A Short, Rainy Chase of NKP 765, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad Steam in the Valley, 05-03-2025

The first week of May, I went to Ohio to visit family. I had been long wanting to see the CVSR, and especially wanted to go during their Steam in the Valley excursion, featuring the famous 1944-built 2-8-4 NKP 765. This year, after a two-year absence due to track conditions, the S-2 Berkshire would return to the railway again. Saturday, May 3rd, I was joined by an online friend of mine, ‪@damon810railfan‬, who would chase the train with me in his iconic Chevrolet Impala known as Vlad the Impalanator (RIP Vlad). Unfortunately, out of every day of my trip, the rain was the absolute worst on this day, and it did not stop raining at all. I still got some amazing shots, and the 765 definitely gave off the most impressive steam shows I had ever seen. Overall, it was a memorable experience and I certainly want to return one day (on a day without so much rain, hopefully). Expect a little un-smooth panning as I was holding an umbrella in one hand and panning the camera with the other.

Timestamps:

Passing Hillside Rd, (0:15).

Arriving at Station Rd in Brecksville, we barely got here in time, (1:45).

Backing up to do the first run-by under the iconic bridge, (3:54).

Photo run-by at Breckenridge, (6:56).

Ex-CN, VIA Rail ALCo FPA4 6777 leads the train back for another photo run-by, but we would leave to get to the next spot, (8:14).

Passing by Peninsula, OH, (12:29).

Unfortunately, here we assumed the train would continue all the way to Akron, but found out after setting up south of here that it only went about halfway and then turned back due to some track issue, and were rather disappointed in that. We did, however, come back to see it one more time after our trip to Berea.

NKP 765 passes through Vaughn Rd in Jaite, OH. Due to the fact that it was getting late and Damon still had to drive back home to Michigan that night, we decided to call it here, (14:00).