I've made several trips to the Conneaut Railroad Museum in nearby Conneaut Ohio in recent years. Even days when they aren't open, just to have the company of Nickel Plate Road S2 2-8-4 Berkshire no. 755, as CSX and Norfolk Southern pass through. I first discovered this museum in 2004 when I visited Conneaut for a behind the scenes tour of the P&C Dock Company. I first visited the museum in 2008. And began to frequently visit the museum in 2015.
I cannot speak higher words of praise for one of the best Railroad museums in the Rust Belt. This museum, founded in the 1960's has done an incredible job of maintaining and displaying its collection. They recently redid their lighted display of the Nickel Plate Road's system map. The 755 has been well maintained and was repainted in 2019. They also display a refurbished Bessemer and Lake Erie caboose and hopper car. The primary focus of this museum is the Nickel Plate Road, the Bessemer and Lake Erie, the P&C Docks, and the New York Central. The cab of the 755 is in pristine condition, with mannequins posing as the Engineer and Fireman. 755, built in August of 1944, is the oldest of the six preserved Nickel Plate Road Berkshires.
The Nickel Plate Road choose Conneaut as the site of a major locomotive terminal. These facilities would include two roundhouses that performed Class 3 repairs. It was the site of the restoration of Nickel Plate Road 759 in 1968. It was a Conneaut Resident, George Hulett, who invented the steam operated Hulett system to load and unload commodities on Great Lakes Ports, namely Coal and Iron Ore. Lost to history were plans by Andrew Carnegie and late Edgar Speer to construct a massive Steel plant east of Conneaut. And in 1953, three trains on the Central piled up east of town killing nearly two dozen people. This destroyed a large portion of the Central's E7 fleet and necessitated the return to service of several Hudson's. There is an incredible amount of railroading history in Conneaut and I highly recommend a visit to everyone in our community.
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