Conneaut RR Museum is home to NKP 755 and an incomparable collection of railroadiana, displayed very effectively. For a small town location, you shouldn't bypass this one. The morning we visited, two older women were managing the site. First task, after opening the museum, is to go out with a broom and remove spider webs from the Berkshire! These two ladies were very "proud of our Berkshire". The 755 has been recently painted and could use some oil and grease, although the engine did not appear to be suffering in any way. We were told that various parts were exchanged between 755 and other locomotives, so I'll assume 759 or 765. 755 looks like she's ready to roll today.
Located in the old NYC station, these women were well versed in the history of all the railroads which once ran through town. The Berk sits opposite some neatly kept residences, which, along with a fence, probably says a great deal for the condition of the displays.
I cannot give this museum accolades beyond stating it should be a destination if you love mid-west railroads.


Giving the spiders what for!

Dad and I visited there several years ago. The locomotive had some sheet metal rust, that appears to have been fixed since then. Overall, the locomotive looked well cared for, the museum and grounds was very clean, great artifacts, and friendly staff. Great place. And plenty of trains on the four tracks next to the museum.

In addition to the nicely kept NKP 755 this museum is home to what I believe to be the sole surviving B&LE "battleship" heavy duty hopper car. This series was notable in having double brake shoes at each wheel and a weight sensing device to tailor the brake cylinder pressure relative to the load aboard--typically iron ore going south and coal north on the Bessemer. Some of these trucks reappeared under later cars on B&LE but with the mounts for the outboard brake beams torched off.

Hi
Richard Excellent Photos !!!

755 was the donor of it's superheater tubes about 1981 to 765, which served that locomotive until it was withdrawn from service from 1993 to 2008. I believe in exchange for the superheaters, a significant amount of cosmetic restoration work was done to the 755 at that time.

Richard:
I was just up there visiting and spent about 3 hours looking over NKP 755. They have hired a welder who is patching the bad areas of the jacketing. From what I could see, he is doing an excellent job. For a park engine the condition is very good and well cared for. I agree, it would be great to see it oiled and lubed for further protection. I did note that there were several plugs missing from the top of the valves, allowing rust/water damage. Other than that, it's in great hands.

Kevin K.

When the FWRHS removed the superheater units from the 755 in 1981, we replaced the boiler jacket with new metal and painted it (after removing all the "industrial insulation"). That was the trade agreed to at that time. Even then, the 755 was very well taken care of. The Conneaut folks had sealed the jacket with roof pitch around all the sheet metal seams and any holes in the jacket. Even the pops were well sealed with pitch. The boiler shell was absolutely dry and had not a speck of rust on it anywhere. It was perfect.
Inside the firebox, in the combustion chamber, we found remnants of welding rods from seal welding the last set of new flues. Also, there were a copies of the local newspaper from May, 1958. The arch brick had never seen a fire. This loco and 759 were the last Berkshires shopped at Conneaut. Rebuilt and never run. The 755 does show a few details of not being 100% finished in the shops, but work was far enough along to finish reassembly and eventually put her on display.
Our jacket job has seen 36 years of Lake Erie weather and may need a few repairs.
But under that jacket, I'm sure that boiler shell remains very, very nice.