Steam & Excursion > A year ago today, with the NKP765

On July 23rd 2015 my son and I went out to catch the 765 on the ferry move over to Youngstown, OH. In Ashtabula we set up at the W 52nd St road crossing and waited for the train to head south. What happened next was a complete surprise, and for my 16 yr old son, who had never seen a "real" steam engine in service, it was the event of his railfan life. To this day he talks about it. It certainly is a shame we likely won't get to see the 765 operating in mainline excursion service near us any time soon.

Rob Bennett
Fairview, PA

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nkp746 Wrote:
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 > It certainly is a shame we likely won't get to see the 765 operating in mainline excursion service
> near us any time soon.

However, the 765 will be running on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in September.

Steam in the Valley



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/16 19:42 by RuleG.

What the heck was all the slipping about?

Who was the hoghead on that throttle?!! I've never seen anyone treat an engine like that in my life! You can bet the tires will need to be turned soon after that! I don't think it was Rich Melvin, was it?  

It was a heavy train, and I think the tight curve was improperly greased by a railroad employee.  I believe Gary Bensman was at the throttle, and Rich was on site helping out, including helping spread sand.  I don't believe anyone at the FWRHS was overly concerned about the situation.

An over-eager NS track worker greased the rails a little too much on this tight leg of the wye. In another video shot here by someone else, you can see me and a few other crewmen putting additional sand on the rail.

The drivers suffered no damage.

It delayed us about 20 minutes. It wasn't all that big a deal. 

Rich Melvin
Columbus, OH
My Web Site

Rich_Melvin Wrote:
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> An over-eager NS track worker greased the rails a
> little too much on this tight leg of the wye. In
> another video shot here by someone else, you can
> see me and a few other crewmen putting additional
> sand on the rail.
>
> The drivers suffered no damage.
>
> It delayed us about 20 minutes. It wasn't all
> that big a deal. 
​I'm happy it was not a big deal; however spinning those drivers sometimes puts extra wear on the tires.  I learned this when I was on a Reading Ramble Trip back in 1964 in speaking to an old retired engineer who ran those T-1's with heavy coal trains.  Sometimes even with their boosters on they would slip and sometimes it was from oil and grease on the rails along with rain.  But anytime an engine slips it does wear on the tires some is what I remember him telling me.  The 765 is one great locomotive and I know that the owners work very hard to maintain her.
John