"C&O
2765" Nickel Plate 2-8-4 Berk on the former P&LE, 1993
Masquerading as a C&O Kanawha, 765 charges eastbound towards
Pittsburgh
at Coraopolis on the former P&LE.
NKP #765 was put on display at Ft. Wayne's Lawton Park in 1963 as
"#767", but was pulled out for restoration in the 1970s, and clocked up
thousands of miles between 1979 and 1993. A rebuild began in 2001, and
today 765 is running again.
Among the more successful steam locomotives ever built, the 2-8-4
Berkshire class only appeared in the 1920s, but the Nickel Plate Road
kept theirs up until the end of steam in the late 1950s. The
2-8-4 arrangement resulted from the need to produce a larger version of
the 2-8-2 Mikado with a larger boiler and firebox, which meant that
four trailing axles needed to be used to cope with the additional
weight. the first 2-8-4s were built by Alco for the Boston &
albnay, and their use taking freights over the Berkshire Hills earned
them their name.
The Nickel Plate first bought Berkshires from Alco in the
1930s, these being enlarged versions of the C&O 2-10-4 Texas
type, which themselves were evolutions of Erie Berkshires. The fast,
powerful S-class Berks soon proved a success, and were followed up in
the 1940s for orders for S-1/2/3 class engines from Lima. the last of
these, #779, was completed in 1949, marking the end of steam locomotive
production by Lima.
NKP
Berkshire 757 walk-around, RR Museum of PA
Nickel Plate #757 was donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
in 1966 after the N&W takeover of NKP, and is seen here on
outside display
in 2006. 
Still
bearing the NYC & ST. L. lettering, but showing the effects of
the
Pennsylvania weather.
Tender truck detail
NKP
Berkshire 759, Steamtown at Scranton, PA
Having been a part of the Steamtown collection since1962,
NKP S-2 Berkshire #759 powered excursions under lease for a period in
the late 1960s
and early 1970s, but has been cold for over three decades after a
reflueing project was not completed. It is seen
here inside the Steamtown roundhouse at Scranton, PA
copyright
2009 Dataview Publishing