Chesapeake & Ohio No. 2765

Chesapeake & Ohio 2765
Notice: Please use the updated infobox (Template:Infobox Locomotive)
Chesapeake & Ohio 2765
Number	2765
Max speed	70 MPH
Power	Steam
Wheel config	2-8-4
Valve gear type	Baker
Builder	Lima Locomotive Works
Build date	1947

The New River Train, C&O 2765 (NKP 765), October 1993

Chesapeake & Ohio 2765 was a 2-8-4 (Kanawha in C&O's terms) built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1947.

History

The real 2765 was built by the American Locomotive Company alongside the other 2-8-4s built for the C&O. The real 2765 was one of 78 2-8-4 Kanawhas cut for scrap by 1961 while following dieselisation. However 2765 returned in 1993, when the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society modified Nickel Plate 2-8-4 S-2 Class Berkshire #765 to look like a C&O K-4 (2-8-4 Kanawha) and along with these modifications, renumbered it to Chesapeake & Ohio 2765.

As 2765, the engine ran several excursions on former Chesapeake & Ohio, Baltimore & Ohio, and Louisville & Nashville trackage (on the CSX Railroad) in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. This would include the last time, the engine pulled the New River Train excursions in October since CSX has some anti-steam policies in effect since 1995. After the New River Train trips, the 2-8-4 returned to Fort Wayne and received it's true identity of Nickel Plate 765 as it went for a thorough rebuild that lasted until 2005. After 1993, Chesapeake & Ohio 2765 would once again be no more.

Trivia

• 2765 was one of 78 Kanawhas scrapped.
• The C&O called their 2-8-4s Kanawhas after the Kanawha River in West Virginia.
• Nickel Plate 765 masqueraded as this engine while it ran trips on CSX in 1993 to honor the route the New River Train ran on. It wore a hooter whistle as a secondary whistle alongside the Nathan 6 chime, but at one point the secondary whistle was a Lima 5 chime instead.