Nickel Plate Road #765 ferry move across Northern Pennsylvania

On August 4, 2015, the Nickel Plate Road #765 steam engine was slated to run from Binghampton, NY to Allentown, PA via the Canadian Pacific and Reading & Northern Railroads. This move was a ferry move for public excursions later on in the month. Due to complications between Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific, this move did not get underway until 9 hours after the originally scheduled time.

Nickel Plate Road #765 is a 2-8-4 Berkshire steam locomotive built in 1944 at the Lima locomotive shops in Lima, Ohio. To this day, the #765 still does public excursions every year, and is operated and maintained year round by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.

Originally, we had planned to chase this ferry move all the way from Nicholson, PA down to Allentown, PA. Unfortunately, with the very late departure, this would not be possible.

With word of the late depature coming to us around 9am, we changed plans to go shoot some of the local railroads in the general Scranton, PA area. First up was the Reading and Northern Railroad in Pittston, PA, where we grabbed the Scranton job working the yard. R&N 2532 was also on hand.

With reports up North telling us about Southbound NS train 13T coming into Scranton, we headed over to Dupont, PA to catch it exiting the Candaian Pacific main and entering Reading and Northern trackage. Leading the train was NS #1030 which was on hand to celebrate NS's 30th anniversary a few years ago. A veteran EMD SD80MAC was behind the #1030.

As soon as the 13T cleared off the CP main, CP local train D11 was next to go South. We relocated down the street to shoot this.

After a lunch break, and still no talk of the 765 departing Binghamton, we went back to the Reading and Northern to shoot the MEPI (Mehoopany, PA- Pittston, PA) train coming through Tunkhannock, PA.

Still with no word of the 765 leaving, we decided to head to Nicholson, PA to get ready for our first planned shot of the 765. As the day grew later, the sun began to set, and slowly, the bridge shot was looking to be doomed with cloud cover and low sun. Luckily, word was recieved that the 765 had finally been cleared to leave Binghamton. About an hour later, the crowds grew exponentially for this classic shot of the Tunkhannock Viaduct. Leading the ferry move was Norfolk Southern's Lackawanna Heritage Unit. Even without the steam engine leading, the railroad here was built by the Lackawanna railroad, so nonetheless, this was still a neat shot.

The chase was on! Pulling up maps on our phone with the very limited cell phone service was tough, but we scouted out a spot in LaPlume, PA next.

The final shot of the day came with the last ounce of sunlight in the sky, as the 765 rolled through Clarks Summit, PA.

Even without a very lengthy chase, I'd still call this day a succesful one. If I did not have to be at work the next morning, I would have chased this all the way to Allentown with the help of my flashes. The nearly 3 hour drive home did not help either.

Shooting 2 mainline steam engines this year was a first for me, and both would not be possible without the immense work by Norfolk Southern and their 21st Century Steam program.

I am looking forward to shooting both the N&W 611 and NKP 765 again next year.