CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Here's a rare black and white photo of the last-ever steam locomotive to pass through Bluffton. It was in the mid-1980s.

The Lima-built NKP Berkshire locomotive was pulling a steam fan excersion train from Muncie, Ind., to Bellevue. The trackage through Bluffton since has been downgraded by Norfolk Southern. Steam locomotives are too heavy to risk travel on the local rails.

On the left of the locomotive is the former NKP freight house, no longer standing. On the right is the passenger depot that has since been relocated to the Buckeye park and is owned by the Bluffton Sportsmen's Club.

If you can imagine the shriek of the whistle, the speed, smoke and blast this locomotive generates as it tears through Bluffton, you may get a glimpse of the romance of steam locomotives.

(Photo by Fred Steiner)