Its return to Bellevue will be a homecoming for the locomotive. The 1944 Lima engine, based in Bellevue, was retired in mid-1958, and along with several other identical engines, was stored in the Nickel Plate Road yard there. It was promised to a city park, but it was never moved. Two years after the Norfolk & Western acquired the Nickel Plate in 1964, the engine was donated to the fledgling Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Its companion engines were not so fortunate and were scrapped.
The Pennsylvania museum decided more than a year ago to de-access the locomotive, even though it was one of the first artifacts displayed by the museum. While the modern fast-freight locomotive was always a popular exhibit, it was far down on the priority list for restoration, and the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum of Bellevue offered to give it a good home and a prompt cosmetic restoration.
The Mad River museum immediately began fund-raising to return the engine to Ohio and support its restoration, and paid and volunteer mechanics made several trips to Pennsylvania during the spring, summer, and fall of 2018 to prepare the engine to travel on its own wheels. This included overhauling the air brakes, cleaning and repacking axle bearings, and removing the side rods and polishing and lubricating crankpins and bearings before replacing the rods.
The trip to Ohio is better than 400 miles and will take several days.
Would be nice if there is an update where the train is and arrival times.
Seems like an inappropriately gloomy day for 757 to be “goin’ home,” but I guess any day you start a homeward journey is a good day!
I know it would have been an utterly terrible business decision in terms of cost, but it would have been neat if the 757 was delivered to the interchange by one of Strasburg’s steam locos. The 475 would be appropriate – what the N&W giveth, the N&W taketh away.
From 3000 miles away, I agree that this is win-win, even if a 50 year loan is an extreme in rotating exhibits. The photo at the to right enlarged nicely for me.
This is a good move. What place would be more appropriate for the 757 then Bellevue? And it moves to their top of the list for cosmetic restoration, too. This is a win-win for preservation, placing an artifact in a more relevant location where it can be given the care necessary for proper presentation. There needs to be more of this type of activity in the preservation community. Nice job by both museum groups for getting this done.
I don’t see the photo. My bad or your bad?
I am disappointed that NS didn’t assign 8100, the Nickel Plate commerative unit to this move.