Despite their 70-mph capability, hauling passenger trains was not the normal duty of the Nickel Plate's Berkshires, nor did they stray further into Chicago than the NKP's terminal at Calumet Yard except on rare occasions. Here, in a transparency by Robert Leffingwell, we see No. 764 at Chicago's Englewood Station with what is probably a special train for the International Stock Show at the Chicago Stockyards. Mr. Leffingwell, who as a young man lived just two blocks from Englewood Station, was in a good position to monitor these special movements and recorded several on film.

No. 764 belonged to class S-2, erected in 1944. In 1949 Lima Locomotive Works, then Lima-Hamilton, delivered an additional ten 2-8-4s of class S-3 to the Nickel Plate, that builder's last order for steam locomotives. More views of the Nickel Plate 2-8-4s in their final months of revenue service can be found on the Nickel Plate page in my Steam Locomotive Archive.