Steam & Excursion > Flashback Friday: NKP 765, a photo freight and a rainy afternoon.

Going through old files, I found my after action report following a rain soaked all-day photo freight event at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum with the Nickel Plate Road no. 765.

Like any event of this kind, preparations had been in the works for months, but best laid plans often go awry...The seeds for the eventual lengthy legal exchange between the Town of North Judson and Chesapeake and Indiana Railroad Company were being sown and the event wound up in the middle of it. Hoosier Valley were great hosts, however, and good like minded cousins in preservation.

Here's a few minutes of footage of the 765, looking not unlike she's pulling the "Argos Turn" local in the late 1940s...

I'll post the report below...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/18 07:16 by nathansixchime.

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This is from my after action report from July, 2011:


- Planning began in April

- HVRM freight cars were inspected, cleaned, painted; brake work and repairs

- FRA inspector said the cars were good to go and a waiver had been filed to use equipment over 50 years old

- Scheduling was determined that spring, with the trip starting in LaCrosse, about 10 miles from North Judson. We choose LaCrosse because it gave us a place to park 50+ vehicles and water and service the engine and start the day with the sun on the nose of the 765

- After our first derailment in LaCrosse a the highway crossing, concern had arisen about the track conditions, and there was concern about using the wye. An independent track inspector was called in. This was a week before the photo charter was to occur.

-Approval was granted by the track inspector and we began assembling the train on Wednesday and Thursday before the event. We confirmed that we were able to use the wye, but then discovered that the FRA waiver for the freight cars existed only between North Judson and LaCrosse. The parking/starting area was north of LaCrosse maybe about two train lengths.

On Thursday, just prior to leaving North Judson for LaCrosse to position the train, HVRM was informed that their waiver to move the freight cars had not been submitted properly and had not yet been officially approved, meaning the entire consist would likely be excluded from the event, making this a freightless photo freight.

We made the decision to continue the event as scheduled and use some of Mid-America's passenger cars in the morning (thinking some semi-matched passenger cars would at least foot the bill for the time being...), as the FRA indicated that they would call HVRM back the following morning regarding the freight cars. We felt that proceeding as scheduled was the best option for the customers, as trying to tell the patrons to meet us in North Judson in the 11th hour, in addition to potentially not even having the advertised freight train, was not acceptable.

After an hour to put the passenger train together, we were about to have the 765 back onto the train when an upper level FRA administrator called HVRM to inform him that given that several inspections had been carried out by a local FRA inspector, we were free to use the cars as specified and told "to have fun tomorrow."

We immediately got to reassembling the freight train, putting the passenger train away, and just as it began to storm in the distance, we finally pulled onto the mainline about an hour later, arriving in LaCrosse around 8:30-9PM, shy of our originally estimated arrival of 4-5PM.

Since the train could not operate north of the wye, our morning schedule was altered. We began the day by watering the 765 at Indiana Avenue in LaCrosse and proceeded to our 8:30AM locations (at 6:30AM). The weather had been ominous all night and between LaCrosse and English Lake turned downright nasty. Around 10:30AM when the rain really hit hard, we boarded the train and proceeded to North Judson. At this point, we had three vintage cars (including one Hudson and one Studebaker) and an old, black Labrador who took to chasing the 765. On a few occasions orange traffic were mounted on the locomotive for those people who chose to not pay and enjoy our trip from the safety and warmth of their vehicles.

Upon entering North Judson the train was put aside, 765 went back to LaCrosse to be wyed, and I set up several scenes with 2789 "undergoing a Class 3 inspection" to engage patrons during the extended lunch time layover. This went over with relative success given the circumstances and with a lot of help from Chris Lantz and another volunteer. We lunched in the Mohave passenger car and set the 765 up for static shots by the HVRM depot and after Steve gathered the hoses from LaCrosse (we were two short to reach the plug in NJ), and we watered in North Judson and proceeded back out.

While watering, we were informed that HVRM had been notified that the track between 875 West and SR 8 in LaCrosse was now "excepted track," meaning that we could not return our passengers to their cars in LaCrosse by train. HVRM personnel and I coordinated a number of cars from our ranks to prepare to shuttle people from our last location of the day back to the parking area. It is unclear to me at what point the railroad designated the track as such, but it was explained that HVRM had not received a bulletin and the cards fell where they did.

By now, our cab ride schedule and runby schedule was all but smithereens, so in the last few hours we ran runbys between English Lake and LaCrosse with the sun finally greeting us at 8:00PM. I had made remarks earlier at lunch that if anyone wanted to return to their car and forget the rest of the day we would arrange it but no one took up the offer. By now, most customers were content with the day, given the dramatically different weather and shooting conditions and improvisation in the face of it. I probably received 4 complaints and by the end of the day any skills at improvisation had been severely diminished. We didn't do as many runbys as planned during the sunset as a diabetic customer had to be attended to aboard the Mohave (which we had cut off for the final shots, then ran back to get to help the patron.)

Between 7:30PM and 9PM, we shuttled passengers back to their cars and finally began the move back to North Judson at 9PM. Around 10:30, we finally set up one night photo shot at the station, as we had advertised as such and about 15 people had returned for more punishment. At 11:30, we called it a night and at midnight I wrang a bucket of rain water and out of my chore coat and let a few colorful words occupy the air before bedding down.

Thanks to everyone who helped.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/18 12:00 by nathansixchime.

Nice caboose !

Nice consist!

Terrific video, but I nominate your After Action Report for Post of the day. For railfans who always have wish of "they should run this trip" or complain about "why did they do that?" this should be mandatory reading. Great report, thanks for sharing that.

Kelly:

Thanks for sharing. I understand that the fight btw the North Judson folks and the C&I is over, and that the C&I is investing more money into the operation.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Thank you for the video and the amazing backstory. This definitely deserves video of the day.

Great video and back story . . . feel like you are back in the 1940's . . VERY well done . . but not a surprise as your organization is top notch in every way.

Craig
mcmrailvidoes.com

Tominde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Terrific video, but I nominate your After Action
> Report for Post of the day. For railfans who
> always have wish of "they should run this trip" or
> complain about "why did they do that?" this should
> be mandatory reading. Great report, thanks for
> sharing that.

Thank you. We've got a very thorough feature story coming in a future TRAINS Magazine that goes even more in-depth on all the potential pitfalls operators face every season.

Hey I know that guy in the opening scene......