Steam & Excursion > NKP 767 on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, operating as No. 767, wrapped up last Sunday two weeks of pulling excursions on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Northeast Ohio. The CVSR uses tracks owned by the National Park Service and runs primarily through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I made sure to be all over the visit of NKP 767 and I present some of my favorite images.I will start with photos made on Sunday, Sept. 25.

Photo 1: The 767 is running backward as it crosses the Cuyahoga River north of Peninsula, Ohio. In about a mile, the train will arrive at Boston Mill where the passengers will disembark and watch two photo runbys.

Photo 2: At Jaite after the photo runbys. The train went as far north as the CVSR Fitzwater maintenance yard.

Photo 3: Passing beneath the iconic concrete arch bridge carrying Ohio Route 82 over the Cuyahoga River valley at Brecksville.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 04:36 by SDP40F600.

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Photo 4: Crossing the Cuyahoga River south of Peninsula near Deep Lock Quarry. It is one of my favorite places to watch, listen to and photograph the Berkshire-type locomotive.

Photo 5: This was my last image of the 767 on the CVSR. It is just north of Bath Road.

Photo 6: Making the best of what I could do during one of the photo runbys at Boston Mill. That is a ski resort in the background.

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Photos 7 and 8 are both wide angle views. Photo 7 is at the south end of Jaite siding while Photo 8 is near Deep Lock Quarry. Just beyond the nose of the 767 is the towpath trail which runs alog the former Ohio & Erie Canal.

Photo 9: Running backwards with the afternoon trip along Riverview Road south of Peninsula. The trip originated in Akron.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 04:48 by SDP40F600.

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Photos 10 and 11 were both made of the first trip of the day from Rockside Road station in Independence (a Cleveland suburb) on Saturday, Sept. 24. The vantage point is from the East Pleasant Valley Road bridge over the CVSR tracks. 

Photo 12: On the north end of the excursion train for all trips was CVSR FPA-4 No. 6771, a former Canadian National and VIA Rail Canada diesel built by Montreal Locomotive Works. It is wearing a livery that the CVSR applied to it last spring. 

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Photos 13-14-15 were all made of the afternoon trip from Rockside Road station. The vantage point is the East Pleasant Valley Road bridge. Note that in the earlier sequence of images made in the morning it was cloudy. By afternoon the clouds had moved out and that is why I went back to Pleasant Valley Road.

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Photo 16: Executing a photo runby at Boston Mill late in the day on Saturday.

Photo 17: Cruising southboud through Everette.

Photo 18: The northbound return to Rockside Road meets the regular CVSR Scenic train at Peninsula. 

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Photo 19: I could not catch up with the southbound second run of the day south of Peninsula. So I waited at Indigo Lake for it to come back north.

Photo 20: The afternoon northbound trip is passing through Everette. The crossing is Everette Road.

Photo 21: Along Riverview Road. The train stopped twice to wait for the regular CVSR Scenic train to arrive in Peninsula. That enabled me to get ahead of it and into position to get photos 20 and 21. The Scenic train was running well behind schedule because it had a heavy load of passengers with bicycles. I was told that at one point the Scenic had 400 bicylists and their bike aboard. 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 04:51 by SDP40F600.

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Photo 22: The engineer of the NKP 767 during the photo runby at Boston Mill.

Photo 23: Passengers who did not disembark at Boston Mill for the photo runbys watch the trackside crowd.

Photo 24: Helping passengers disembark at Boston Mill.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 04:44 by SDP40F600.

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Photo 25: The last trip of Sept. 24 is returning to Rockside Road after doing the photo runbys at Boston Mill. It is closing in on 7 p.m. and the sun has gone behind the hills and trees except for one spot that is just south of this pond along Riverview Road. 

Photo 26: The crew of the NKP 767 during a photo runby at Boston Mill on Sunday, Sept. 18.

Photo 27: The train passing through Brecksville with the bridge over Chippewa Creek in the foreground and the Ohio Route 82 bridge in the background. Thanks for looking.

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She is starting to get a nice "used" look to her.  Suits her well.

Deep lock quarry was a great place to catch the train. I camped out by that bridge for the last run on Sunday. It sounded awesome coming out of Peninsula. The trees kind of tunnel the tracks there and it seemed to have an amplifying effect on the sound of the engine. Thanks for the tip!

Posted from Android

Oh would you look at that you got my best side in #19 :)

Posted from iPhone

Couple comments, the scenery is beautiful, didn't realize the line traversed that level of geography. Second comment
would be that the line seems to be in excellent shape, hardly your normal tourist line, and last, the 76X appears to be
right at home and great shots from everyone who posted, thanks.

Out

SDP40F600 Wrote:
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> Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, operating as No.
> 767, wrapped up last Sunday two weeks of pulling
> excursions on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad
> in Northeast Ohio. The CVSR uses tracks owned by
> the National Park Service and runs primarily
> through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I made
> sure to be all over the visit of NKP 767 and I
> present some of my favorite images.I will start
> with photos made on Sunday, Sept. 25.
>
> Photo 1: The 767 is running backward as it crosses
> the Cuyahoga River north of Peninsula, Ohio. In
> about a mile, the train will arrive at Boston Mill
> where the passengers will disembark and watch two
> photo runbys.
>
> Photo 2: At Jaite after the photo runbys. The
> train went as far north as the CVSR Fitzwater
> maintenance yard.
>
> Photo 3: Passing beneath the iconic concrete arch
> bridge carrying Ohio Route 82 over the Cuyahoga
> River valley at Brecksville.
>
>  

Excellent Photos !!!    Thank you for sharing them.

I worked for the CVSR for 5 years, Feb 1994 - July 1998 as their Education Director.  I was also an engineer and conductor.  I wish we had gotten a chance to run steam back then.

I'm an Oregon boy who really enjoyed his time living in Ohio.  The beautiful  Cuyahoga Valley is a well kept secret.

The closest thing we had was Thomas the Tank engine.  We had a Railfan Day in 1997 (?) and had a great turnout with 6 photo runbys.

Here's a picture of the train at Brecksville with the Route 82 viaduct in the background shortly after we removed a bunch of trees that blocked the view of the train prior to the Railfan day.  We did it with the National Park service's blessing and we actually had an NPS engineer go with us and supervise the tree removal.  We took a flat car full of trees out at this location.

I sure wish I could have been there this year,  Again thanks for sharing the great photos.

Nomosantafe
Portland, Oregon
"Pacific Wonderland"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/16 02:32 by nomosantafe.

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Thanks for everyone for the compliments about my photographs. The rails used by the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad are owned by the National Park Service, which as spent millions to upgrade the line and its infrastructure. There is welded rail and it is maintained well. It helps that it doesn't have heavy freight traffic pounding it. 

The railfan special on the CVSR mentioned by NomoSantafe was held on May 17, 1997. I was aboard that train and it was my first time to see and ride on the railroad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/16 02:54 by SDP40F600.

callum_out Wrote:
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"...Second comment would be that the line seems to be in excellent shape, hardly your normal tourist line..."

We could run 60 mph on the track, it's that good. The track is inspected to Class 2, which is 25 for freight and 30 for passenger but the track easily meets Class 3 standards, which is 40 mph for freight and 60 mph for passenger. 30 mph suits us fine because running faster would not give the passengers much of a "scenic" ride. It is 100% welded rail on very good ties, and the vast majority of it is 132 pound rail. That's a nice, big rail.

As was pointed out by the OP, the track is owned and maintained by the National Park Service. Their annual track budget is determined by how many people attend the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CUVA.) In 2015, 2,284,612 people attended that park. CUVA ranked 11th in attendance out of 59 national parks. Almost 200,000 of those peope rode CVSR trains last year! The CVSR is indirectly responsible for drawing many thousands more people to the park.

It's a very good working relationship, that's for sure.

Rich Melvin
CVSR DSLE

Very nice collection of photos! Number 19 is my favorite by far.

​Matt

Rich_Melvin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> callum_out Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> "...Second comment would be that the line seems to
> be in excellent shape, hardly your normal tourist
> line..."
>
> We could run 60 mph on the track, it's that good.
> The track is inspected to Class 2, which is 25 for
> freight and 30 for passenger but the track easily
> meets Class 3 standards, which is 40 mph for
> freight and 60 mph for passenger. 30 mph suits us
> fine because running faster would not give the
> passengers much of a "scenic" ride. It is 100%
> welded rail on very good ties, and the vast
> majority of it is 132 pound rail. That's a nice,
> big rail.
>
> As was pointed out by the OP, the track is owned
> and maintained by the National Park Service. Their
> annual track budget is determined by how many
> people attend the Cuyahoga Valley National Park
> (CUVA.) In 2015, 2,284,612 people attended that
> park. CUVA ranked 11th in attendance out of 59
> national parks. Almost 200,000 of those peope rode
> CVSR trains last year! The CVSR is indirectly
> responsible for drawing many thousands more people
> to the park.
>
> It's a very good working relationship, that's for
> sure.
>
> Rich Melvin
> CVSR DSLE

Is something similar in place, budget and attendance-wise, for Steamtown?  The more people that come in, the more money they get?

Jim Lipnitz
Morrisville, PA
Big Jim Video Productions

To add to Rich's excellent summary of the physical conditions of the former CT&V Valley Line, when the National Park Service first purchased the 26 mile line from CSXT, the line was roughly half jointed 131#RE rail and half welded rail, a combination of 131#RE and 132#RE.  There were numerous slow orders which started to mount through the late 90's when the NPS was able to start funding a tie and surface project almost every year.  They then moved into replacing the jointed 131#RE with good quality CWR which has now been accomplished.  Numerous crossings have been upgraded as well.  The park has also endured and recovered from numerous major flood events which have washed out the railroad at least three (3) times requiring milions of dollars of emergency funds to get the line back in service.  Both of the multi span deck plate girder bridges north and south of Peninsula have been replaced including new abutments, backwalls and wingwalls among other lesser structures that have also been replaced over time.  I was personally involved in five of the crossing upgrades about 7 years ago including Bath Rd, Everett Rd, Boston Mills Rd and Vaughn Rd.  Vaughn Rd is right at the CVNP headquarters which are in the old company houses at Jaite.  These are Craftsman homes that date back to the Jaite Paper Mill that was located across the valley next to the ski slopes and were delivered by Sears, by rail, in kit form, to Jaite, where they were unloaded, erected and finished.  This is a popular spot for folks to see 765 in action.  That crossing was a particular joy to do as we were in the midst of terrible spring thunderstorms that year that made the crossing area a real soupy mess while we had the track dug out and new subgrade being installed.  We were able to keep the area draining pretty well and as a result, I believe the same crossing is still holding up just fine.  I'm now in New England and unable to get back there as often as I'd like but it sure looks like this year was a great time for all involved.  The black smokebox and Mars light was a nice throwback to the days when 759 was storming all over the US in a similar configuration.  Hopefully I can make the next visit.

Sincerely,

TrackGuy