Berkshires in Bellevue, a trip back in time.

On Friday October 1st, we hosted a night photo session at the Mad River and Nickel Plate Museum in Bellevue, Ohio. For the photographers who attended, they had a rare chance to take a trip back in time to the mid 1950's. The proceeds from the photo session went to the Mad River and Nickel Plate Museum as well as the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.

The stars of the session were a pair of 1944 steam locomotives built in Lima, Ohio for the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, better know as the Nickel Plate Road. It wasn't just as simple as setting up the lights and forming a photo line. Months of preparation preceded the event. Props and extras were gathered, the museum grounds were scouted for the best possible locations and lighting setups were planned out.

I had a big surprise in store for photographers. They were expecting two steam locomotives, instead, I provided three! Well, not really. Photographers knew the photo session included locomotives NKP 765 and NKP 757. When they arrived, 765 was nowhere to be seen. Instead, NKP 828 was parked beside the 757. The real Nickel Plate Road 828 was sold for scrap in January of 1962. However, after a little bit of work making a number board for under the headlight, some number plate glass and some magnets for the cab sides, we created a reasonable stand in. After an hour or so, NKP 828 backed away from the photo area so photographers could focus on the 757. The 828 was renumbered back to 765 and pulled back up to the photo line.

The night concluded with a few scenes of 765 with a caboose and boxcar giving photographers a nice variety of images. We look forward to working with both the Mad River and Nickel Plate Museum and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society again in the future. Be sure to click the links below to learn more about the Mad River and Nickel Plate Museum and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.

http://www.madrivermuseum.org/

https://fortwaynerailroad.org/