Steam Engine 765 Rolls Again
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Kathy [email protected]
The engine is the pride of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, which refurbished the 1940s train more than 30 years ago.
According to the society, the engine “is a high-stepping, 14-wheeled, magnificent machine that stands 15 feet tall, weighs 404 tons, goes over 60 miles an hour and restored to the way it looked and sounded when it was built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1944.
“The men and women of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society saved the 765 from becoming a rusting monument in a city park and restored it to operating condition in 1979.”
It made its way north through Warsaw on the old Nickel Plate road, a nickname given to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis rail company, according to train afficionado Fritz Martin of Columbia City. Martin has been following trains “since I was two,” he said.
The route followed the tracks from Fort Wayne west towards Claypool where it switched directions and headed north, making its way through Warsaw. From Goshen it went to Elkhart.
He said the no. 765 is an old Berkshire Nickel Plate locomotive that lay rusting on the east side of Fort Wayne until it’s revival by the historical society. The society website confirms this. It says, “Both no. 765 and no. 767 were among the sleeping sisters in the engine house and after sufficient slumber, the 765 was fired up in 1958 to supply heat to a stranded passenger train in Fort Wayne.”
Other steam locomotives were scrapped as newer, cheaper diesel-burning engines took over, said Martin. But that was not the fate of no. 765. This hulk of steel is used these days as a reminder of a bygone era of railroading,
Thursday it was on its way to Elkhart’s railroad yards for a Norfolk Southern employee event. Saturday and Sunday mornings the engine will carry employees as an employee appreciation event round-trip from Elkhart to Bryan, Ohio.[[In-content Ad]]
The engine is the pride of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, which refurbished the 1940s train more than 30 years ago.
According to the society, the engine “is a high-stepping, 14-wheeled, magnificent machine that stands 15 feet tall, weighs 404 tons, goes over 60 miles an hour and restored to the way it looked and sounded when it was built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1944.
“The men and women of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society saved the 765 from becoming a rusting monument in a city park and restored it to operating condition in 1979.”
It made its way north through Warsaw on the old Nickel Plate road, a nickname given to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis rail company, according to train afficionado Fritz Martin of Columbia City. Martin has been following trains “since I was two,” he said.
The route followed the tracks from Fort Wayne west towards Claypool where it switched directions and headed north, making its way through Warsaw. From Goshen it went to Elkhart.
He said the no. 765 is an old Berkshire Nickel Plate locomotive that lay rusting on the east side of Fort Wayne until it’s revival by the historical society. The society website confirms this. It says, “Both no. 765 and no. 767 were among the sleeping sisters in the engine house and after sufficient slumber, the 765 was fired up in 1958 to supply heat to a stranded passenger train in Fort Wayne.”
Other steam locomotives were scrapped as newer, cheaper diesel-burning engines took over, said Martin. But that was not the fate of no. 765. This hulk of steel is used these days as a reminder of a bygone era of railroading,
Thursday it was on its way to Elkhart’s railroad yards for a Norfolk Southern employee event. Saturday and Sunday mornings the engine will carry employees as an employee appreciation event round-trip from Elkhart to Bryan, Ohio.[[In-content Ad]]
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