# Norfolk and Western class Y6b

The Norfolk and Western class Y6b was a class of 2-8-8-2 steam locomotives built by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) at their own Roanoke Shops between 1948 and 1952.

## History
### Development

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) was looking into adding stronger steam locomotives to their roster, since the coal industry was booming, and they wanted to operate longer coal trains out of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Railway's mechanical engineering team was working to refine the company's Y series 2-8-8-2 compound mallets, despite the concept having been phased out on most other railroads, in favor of simple articulated designs. In 1930 and 1931, the N&W's East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, turned out their Y5 class locomotives (Nos. 2090–2109).
The Y5's were the N&W's most powerful locomotives at the time, being rated at 5,500 horsepower (4,100 kW), and they were able to produce a tractive effort of 152,200 lbf (677.02 kN) with simple expansion and 126,838 lbf (564.20 kN) with compound expansion. Between 1936 and 1940, locomotives of the Y6 class (Nos. 2120–2154) were built, and they shared identical specifications to the Y5's, but they were built with newer features for improved efficiency. In 1942, the Y6a locomotives (Nos. 2155–2170) were built, and they were classified as such, since certain materials were altered for the World War II effort.

### Construction and design

After World War II ended, the N&W decided to construct a bypass grade in their Bluefield Division, to discontinue their electrified section there, resulting in their electric locomotives being retired. The end of their electrification, along with the post-war growth for the coal industry, encouraged the N&W to add more mallets to their roster, and the Railway's mechanical engineering team made multiple upgrades to the existing Y6 design.

### Revenue service

When the Norfolk and Western Railway ceased their mainline steam operations in 1959, 50 of the Y6s were still running out serviceable miles in the coal fields waiting for the final order of diesels to replace them. The last of the Class Ys were retired in the summer of 1960.

### Excursion service and scrapping

On July 11, 1959, No. 2174 was tasked to haul an eighteen-car Farewell to Steam excursion on the N&W mainline alongside 2-6-6-4 A class locomotive No. 1240. No. 1240 pulled the excursion from Roanoke, Virginia to Bluefield, West Virginia, where the train was transferred to No. 2174. The Y6b pulled it through the N&W's Pocahontas Division to Iaeger, and then it traveled over the Dry Fork Branch to Cedar Bluff. No. 2174 returned the excursion to Bluefield, and then No. 1240 returned the train to Roanoke.
Following the excursion, No. 2174 was sold to the United Iron & Metal Company, and the locomotive was stored in their scrapyard in Roanoke, along with fellow Y6b No. 2189 and Y6 No. 2143. The rest of the Y6b class was scrapped, between 1958 and 1961. The United Iron hadn't prioritized the scrapping of the three mallets, since they had already scrapped multiple other locomotives. By 1971, No. 2189 was scrapped, and No. 2174 and the tender-lacking No. 2143 remained in a corner of the company's yard.
During 1975, some local preservationists, including the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), made an attempt to acquire No. 2174. The Roanoke Chapter made a commitment to raise $1,000 to cosmetically restore the Y6b, but they did not have enough time to raise $50,000—the locomotive's scrap value—to purchase the locomotive. Also in 1975, United Iron was purchased by the British-based Bird International Company, and due to a slump in the steel industry at the time, the company ordered for Nos. 2143 and 2174 to be dismantled. In January 1976, No. 2143 was scrapped, and the following month, on February 11, the scrapping process on No. 2174 began. This decision stirred controversy among local railfans, including retired N&W employees who had operated mallets in revenue service.

## Accidents and Incidents

* On September 26, 1950, No. 2188 was operating on a freight run when it derailed, flipped over and rolled down an embankment at Alnwick, West Virginia.