THE
NICKEL PLATE 765 VISITS MISSOURI
The weekend of September 8-9, 2012, Norfolk Southern
Railway leased the Fort Wayne Historical Society’s Nickel Plate 765 Steam
engine to pull four NS employee appreciation specials from the Berkeley Yard
underneath I-170 in the St. Louis Metro Area to a lttle north of Olde Towne St.
Peters, Missouri. The four trips over two days were packed with NS employee’s and their families. The 765 lead the excursions
west, then, stopped in St. Peter’s then the consist was pulled back to the yard
by both the Illinois Terminal and Wabash Heritage units that just had their
debut in July. Norfolk and Southern had leased two engines for their 150th
Anniversary tour. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s 630 pulled the
southern half of the tour and the 765 pulled the northern half. St. Peters was
as far west as the tour went. A great deal of railfans
travelled from all over to see the 765. The train also included cars leased
from Mid-American Railcar Leasing.
The first set of pictures is from the St. Peters,
Missouri, end of the line part of the excursions.
The NS Heritage units begin to
power up and head the train back east.
Here’s a shot of the NKP 765 being pulled backwards
to Berkeley, Missouri
Some of the railfans and
the people just wondering what all the people are standing around a railroad crossing
are doing.
We moved to St. Charles for the second set shots of
the morning.
You can see the detail lettering in
this picture. (N.Y.C.&ST.L)
The train did the same thing on Sunday,
I had some wanderings to do on Sunday. Read about that wandering next time.
So long, Happy Railwatching!
