NKP 757 on the move
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:30 pm
Keep an eye out in the coming days, Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #757 has left its longtime home of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA and is bound for the Mad River and NKP Railroad Museum in Bellevue, OH.
This move is something that is nearly 40 years in the works that began back in the late 1970's to bring the locomotive back to Bellevue. Once the NKP retired 757 it sat awaiting her turn to be given to the town that was at one time a major hub for the NKP. While the town tried to raise money the locomotive languished in the yard. After the Merger with the N&W in 1964 they continued to wait until the railroad finally had enough and donated 757 to the newly formed Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The 757 was their first piece of equipment the museum had as they had yet to get the PRR collection from Penn Central.
Interest in returning the 757 to Bellevue can be found going as far back as the late 70's, with the first attempts in the early 1980's. Meanwhile the locomotive, an oddball in the collection in Strasburg saw little to no care as it languished outside in the elements. By 2016, 50 years after the locomotive arrived in Strasburg, the 757 was looking rather sad.
In 2017, it was announced that the RR Museum of PA would donate the 757 to the museum in Bellevue if they could complete the necessary Mechanical work and fund the move of the locomotive to Ohio. This was finally achieved in Early January of 2019, and today on February 11th, the locomotive left Strasburg for the first and last time in nearly 53 years.
This move is something that is nearly 40 years in the works that began back in the late 1970's to bring the locomotive back to Bellevue. Once the NKP retired 757 it sat awaiting her turn to be given to the town that was at one time a major hub for the NKP. While the town tried to raise money the locomotive languished in the yard. After the Merger with the N&W in 1964 they continued to wait until the railroad finally had enough and donated 757 to the newly formed Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The 757 was their first piece of equipment the museum had as they had yet to get the PRR collection from Penn Central.
Interest in returning the 757 to Bellevue can be found going as far back as the late 70's, with the first attempts in the early 1980's. Meanwhile the locomotive, an oddball in the collection in Strasburg saw little to no care as it languished outside in the elements. By 2016, 50 years after the locomotive arrived in Strasburg, the 757 was looking rather sad.
In 2017, it was announced that the RR Museum of PA would donate the 757 to the museum in Bellevue if they could complete the necessary Mechanical work and fund the move of the locomotive to Ohio. This was finally achieved in Early January of 2019, and today on February 11th, the locomotive left Strasburg for the first and last time in nearly 53 years.