BY STEVE “IT’S REALLY MORE OF AN NICKEL-ALLOY” BARRY/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
NICKEL PLATE ROAD NO. 765 made its much-anticipated return to the Keystone State during July and August 2015. Owned, restored, and operated by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society of Indiana, No. 765 has been given a chance to explore much of the northeast thanks to its use by Norfolk Southern in its 21st Century Steam program. The big Berkshire locomotive had run around Horseshoe Curve in 2013, and ever since then railfans yearned for the locomotive to come back to Pennsylvania. After completing successful runs across the Southern Tier line in New York State (see the October 2015 R&R), No. 765 ferried southward to Allentown, Pa., to prepare for its late summer schedule.
First up were trips northward from Allentown using both NS and Reading & Northern trackage to Pittston
in
anthracite country. On August 22 and 23, No. 765 pulled a 22-car consist north along the Lehigh River over NS to Jim Thorpe. North of Jim Thorpe, the train entered Lehigh Gorge and switched to the R&N; along the way the trip used a mixture of former Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central trackage. After the very successful Allentown trips, No. 765 moved to Scranton, Pa., for Labor Day weekend, running two trips to the Delaware Water Gap on the New Jersey border over former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western trackage. With a truncated 12-car consist, No. 765 easily
conquered the rugged Lackawanna, including Devil’s Hole where sister 759 stalled (and was forever commemorated on the very first cover of RAILFAN in 1974). No. 765 was also featured at Railfest hosted by Steamtown National Historic Site. Two additional trips out of Scranton, heading to Binghamton, N.Y., were scrapped when the sale of the southern end of the Delaware & Hudson from Canadian Pacific to NS was delayed — on trip day NS had yet to take possession of the railroad. Thus, following the Water Gap trips, No. 765 headed west to Ohio for its next adventure.
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