It was like Christmas morning for Maxwell Merry.
His mom, Jordan, said Max was up at 5 a.m. and ready to head out to be one of the first train enthusiasts in northern Ohio to greet the Nickel Plate Road No. 765 steam engine.
Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad President Larry Stevenson said he was so moved by a letter the 11-year-old Plain Township boy wrote to him about how excited he was for the return of the steam engine to Greater Akron for excursions through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park he had to invite Max and his family to welcome the crew from the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.
Not only did Max get to watch the 1944 steam train that weighs some 400 tons maneuver its way in and out of the scenic railroad’s Fitzwater Maintenance Yard in Brecksville − he along with his siblings Kai, 7, and Theo, 6, and dad, Alan, got to climb into the engine for a short ride.
“This was the coolest thing ever,” Max said.
Plain Township brothers Maxwell Merry, 11; Theo Merry, 6; and Kai Merry 7, take a photo with Nickel Plate Road No. 765 steam locomotive engineer Mark Tobin at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad maintenance yard on April 24.
Jordan said Max has loved trains since he was a baby and someday dreams of working on the railroad.
“This was way better than Christmas,” she said. “This was just an amazing opportunity. We are just so blessed.”
Stevenson said seeing the smile on Max’s face embodies the work of the scenic railroad that makes regular excursions through the national park.
Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad CEO Larry Stevenson talks about the visiting Nickel Plate Road No. 765 steam locomotive. The steam engine will be pulling passenger cars for two weekends.
And for the next two weekends, he said, passengers will have the rare chance to ride in passenger cars pulled by an historic steam engine.
“This is a piece of moving history,” Stevenson said.
And it is a piece of Ohio history, too.
Kelly Lynch, of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, said the engine from a bygone era of rail travel was built in an old locomotive works located in Lima.
“This is a memory maker,” he said. “This is a sensory machine.”
Kai Merry 7, of Plain Township waves as he rides away on the Nickel Plate Road No. 765 steam locomotive at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad maintenance yard. The locomotive was built in 1944 in Lima.
The Nickel Plate Road No. 765 is a 2-8-4 Berkshire-type steam locomotive that served the old New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad.
CVSR spokesperson Lynee Bixler said some 6,800 passengers are expected for the steam excursions over the next two weekends.
And that doesn’t count the hundreds that are expected to catch a glimpse of it as it makes its way south from the Rockside Station in Independence into the national park.
The Nickel Plate Road No. 765 steam locomotive heads into the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad Fitzwater Maintenance Yard on April 24. The locomotive is owned and operated by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.
There is no set place for where it will begin the trek back to Independence, Bixler said, as it depends on how much time there is for the next excursion.
There are some limited tickets still available.
Visit cvsr.org for more information.
“We describe this as a whole body experience,” she said. “You can smell the smoke. You can hear the whistle and you can feel the vibration as the ground shakes.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Historic steam engine returns to Cuyahoga Valley National Park