(Click on any picture to enlarge)
Go to our main page
 So one fine day this summer, we were coming back from Monroe, South of us, and like most times, we headed across the tracks near the small railroad transfer yard in Milan. So this day, there were some people milling around. Now people don't just mill around this area, so I stopped and asked what was going on. Apparently for the upcoming train show in Owosso, The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society was sending their Nickel Plate Road Berkshire engine, and even more so, it was going to STOP in Milan any time now. Holy crap! My mind reeling, we raced home, I tossed a couple chairs and a beach umbrella into the van and we sped back to the yard.  Basically, had we not gone South, that day, coming home at that time, coming by the train yard, we would have missed what's coming down those tracks there The 765 rolling into Milan  A (huge) 2-8-4 live steam locomotive on a live track! How often do you see that? In Milan. It blew its whistle long and strong and everything. Jared and I were giddy beyond belief  Look at that monster  There she is steaming in reverse to back onto a siding  It had a few Ohio Central passenger cars also, that it was going to use in the show  As you can see, the Norfolk Southern diesel gave it a helping hand getting up here from Indiana   That colorful thing in the reflection is our beach umbrella. Nice viewing spot huh?  Wow she's beautiful  There's the (as I learned, #2) engineer easing her back  I think I took 200 pictures of this thing  This engine class was named for the Berskshire mountains, where it ran most of its working life  It's actually a little sister to the colossal Allegheny engines, both of which were made in Lima, OH Action shot of the 765 backing up   Daddy and Jared posing in front of the engine  Here's Jared with his friend Tanner posing as well  And this is Tanner with his mom, Donna. Tanner actually had piano lessons nearby, so they got lucky to see it also  Look at the size of those drive wheels   There's Mama and Devin hanging out near the engine as they do some maintenance on her - the engine, not Mama  The main reason for the stop in Milan was to pick up some water,  Milan, sans railroad water tower, supplied the water via fire hydrant  Circling around to get a few other shots of the engine    Here we see the crew lubricating the drive wheels and pistons   Hey, who's that in there?  I got me a few shots of the interior. Here's the upper instrument panel  And a shot into the tender from the cab  And the firebox, where I actually was able to shovel some coal into  And yeah, that's Daddy up there, in a live steam engine, on a live commercial track! This about blew my mind - what an awesome day! Btw, you can follow 765 on Twitter too |
Go to our main page