The Nickel Plate Road Historical & Technical Society, Inc.

06/17/2026

Good to see that the cover painting for the Nickel Plate Story by John A. Rehor, the definitive history of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad is in safe hands with the Center for Railroad Photography & Art.

Gil Reid's masterful painting, "Berkshire at Midnight," of Nickel Plate 2-8-4 765, circa 1956. The Center's Kalmbach Media Collection is now on display at the Center's online "Odyssey" portal. See comments for a link. (Kalmbach-032)

06/10/2026

Now that’s a sight that nobody who ever worked in the offices of the Van Sweringen Brother’s railroad empire inside Cleveland Union Terminal Tower would ever think to see out their windows. A Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy charging east on the Nickel Plate Road’s Cleveland Division alongside the electrified trackage of C.U.T. and the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit.

Did you or do you plan on seeing Big Boy 4014 on its Eastern Tour? Let us know in the comments.

Maybe a future issue of the NKPHTS Magazine will feature the Big Boy’s journey across the Nickel Plate Road - https://www.nkphts.org/membership

Photo by NKPHTS Communications Director, Adam Matthews

06/09/2026

Drop your best photos of the Big Boy on the Nickel Plate Road in the comments!

Big Boy No. 4014 traveled through Northeast Ohio on Monday as part of its East Coast journey to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. Thousands of Northeast Ohioans lined up to catch a glimpse of the massive train, which periodically let out a loud whistle as it made its way along.

🔗 Read more about Big Boy No. 4014 at the link in the comments.

📸 Train Wizard Productions

06/05/2026

Nickel Plate Road No. 752 was captured racing across the wide open plains near Fostoria, Ohio in the winter of 1954 with a tank train. Tomorrow a Union Pacific Big Boy will race along these same rails.

Will you be chasing Big Boy No. 4014 across the former mainline of the Nickel Plate Road? Let us know in the comments and be sure to tag the NKPHTS in your posts!

https://www.nkphts.org

05/28/2026

See we told you it wasn’t the first time a Big Boy traveled on the Nickel Plate Road.

05/25/2026

Most times when delving into the Archives you might be after photos of Berkshires, Mikados, Geeps, cabooses and more so it can be easy to overlook the people that made everything happen on the railroad.

Today we uncovered this photo of a Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway conductor Frank Banard and his two sons who both joined the military during World War I. We do not know much more than that but is an interesting item of Nickel Plate Road history.

https://www.nkphts.org

05/23/2026

Congratulations to our friends at the Cincinnati Scenic Railway for completing the move of this former Nickel Plate Road express boxcar for future operation.

We can’t wait to see it in aluminum again!

05/19/2026

Welcome to Continental, Ohio!

Our next stop in our ongoing series tracing the route of Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy No. 4014’s trip east is also the first stop in Ohio for the massive locomotive. The Ohio edition of the Nickel Plate Road’s Along the Lines guidebook states that agricultural products were the main sources of railroad traffic for the small village. Industries included a vegetable packing company, Snyder Tile Company and the Raabe Grain Company.

https://archive.nkphts.org/index.php/browse/locations/ohio/continental-oh

It was also a popular spot for railfans of the Steam Era to catch trains taking on water. Here are photos of three famous engines at Continental known to any fan of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad.

No. 757 now undergoing a cosmetic restoration at the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum.

https://madrivermuseum.org/nickel-plate-road-757/

No. 765 owned and operated by Fort Wayne Railroad on the Indiana Rail Experience.

https://fortwaynerailroad.org/nickel-plate-road-no-765/

No. 767 was the locomotive used in the opening ceremony for the newly elevated line in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Was requested by the city for preservation but was badly damaged in a wreck so it swapped identities with No. 765.

https://www.nkphts.org/membership

05/15/2026

Continuing our tour of towns along the former Nickel Plate Road that Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy No. 4014 will make a stop at. Today we welcome you to Fort Wayne, Indiana!

Volumes have been written on Fort Wayne’s railroad history, many of it in over 60 years worth of NKPHTS publications, so here is a quick summary.

https://www.nkphts.org/publications

According to the Indiana volume of the NKP Along the Lines guide book George Washington regarded Fort Wayne as a vital crossroads that required control otherwise the entire West would be lost to the fledgling American government. Secured it was and the railroad companies would agree that Fort Wayne was and is a vital crossroads of commerce and industry.

The Nickel Plate Road’s key to staying competitive in the east-west railroad race was the precise operation of train CB-12, the highest priority train on the entire railroad. The first thing the NKP president saw on his desk at Cleveland Union Terminal tower was a report of whether CB-12 had run on time or not.

Company photographer Willis A. McCaleb arranged with the local passenger agent to stage these shots of the eastbound CB-12 at Fort Wayne along the Maumee River in April of 1958. S-2 No. 756 was in charge with caboose No. 1026 bringing up the markers. Two months later this shot was no longer possible as the famous Berkshires had been replaced by diesels. However there was talk of putting No. 767, (But was it actually?) in a downtown park…

Our friends at Fort Wayne Railroad can tell you the rest of that story. 😉

Explore the Nickel Plate Road in Fort Wayne at - https://archive.nkphts.org/index.php/browse/locations/indiana/fort-wayne

05/09/2026

On National Train Day we would like to report that Scranton, Pennsylvania is now Cleveland, Ohio in 1956.