's Gap, Tennessee. In 1972, the engine was purchased by the current Little River Railroad in Coldwater, Michigan where it has run longer than in regular service.
Little River Railroad 0-4-0 1. Not too much is known about this engine, including when it was exactly built, although the frame and wheels were built in 1908. It is most likely a combination of numerous locomotives of its type and was purchased from the LaPorte County Steam Historical Society in LaPorte, Indiana in 2000 and after three years of restoration, made its first run in over 35 years in 2004. It serves as a back up to Little River 4-6-2 110 at the Little River Railroad in Coldwater, Michigan.
Viscose Company 0-4-0 6 built by Baldwin in 1924 for the American Viscose Company in Roanoke, Virginia In the early 1960's, it was sold to the Gem City Iron & Metal Company in Pulaski, Virgina. In September 2004, it was purchased by Scott Symans of Dunkirk, New York and went through a three-year restoration to operating condition. Viscose Company 6 has been operated on the New York & Lake Erie Railroad out of Gowanda, New York on several occasions, as well as on the Lorain & West Virgina Railway in Wellington, Ohio.
Scene on the grounds.
Great Lakes Central GP35 391, ex. Tuscola and Saginaw Bay 391, nee Ann Arbor Railroad 391 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1964.
Flagg Coal Company 0-4-0 75 was steaming around the grounds on its track. Owned by John and Barney Gramling of Indiana, it is a 40 ton saddle tank locomotive built by Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvnia in 1930. The 75 went into service in December 1930 as Flagg Coal Company 2 in Avoca, PA where it was used as a switch engine. In 1935 it was sold to the Solvay Process Co. in Jamesville, NY and renumbered 75. There, it was used to push four-wheel hopper cars from the steam shovel to the crusher at the rock quarry. In the early 1950's the Solvay Process Co. disbanded their railroad operation in favour of trucking and in 1953, No. 75 and twelve other locomotives were sold to Dr. Groman and his planned Rail City Museum in Sandy Pond, New York. There, the locomotive sat untouched until 1991 when John and Byron Gramling purchased it with the intent to restore it to operating condition. The father-son duo painstakingly disassembled the locomotive, moved it to their shop in Ashley, Indiana and over the course of the following ten years returned it to service, completing it in October 2001. Since then, the steam engine has since travelled as far as Florida, Michigan and North Carolina as a living, breathing ambassador of American steam railroading.
Central Pacific 4-4-0 63 "Leviathan", a replica built by David Kloke to the same standard and patterns of the original 1868 Schnectedy Locomotive Works engine. Train Festival 2009 was the debut of this steam engine.
Flagg Coal Company 75 on the turntable.
Great Lake Central engine facility.
Turntable scene.
Little River Railroad 4-6-2 110.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 765.
The tank engines made their way to the turntable.
Little River Railroad 4-6-2 110.
My last picture of Nickel Plate 765. I went to the vendor tent and helped Matt and Randy pack up their display then Matt then found one of the volunteers who had a small tractor and wagon who took the items out to the bridge while Matt brought the car around and once we had loaded everything, departed the Steam Railroading Institute grounds at 6:15 PM, ending our part in Train Festival 2009. We returned to Flint.
The courthouse in Corunna. We stopped to get dinner at Arby's then back at the Super 8, I worked the rest of the evening on the stories.
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