Eastbound New River Excursion speeding through Kanawha City, West Virginia.

Eastbound New River Excursion speeding through Kanawha City, West Virginia.

The Nickel Plate Road “Berkshire” 2-8-4 No. 765 will operate under steam on Memorial Day Weekend, its first operation since test runs in 2006. The engine will pull scenic train excursions in North Judson, Indiana at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, its first mainline excursions in 16 years.

The engine will pull two-hour round trips May 23-25, departing at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. from North Judson. The trips will run to La Crosse, Ind., over a piece of what was once Chesapeake & Ohio’s Chicago-Cincinnati route. The town of North Judson preserved the line with a $1.5 million federal grant in 2004, and used it to create the museum.

The 765 has been on public display since 1963. It was then rehabilitated and restored to service in 1979. Originally built in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works, No. 765 began hauling passenger excursions of over 100,000 people through 16 states covering 52,000 miles for over the next twenty years.    It ran extensively on CSX, Conrail, and Norfolk Southern. It began a rebuilding program after a 2001 grant funded its restoration. Now, after  ten years, $750,000, and over 15,000 hours,  No. 765 is ready to resume it’s place in preservation railroading and will begin scenic train rides again featuring  special photo runs for passengers on Memorial Day Weekend before heading to the TrainFestival2009 in July.