STEAM RETURNS TO THE HOOSIER VALLEY

The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum is proud to announce the return of the famous Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive no. 765. The 765 will be powering a number of steam excursions this season in partnership with the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. These trips will be operating over the former Chesapeake & Ohio mainline between North Judson and LaCrosse, Indiana.

Trains will operate over the Memorial Day weekend (May 28th, 29th and 30th) with the Mint Festival Flyer running on Fathers Day weekend (June 18th and 19th). The Independence Limited will operate on July 2nd. Ticket prices start at $20 for children and $24 for adults.

NKP 765 successfully pulled more than 4,000 passengers at HVRM in 2009 and we expect this year to be even more successful, so buy your tickets early! Trains will operate at 10:00 am, 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm each day and passengers can choose from four classes of tickets: economy, coach, first class and The Steam Experience. The Steam Experience will give passengers the rare opportunity to ride behind 765 in an open-air car, where they can take in the sights, smells and sounds of the big Berkshire.

Some lucky people will actually have the opportunity to operate NKP 765 during our special “Throttle Time” event on Friday, June 17, 2011. For $765.00, guests will receive general instruction on railroad safety, locomotive firing and operation, and highball the 765 on the C&O mainline for an hour, spending 30 minutes on each side of the cab to learn what it takes to keep this magnificent machine running.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at 765@hoosiervalley.org. Please visit the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum website for more information.

The first day of sales has been extremely encouraging. Events like this are a preservation success story that bears repeating:

In late 2003, the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum was faced with a major dilemma - CSX had filed to abandon the remaining 33 miles of its Wabash Subdivision. This would have left HVRM without an outside connection to the world. HVRM stepped up to the plate and started fighting to preserve rail service across a three-county area, getting various local businesses and governments involved.

A $1.5 million dollar Transportation Enhancement Act grant was secured in 2004, enabling the Town of North Judson to become the owner of the railroad with HVRM utilizing the line for tourist operations and the Chesapeake & Indiana Railroad handling freight operations. The overall idea was to promote economic development in an area that was already economically depressed.

Nickel Plate Road no. 765 was restored in 1979 after being removed from Fort Wayne’s Lawton Park by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. The 765 has operated over 52,000 miles in excursion and passenger exhibition service. Following a massive rebuilding partially underwritten by a TEA grant, the overhaul renewed the 1944-built 765 into a living time machine and sensory experience, which is now the largest steam locomotive operating east of the Mississippi River.

In 2009, 4,000 passengers enjoyed the sights and sounds of the 765 in North Judson during the locomotive’s first passenger trips in sixteen years. This original set of trips took nearly two years of planning on the parts of both the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. The construction of a new interchange at Thomaston on the former Pere Marquette leg of the railroad permitted NKP 765 to arrive safely via Norfolk Southern. NS has been extremely kind to both of our organizations over the years and their part in making events like this possible cannot be overlooked.

When I look back at what HVRM itself has accomplished over the last decade, it absolutely amazes me at how much we have actually done. We saved a railroad, preserved several pieces of rolling stock, constructed an operating signal system, rebuilt two locomotives, moved Grasselli Tower and brought back steam to several communities that hadn't seen an operating steam engine in more than 30 years.

The preservation community, too often, tends to forget about all of the success stories that we have created for ourselves and focuses on those things that have been lost to the scrappers torch. Stories like ours are proof that preservation efforts can and do work.

Any ideas as to what appearance the 765 will be taking on this season?

I remember seeing last fall somewhere that the engine was going to take a more modern NKP look.

Thanks - and looking forward to these trips!

The locomotive will be in the "mid-modern" appearance as it ran between 1947 and 1951 - no curve tailed "R" on the tender, and it will carry NKP numerals in the flying number boards.

Any plans to add the oscillating headlight back to the front-end? Not totally sure when those were applied to the Berks, but I think that by 1950 they had them. I remember when it had that light in the early 80's, and it was neat to watch it coming at you at night with the light dancing off in the distance.

At a meeting today it was estimated that a new smokebox door would cost $4,500 - necessitated by drilling the mounting holes for the Mars light lest we punch new holes in a relatively brand new door.

While adding the Mars light in the future and finding a "stunt" door is possible, the locomotive will maintain its mid-NKP service look for now.

We are planning on adding back a second turbogenerator as a back up to reduce load on the equipment, which include the locomotive's new temperature sensors.

Can't run a Mars light without one of those...

So what limits the runs to 10 miles instead of 33? Or what would the maxium possible run be?

The speed limit - 15MPH for passenger operations.

Any further west than LaCrosse, Indiana is not classified for passenger operations. Any further north and you end up making a reasonable 2-hour turn around into 3 or more hours.

For moderately sized, moderately priced summer fare for the general public, this is nearly on the money.

About 1000 ties per mile. Currently, 15 miles of track is classified as class 1, 10 from North Judson to LaCrosse, and 5 miles north to Thomaston. The NS diamond is at Thomaston, and it's not worth running through the wye. At class 1, passenger speed is 15 mph. To go to class 2 trackage, we would have to install at least 200 ties per mile, and either go with registered block authority, or a dispatcher, as we share trackage with the designated operator.

Class 2 is a goal, but it will take some time to get there. Also, 90% of the current class 1 trackage is CWR, and that has even more rules when going over class 1.

Good to know, was just curious, when you guys say former mainline, I was wondering what was preventing a longer run at higher speed. I may try to wander over there for the last run, I will be in alaska traveling the Alaska state railroad and the white pass and yukon during the rest of your dates. I guess I will have to wait for the rumored chicago to quad cities run to see 765 stretch her legs

Why isn't it worth running the wye? Because of extra work for permission from NS? I thought the ability to turn a steam engine was gold given opportunity. So will the train be shoved back or run tender first

Insurance.



There's no way to turn the locomotive to orient west again once you're back in North Judson and turning on the wye adds another 15-20 minutes to the running time.

As Jason could offer, they have a turntable awaiting installation and property for wye where history once had one http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.220181,-86.770364&num=1&t=h&sll=41.21504,-86.77585&sspn=0.016788,0.032015&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=41.219933,-86.770792&spn=0.002716,0.005552&z=18

KL

Yes, we do have a 100' turntable on the property, awaiting installation. Here you can clearly see it in this photo of Grasselli Tower during its reassembly:



By the way, we have added a second NKP 765 Throttle Time date on Sunday, July 3rd since the first one sold out in the first few hours:

http://www.hoosiervalley.org/shop/guest ... -2011.html

I am sure that Bob would welcome any donations toward the installation of the turntable at HVRM. Then when the 765 comes back the NEXT time, we COULD turn it at both ends of the trip!

Les

Les, you would be correct!