Photos from 2003:

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?d ... NKP624.jpg
http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?d ... KP624b.jpg

Wasn't there a plan by some excursion operator a few years back to buy 624 and move it out of the park?

great looking locomotive, thatnks for sharing.

The locomotive looks much worse today.

Apparently, at some point, a gent by the name of Ray Kammerer was going about purchasing the engine, but when he tried to find a place to restore/shop/run it, there was no museum or society or operation that would indulge in partial ownership with the engine. Since this was the case, I do not believe the deal every met finalization. This comes to me from a source in Hammond, where in the past it seems that no one wants to let the locomotive leave, but little is able to be done to make sure it doesn't fall apart in the meanwhile.

However, there are a few interested people from the Nickel Plate Historical and Technical Society trying to ascertain the physical/mechanical condition of the engine in an effort to at least stabilize it's steady deteriotation and see whether it would even be fit for removal/restoration, and whether or not the political climate in Hammond would be agreeable to such terms. If anything, the engine needs to be stabilized before anybody talks about moving it, at least in theory.

I'm suppose to get on a commuter train from Chicago soon to see this locomotive in person and I finally have access to the fence, so I'll report back on my findings if so desired.

A great potential home would be Frankfort, Indiana if they are able to get their roundhouse/museum up and running.

Kelly Lynch

How does she compare in size, to other NKP locos? There has been talk about improving her position since the 60's, but nobody is able to pony up the cash to bring her out. My recollection is, the local politicos narrowly agreed that she wasn't getting better, and letting her go would be the brave thing to do. In Ziel's "Twilight of Steam Locomotives", the quote ascribed to a local NRHS chapter leader was, "Two hundred tons of junk".
You can't expect an outfit like th 765 owners to undretake a second large locomotive project, but wouldn't it be beautiful to see her leading the Berk? Don't slap me, it's just a dream.

You're not the only one dreaming, Richard.

Lynch

Did this engine run with that big tender? It looks to be a tender off a berk and I seem to remember the 587 was fitted with a big tender when it was put on display. I do not remember the whole story behind the tender swap but I think it caused a few added wrinkles during the initial restoration. Of coure they loved it once the engine hit the mainline.

John Bohon

John,

I believe 587 swapped tenders with sister engine 639 in Bloomington, Illinois. I also think that 587 got the 639's whistle, as the first one was quite the screamer.

Kelly-

A couple of comments if I may. Ray's last name is Kammer. Ray has been involved in a number of tourist railroad operations through the years, including the Indiana Erie, the Western Maryland Scenic and currently is involved in running excursions up in Michigan and over in northeastern Indiana.

As for finding a "partner" to "share ownership", I don't believe Ray ever approached our museum about such an arrangement, and we are probably the closest museum to Hammond and have a number of pieces of Nickel Plate Road rolling stock.

Finally, I recently looked over the roundhouse in Frankfort, and although I think it would make a great NKP railroad museum location, the actual building itself is in extremely poor shape and would take major monies to restore.

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

Richard:

The 765 has already doubleheaded with a NKP 2-8-2; the 587. I believe the occassion was a NRHS Convention in Chicago. The two locomotives ran an excursion from the old NKP Calumet yard on Chicago's south side out to Fort Wayne I believe. Somewhere I have some photos. Perhaps someone can come up with the date that this happened.

Les

Les is right. It was 1993.

EDIT: date solidified.

I agree with you, and a friend says there is some real effort happening this time:

The effort to save the Franfort roundhouse is being overseen by the
Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust,Inc.
259 E. Walnut St.
Frankfort, IN 46041
765-654-5507, fax 765-654-9592
the-roundhouse@excite.com

-Kelly

Kelly,

Do you know when and why the 587 recieved the tender off 639? Also getting back to my original question, do you know if the tender behind 634 is the original. Well, at least the last one it used in service. I highly doubt 634 was built with that large a tender.

John Bohon

John,

I don't know if there's anyone from the Indiana Transportation Museum on RYPN, but from what I understand the the NKP ordered twenty-five 22RA tenders to put behind several of their Mikados (perhaps during WWII?) 587 was ordered by the USRA, built by Baldwin, and put to work on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad before it was absorbed into the Nickel Plate. Also, the 22RAs are not the same kind of tenders the Berkshire had, while they look very similar.

I found myself mistaken while looking at the photos of 587 while she sat on display in Broadripple Park. However, I do seem to recall some story about swapping tenders...I believe the NKP made their own last minute modifications on park engines, which COULD have included tender swapping, among other things. The 587 was retired with a 13RA tender, which means that the NKP could have switched things up a bit right before the engine was donated.

624, a Lima product for the NKP, could have easily been given this tender during WWII (as one of the twenty-five ordered.) Since I don't know the year of construction for the 624, I can't fathom a better guess. Perhaps someone else may.

I think ITM also has another tender on their roster. Don't know if this is a water bottle that was passed around from NS during their steam days or not.

-Kelly

Kelly:

Number 624 was built by Lima in October of 1922 (s/n 6314).

Les