Earlier in 2023, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society acquired seven former New York Central passenger cars from the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum for use in excursion service with their steam locomotive, Nickel Plate Road No. 765. Since their acquisition, the society has been seeking donations to aid in the restoration efforts of these pieces of railroad and American history.
From now through the end of the year, all donations of $250.00 or more will be matched thanks to a $50,000 matching grant the society received.
These cars have a tie to history quite like no other. They were placed in to service as part of the new Empire State Express on Sunday, December 7, 1941. You may know that date better was one which lived in infamy thanks to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Weirdly enough, one of the train’s observation cars was named the Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States at the time and the man who would go on to make a declaration of war against Japan the next day.
The cars were all built in 1941 by the Budd Company as part of a continuing effort to streamline the Central’s passenger trains, the Empire State Express was one of the last non streamlined named trains on the Central. The train operated between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and Buffalo, New York before splitting in to Cleveland and Detroit sections between Harmon, New York and Buffalo, the train was pulled by a streamlined Hudson of Henry Dreyfuss design not dissimilar to that of the famed 20th Century Limited design.
Nickel Plate Road No. 765 was built in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works and went to work pulling fast freights on the NKP during what would be the last months of the war begun on that Sunday in 1941. She would be retired in 1958 but was restored in 1979 and has enjoyed two successful excursion careers since thanks to her owners in Fort Wayne. She has become a true steam star and the restoration of these passenger cars will be a great asset in the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s efforts to showcase railroading as it once was.
If you would like to donate to this effort, please do so at the link below.