Nickel Plate Road 765 Informations

Nickel Plate Road 765 is a 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built for the Nickel Plate Road in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. Classified as a "S-2" class Berkshire, the locomotive operated fast, heavy freight and passenger trains until retirement in 1958. It is also similar in design to Pere Marquette 1225, also built by Lima.

Following a restoration in 1979 and after a major overhaul in 2005, 765 operates in public exhibition and passenger excursion train service. It is owned and maintained by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society (FWRHS) and listed to the National Register of Historic Places on September 12, 1996.

At the turn of the 20th Century, railroads faced a surmounting problem: an increase in traffic and limited steam technology. Railroads commonly relied on drag freights with engines that could pull heavy tonnage but at low speeds. Following experiments with existing designs, Lima Locomotive Works developed a new wheel arrangement to accommodate an increase in the size of the locomotive's firebox. An increase in the firebox size allowed more coal combustion and subsequent heat output, improving the amount of steam developed and increasing horsepower. These and other modifications created the concept of "horsepower at speed" or "Super-power" in Lima's parlance.

In 1925, this "Super-power" technology was successfully realized in a prototype designated the A-1, which was tested in the Berkshire Mountains of the Boston and Albany Railroad, thus earning the common name of the locomotive type. The 2-8-4 design was quickly adopted by the New York Central, Erie Railroad, Illinois Central, Pere Marquette, Boston and Maine, and Chesapeake and Ohio, and the Nickel Plate Road.

The Nickel Plate Road was able to eventually employ 80 Berkshires on high-speed freight and passenger trains with the first order (designated S Class) 15 were supplied by the American Locomotive Works (ALCO) in 1934 based on Lima's design. Eight years later, Lima began producing three more sub-classes, which differed from the S class in little more than weight. Class S-1 (715–739) in 1942, class S-2 (740–769) in 1944, and class S-3 (770–779) in 1949. As a group, these engines were referred to as the "Seven Hundreds."

An additional number of Berkshires (S-4 class) were acquired when the Nickel Plate Road leased the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad in 1949. As a direct result of the Berkshire class, the railroad earned a reputation for high-speed service, which later became its motto.

No. 765's construction was completed on September 8, 1944.

765 was first assigned to Bellevue, Ohio, where it was used primarily on the Nickel Plate's fast freight trains. After World War II, the locomotive worked primarily out of a classification yard in the east side of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Its final revenue run came on June 14, 1958, when 765 was activated to supply steam heat to a stranded passenger train that December, it became the last Nickel Plate Road Berkshire under steam.

As evidence of their reputation, Fort Wayne's The News-Sentinel remarked in a June 7 article that "the Nickel Plate's massive Berkshires – steam engines that look like an engine should – have always been the special pets of Fort Wayne and area rail buffs. But not for long. The famed Berkshires carved an enviable record in railroad history and were the most colorful engines in this part of the country. On the Nickel Plate they were just as economical as diesel power, but the Berkshires are giving up in the inevitable face of progress."

Though the Berkshires had competed with encroaching diesel-electric technology, they were largely retired by 1958 and kept in "stored serviceable" condition by the railroad. Traffic reduction and the acquisition of new diesel locomotives would keep the locomotives mothballed, stored outdoors, and scrapped by 1964.

Due to its mechanical condition and favorable reputation among local crews, Nickel Plate maintained the 765 indoors until 1961. In a move to honor the success of Fort Wayne's "Elevate the Nickel Plate" project, the city requested S-2 No. 767 for display in Lawton Park in recognition of it being the first ceremonial train to open the overpass. Following a mid-50s wreck and storage outdoors after 1957, no. 767 proved to be in deteriorated condition.

After switching the numbers, the railroad donated the locomotive to the city on May 4, 1963 for display at 4th and Clinton Streets. A plaque commemorating the occasion read: "Nickel Plate Road Berkshire No. 767, used to break ribbon at dedication of track elevation on October 4th, 1955, donated by the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad company to the City of Fort Wayne as a monument to a great period in the development of our country – the era of steam railroading."

In September 1971 at the annual convention of the Nickel Plate Historical and Technical Society, Wayne York, Glenn Brendel, and Walter Sassmannshausen, Jr. met to discuss forming a group to cosmetically restore former Nickel no. 765/767 and Wabash no. 534, another locomotive that had been installed for display in Swinney Park in 1957.

By November 1972, York, Brendel, Sassmannshausen, and John Eichman signed incorporation papers for the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Inc.

By 1973, FWRHS undertook a 25-year lease of 765/767 and in 1974 moved the engine to New Haven, Indiana to begin what was now a restoration to operation. On October 25, the locomotive was returned to its original number and restoration officially began.

From 1975 to 1979, 765 was restored to operating condition at the corner of Ryan and Edgerton Roads in New Haven. The restoration site lacked conventional shop facilities and protection from the elements, but on September 1, 1979 the 765 made its first move under its own power.

Later that winter it ran under its own power to Bellevue and Sandusky, Ohio for heated, indoor winter storage. In spring of 1980, 765 underwent a series of break-in runs and its first public excursion, making 765 the first mainline steam locomotive to be restored and operated by an all volunteer non-profit.

The popularity of restoring and operating steam locomotives on the general railroad system as marketing tools increased with Class 1 and regional railroads in the decades after steam was retired. Before its merger with Norfolk and Western Railway, the Southern Railway, following firebox problems with its former Chesapeake and Ohio 2716, another 2-8-4 steam locomotive, leased the 765 in 1982 for a series of successful trips that would pave the way for Norfolk Southern to develop its own steam program with larger, mainline locomotives like 4-8-4 (Northern) Norfolk and Western No. 611.

In the 1980s, the locomotive appeared in the movies Four Friends and Matewan, and became an annual attraction in the New River Gorge operating the New River Trains from 1985 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1993. These trips regularly saw the 765 with over 30 passenger cars traveling a 300-mile (480 km) round trip during peak fall color season with passengers from around the world. In 1985, the FWRHS obtained ownership of 765.

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