NKP 765 South at 74 mph in Deerfield, IL 6/12/16 (HD)

Now THIS was the highlight of the weekend, maybe even the year. NKP 2-8-4 #765 roars through Deerfield at top speed, getting ready to terminate the day at North Glenview. I set my camera further back from everyone else after being advised by police to move back, leaving me with a cluttered but worthwhile video of the train at speed. Someone at the spot measured the train as moving at 74 miles per hour; that may be the fastest it's ever done in its entire lifetime!

[connorthemusicguru]

The way it shakes the camera as it goes by is a good emphasis on the power and speed.

[davidwhiting]

The NKP berks were said to have exceeded 90mph on a semi-regular basis back in the day - asked the FWRHS volunteers over e-mail once. They supposedly have had her move at almost that pace before, just not in recent history. The highest recorded speed of a berk was 103mph on a reefer train (granted it more than likely was on a downhill run with a light seasonal special).

[oregonrailfanner]

Some would even say she’s alive! Howling away as she shines bright once again!

[Kanefan]

This has to be the best performance 765 ever showed in a long time.

[sonnydean]

The Berkshires were some of the most powerful steam locomotives to have ever been designed. For a 2-8-4 class locomotive, they packed a punch!

[newriverproductions]

The engineer was actually blowing the whistle for 30 minutes and went 74mph for an hour.

[goodeye]

Amazing the power in those machines..76 MPH seemed a lot faster on the ground...
Nice video, even if the kid doesn't have video etiquette yet, he'll learn.

[npo]

Would've been a great video without that kid! Awesome train.

[ericlynch]

As a railfan, I loved that. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[jeanlemke]

Seemed like the engineer really accelerated out of North Glenview that afternoon. I thought: "Gee this is getting fast, let me time some mileposts." After only about a mile at 60 seconds per mile, I was seeing a couple of seconds less each mile. A guy next to me said he'd save me the trouble of converting seconds per mile into miles per hour, his GPS said we were averaging 73 at the time. The real takeway was the continued acceleration at speeds above 45 mph. The acceleration was "as legendary for me" as the top speed we reached that day. p.s. Its OK to talk about it, the speed limit in this section was 79 mph.

[animal]

the old lady still has it in her. great video

[brianfalzon]

Would love to see a MILW 261/NKP 765 doubleheader excursion out of Chicago in the future.

[MB_Videos]

Nice video i was on it in the middle dome car an my gps had us at a top speed of 76mph on the return trip what a blast !

[jeanlemke]

Timing mileposts while riding that train - I observed less than 50 seconds per minute!  Hard to say exactly but I timed one mile at about 48 seconds (maybe less). Today I recomputed MPH with Excel and it tells me 48.66 s/m is close to 74 mph. Adding to our earlier post  -   Steam with "limited cutoff" has good sustained horsepower at speeds over 45. The NKP line to Chicago had an automatic train stop technology that predates todays ATC. It was likely that NKP steam power could have no problem reaching 79 with a train length like the train heading through Deerfield in 2016.

[rajappanpk]

People always understimate the power that these steam train actually have.

[brianfalzon]

Love to see a 765/261 steam doubleheader excursion out of Illinois in the future.

[railfanxjofficial]

I bet 765 was like: Man!! I’ve never been this fast in a long time!! I feel great!!

[Southernpacificgs]

766: get the hell of my way express coming through

[St.LouisCardinalsMLB]

Damn that train was absolutely exploding by the camera

[SupernalOne]

wow, what a long train for that single steam engine and no diesel assistance - Illinois probably doesn't have a lot of steep grades, but even so - !