Join the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and Nickel Plate Road no. 765 for steam-powered passenger excursions in North Judson, Indiana at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum and in Owosso, Michigan as part of TrainFestival 2009.

These excursions mark a significant milestone in no. 765’s history. After a sixteen year absence from the mainline the locomotive, fully restored after a five year rebuild that ended in 2005, will reprise her role as passenger excursion train motive power and goodwill ambassador.

Beginning Memorial Day Weekend, no. 765 will operate on the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad as a guest of the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, culminating over a years worth of planning and preparation that will see two recipients of Indiana’s Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century combine forces for the enjoyment of the public.

These trips will operate on a historic rail line that was preserved by a $1.5 million dollar Transportation Enhancement grant in 2004. Awarded by the state of Indiana to the Town of North Judson, the grant was instated to preserve the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum and promote economic development in the area.

One of only a handful of historic operating steam locomotives in existence today, Nickel Plate Road locomotive no. 765, built in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works, has operated over 52,000 miles in passenger excursion service since being originally rehabilitated in 1979 after being retired and put on public display in 1963.

In 2001, the project to completely rebuild the locomotive was awarded $449,500 by a TEA-21 grant which covered nearly 80% of the total restoration costs. Following a series of test runs in 2006, no. 765 has returned to operation for public exhibition and excursions as part of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s mission to preserve and make railroad history.

2-hour long roundtrips will operate three times daily May 23rd-May 25th at 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM Central Standard (Daylight Savings) Time between North Judson and LaCrosse, Indiana.

On June 20th and 21st, no. 765 will pull the Mint Festival Flyer during North Judson’s Annual Mint Festival between North Judson and LaCrosse, Indiana. Trains depart daily at 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM Central Standard (Daylight Savings).

All trips departing North Judson will feature special photo runs for passengers to enjoy the sights and sounds of the historic steam era.

Tickets for these trips are on sale now at http://www.765.org and 260-493-3885. After April 13th, tickets may also be purchased on Saturdays from 9AM-3PM local time at the North Judson railroad depot 507 Mulberry Street, North Judson, Indiana 46366 or on Saturdays from 1PM to 3PM local time at the TrainTown Museum, 15808 Edgerton Road, New Haven, Indiana.

In July, no. 765 will travel to Owosso, Michigan to star in the nation’s largest railroading event of the year as it and seven other historic steam locomotives operate in public exhibition and recreational passenger service. The 765 will be on live-steam static display July 24th and 25th and operate a day-long passenger excursion on July 26th.

This one's for real, not a late April Fool's joke, right?

Bob - I can tell you that it is NOT an April Fool's joke. Our Board has been working with the Ft. Wayne Railroad Historical Society for over a year on bringing the 765 to North Judson.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, IN)

I was just about postive it was legit, but after all the rumors of everything but a GG1 powered by Duracell Batteries going to Trainfest, I just wanted to verify.

I've posted the press release over at RailroadForums.com

Thanks Bob. Appreciate it very much.

Les

Darn! You leaked my plan!

No, my layman's impression is that Trainfest is about three things: steam, Steam and STEAM. Anything electric would be, at best, an obstruction to camera angles.

Darn! You leaked my plan! Heh, OK it's not my plan for a GG1, but a different engine... but it could work for a GG1...

No, my layman's impression is that the way Trainfest is shaping up, it's about three things: steam, Steam and STEAM. An electric... anything? Nobody would even realize it was there :)

There's a lot of buzz surrounding 765's journey to North Judson. It will be a real pleasure to ride behind her this coming May! Get your tickets: http://www.765.org

Here's a photo of 765 in New Haven - it will be really neat to replicate this scene at our museum: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=211488

NEW HAVEN, IN - The historic passenger train that will travel behind landmark steam locomotive no. 765 this summer to North Judson, Indiana has arrived at the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s shop.

Comprising the nine car train on loan from the Ohio Central Railroad are vintage coaches that once served passengers on the Canadian National Railroad and VIA Rail, in addition to former Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy commuter cars that previously accompanied no. 765 in its original excursion career in the 1980s. The train consist includes air-conditioned and open window cars for passenger enjoyment and will be available for touring at the Society’s shop, 15808 Edgerton Road, New Haven, Indiana, 46774 on Saturdays 10AM-4PM EST. Photos and a tour of the train are also available online at http://www.765.org.

Nickel Plate Road locomotive no. 765, a 400 ton fast-freight steam engine originally built by the Lima Locomotive works in 1944 and completely rebuilt by the Society in 2005 after fifteen years of excursion service, will make its inaugural passenger excursion after traversing its former home rails from Fort Wayne at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Indiana and operate three times daily at 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM Memorial Day Weekend May 23rd, 24th, and 25th and again for North Judson’s Annual Mint Festival June 20th and 21st. Each two hour roundtrip will feature the sights and sounds of the historic steam railroading era and include a special photo-runby for passengers.

Tickets may be purchased at the following locations and will sell until departure times.

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum
Ticket Office
507 Mulberry Road
North Judson, Indiana
46366
Saturdays 9AM-3PM (CST)
Tickets may be purchased at anytime
May 23-25 until departure time

Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society Ticket Office
15808 Edgerton Road
New Haven, Indiana
46774
Saturdays 1PM-3PM (EST)
260-493-3885
http://www.765.org/excursions.html

NKP 765 arrived safe and sound in North Judson today! Here's one of the vidoes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n0diuw62WA

Just back from Indiana and a nice ride behind NKP 765.

From the Chicago NW burbs, a relatively quick/easy trip to make (despite the traditional summer highway construction season in full swing). Was a bit difficult to find where to go in North Judson, mostly due to my typical "I'll find it when we get there" way of doing things. As with any steam oriented function, I relied on the tried and true method,, look for the black smoke in the sky. Either you'll find the train, or a sizeable fire !

We had tickets for the 1 PM trip. Got there roughly an hour prior to departure. Having not been to North Judson previously, quite a few things to see. (Personal side note, I was a bit dismayed to see a couple of ex IC/Metra bi-level electric commuter cars. Now clearly these folks aren't ever going to operate these cars, so I have to wonder the logic of getting a couple of really big cars that occupy a lot of track space and will at a minimum, need cosmetics to keep them at least semi-presentable. So many other things to spend time and money on, this sort of thing never makes sense to me, just one man's opinion)

In any event, things seemed fairly well organized, I didn't see any signs of any problems and the train crew was both helpful and knowledgeable. Train loaded at 12:30, we departed right on time at 1 PM for the trip north to LaCrosse. (NKP 765 pulling on the north trip, with a diesel on the south end providing the power for the return trip) Overheard from one of the car hosts that there was a wye available, but the clearances were a bit too close to take chances with, so this was the operating solution. Nice train of Ohio Central coaches, two open window, the rest sealed window coaches that had the AC working :-) Clean, comfortable, just a nice afternoon ride.

Slow running, I would guesstimate 10-15 mph. The trip to LaCrosse isn't that far, call it 10-12 miles as the crow flies. Pulled into LaCrosse, and anyone of interest (Estimate about 95%) could get off and be part of the photo line set-up. Train backs-up around a curve just before town, and then pulled back in for the photo-run. Everyone back on-board, and then a run back to North Judson.

By no means a criticism, but would love to see this engine running at high speed, ala the Milw 261 trips. This is an engine that would really be great to see hitting it's stride. Perhaps another time, another place. All in all, a nice afternoon, very pleasant folks, and a great engine back in steam again.

Thanks to everyone at the Hoosier Museum and the Ft Wayne Historical Society, kudos for a truly great job done.

Have a few early pics of the day available for anyone interested in looking on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19332706@N ... 690991466/

North Judson IN. Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum

John Cloos. The NKP 765 group has done the best to provide a nice excursion
train. I too would like to see it run at speed, but track conditions keep the
speed down to 15 mph.

The Metra cars were acquired for free and movement was paid for by a
member of HVRM. Adapter couplers have been acquired and when installed
these cars will be used on our tourist train in the summer. Plans are being
made for windows being removed and air will be circulate thru the car.
The cars are in excellent shape, roof/body and the inside seats are very
comfortable.

Everything you saw at North Judson was acquired and volunteer workers
since 1988 have put down every foot of track, built every structure,
and worked very hard on restoration of diesels and cabooses for a tourist
train. The signals are all working and will soon be controlled from the
Grasseli tower that was reassembled on Thursday 21 May. Over 40 thousand
dollars were donated for movement of this structure and someday will be
restored to it former glory when it was new.

Hoosier Valley is a great museum and it just keeps getting better every day

One Man's Opinion

Tom Travis La Porte IN Restoration Dept

Tom,
No disrespect on any level was intended.
As noted it was quite a nice ride and an all around great experience.
The museum does have quite a nice collection, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

My assumption about the slower running was that it was based on track conditions as well as the relatively short run. Again, no disrespect intended on any level, but clearly running a locomotive as large as the 765 at speed requires top notch track conditions. Having said that, something is far better than nothing, and I look forward to seeing more progress at your fine operation in the coming years.

Once more, congratulations to all involved for a fine weekend of operations, looking forward to many more.