765, renumbered as 767, was donated to the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where it sat on display at the Lawton Park, while the real No.

765 ran excursion trains on the ex-Southern Railway's CNO&TP division and ex-Chesapeake and Ohio's New River Gorge route.

765 ran excursions on Norfolk Southern trackage in Indiana, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, for the 21st Century Steam program.

At the turn of the 20th century, railroads faced a surmounting problem: an increase in traffic and limited steam technology.

Railroads commonly relied on drag freights with engines that could pull heavy tonnage but at low speeds.

In 1925, this "Super-power" technology was successfully realized in a prototype designated the A-1, which was tested in the Berkshire Mountains of the Boston & Albany Railroad, hence the common name of the locomotive type.

An additional number of Berkshires (S-4 class) were acquired when the Nickel Plate Road leased the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad in 1949.

As a direct result of the Berkshire class, the railroad earned a reputation for high-speed service, which later became its motto.

After World War II, the locomotive worked primarily out of a classification yard in the east side of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The famed Berkshires carved an enviable record in railroad history and were the most colorful engines in this part of the country.

765's excellent mechanical condition and favorable reputation among local crews, the NKP maintained the locomotive indoors until 1961.

In a move to honor the success of Fort Wayne's "Elevate the Nickel Plate" project, the city requested S-2 No.

By November 1972, York, Brendel, Sassmannshausen, and John Eichman signed incorporation papers for the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Inc.. By 1973, FWRHS undertook a 25-year lease of 765/767 and in 1974 moved the engine to New Haven, Indiana to begin what was now a restoration to operation.

587 performed a doubleheader while pulling an excursion train, which arrived from Richlands, Virginia, by N&W 611 at Fort Wayne, bound for Chicago, Illinois, for that year’s NRHS Convention.

The locomotive had developed signs of wear and was originally slated for a running-gear overhaul upon completion of the excursion season that year.

Following a series of grant requests, the FWRHS was awarded an 80% match through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which at the time included historic structures.

The remaining 20% was raised through donations and contributions, with a large portion of the rebuild work administered by FWRHS volunteers.

765 Day" and the locomotive completed a series of test runs on the Chicago, Fort Wayne, and Eastern Railroad in March 2006.

765, as mounting liability costs and busy, profitable railroads had all but curtailed the majority of mainline steam excursions during the 765's overhaul.

765 largely operated passenger excursions, photo charters and public events on regional and short line railroads, including the Chesapeake and Indiana, Great Lakes Central, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and Iowa Interstate, the latter of which enabled the 765 to traverse the Mississippi River for the first time.

765 to operate a series of employee appreciation specials in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Missouri, to mark the company's 30th anniversary.

[15] In August 2013, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society announced plans to run two 225-mile (362 km) round-trip excursions in mid-October, 2013 between Fort Wayne and Lafayette, Indiana, along a line once owned by the Wabash Railroad (and the route of the "Wabash Cannonball").

While in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in August–September for Steamtown National Historic Site's RailFest 2015, the locomotive was housed in the roundhouse alongside Nickel Plate Road 759.

[18] Between 2016 and 2018, the FWRHS teamed up with Metra, Chicago's commuter rail system, to pull excursions; the 765 pulled excursions between the North Glenview station, on Metra's Milwaukee District / North Line, and Janesville, Wisconsin, with the train being called the Varsity in June 2016.

765 returned to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic once more to pull more excursion trains on their trackage,[24] and during the final days of this visit, the locomotive reunited in Bellevue with another fellow NKP 2-8-4 No.

765 would return to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for the first time in three years; the locomotive was unable to visit during the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to track issues.

[2] Press reports indicate the continuous presence of large crowds of "locals and out-of-towners"[29] and on 765's ability to boost tourism in the towns that it travels through.

The shop is open to the public and houses a variety of other railroad equipment, including vintage steam and diesel locomotives, passenger cars, cabooses and more.

765 is the centerpiece to a proposed riverfront development project called Headwaters Junction, in the locomotive's hometown of Fort Wayne.

[35] The plan, endorsed as "big, bold, and transformational" by city leaders and civic groups, calls for the locomotive and FWRHS operations to be based in a mixed-use attraction combining railroad tourism, river access, walking trails and "retail, restaurant, residential, recreational and entertainment businesses.