# Norfolk and Western 611

Norfolk and Western 611, also known as the "Spirit of Roanoke" and the "Queen of Steam", is the only surviving example of Norfolk and Western's (N&W) class J 4-8-4 type "Northern" streamlined steam locomotives. Built in May 1950 at N&W's Roanoke (East End) Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, it was one of the last mainline passenger steam locomotives built in the United States and represents a pinnacle of American steam locomotive technology.
No. 611 hauled N&W's premier passenger trains between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio; and ferried Southern Railway's (SOU) passenger trains through the Blue Ridge Mountains between Monroe and Bristol, Virginia. Retired from revenue service in 1959, No. 611 was donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT), where it became the sole survivor of the 14 class J locomotives.
In 1982, No. 611 was restored to operation by N&W successor Norfolk Southern (NS). It became the mainline star of the railroad's steam program, pulling excursion trains as far south as Florida, as far north as New York, and as far west as Illinois and Missouri. In late 1994, when liability insurance costs led NS to end its steam program, the locomotive was again retired and moved back to the VMT.
In 2015, after a year of restoration at the North Carolina Transportation Museum (NCTM) in Spencer, North Carolina, No. 611 returned to mainline excursion service as part of the NS 21st Century Steam program. That program ended in 2017, and the VMT has since operated No. 611 in excursion service and as a traveling exhibit, spending time at the NCTM and Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
Frequently invoked as an icon of Roanoke and its railroading history, No. 611 was declared a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1984 and was designated the official state steam locomotive of Virginia by the Virginia General Assembly in 2017. It was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) in 2023. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.

## Design and abilities

After the outbreak of World War II, the Norfolk and Western Railway's (N&W) mechanical engineering team developed a new locomotive—the streamlined class J 4-8-4 Northern—to handle rising mainline passenger traffic over the Blue Ridge Mountains, especially on steep grades in Virginia and West Virginia. The N&W built Nos. 600-604 at the Roanoke (East End) Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1941 and 1942. They were painted black with a Tuscan red stripe wrapped with golden yellow linings and letterings. The next batch, Nos. 605-610, were built in 1943 without streamlined casings due to wartime restrictions; these were classified as J1s. A year later, the J1s were refitted with the casings and reclassified as Js.
The class Js were the most powerful 4-8-4 passenger steam locomotives ever built, with 70 in (1,778 mm) driving wheels, 80,000 lbf (355.86 kN) of tractive effort, and an operating boiler pressure of 300 psi (2.07 MPa). They had Timken roller bearings on their drivers and tender axles, which enabled a smooth run and quicker acceleration. Their 22D-type tenders hold 35 short tons (70,000 lb) of coal and 20,000 US gallons (76,000 L) of water. They consumed 6.5 short tons (13,000 lb) of coal and 11,860 US gallons (44,900 L) of water per hour. The locomotives were equipped with a Hancock long-bell 3-chime whistle.
The class Js were among the N&W's most reliable steam locomotives; they ran evenly on its mountainous and relatively short route at an average speed of 40 mph (64 km/h), producing 5,100 hp (3,800 kW) at the tender drawbar. On flat terrain, the class J locomotives could haul a 1,025 short tons (2,050,000 lb) passenger train of 15 cars at 110 mph (177 km/h).$^{:5–6}$ Theoretically, they could go up to 140 mph (225 km/h) without wheel slippage. They generally operated about 500 miles (800 km) per day and 15,000 miles (24,000 km) per month.
The railroad built the last three class Js, Nos. 611-613, in 1950. They were the last passenger steam locomotives built by the N&W and the last mainline passenger steam locomotives built in the United States. Around the mid-1950s, all of the class J locomotives were given a pair of access holes in their streamlined front end, underneath the bullet nose, to ventilate the cross-compound air pumps from behind.

## History
### Revenue service

No. 611, the twelfth class J locomotive, was the first of the final batch of three. Completed at a cost of $251,544, it was put into revenue service on May 29, 1950.$^{:2}$ After some promotional photographs at N&W's Roanoke passenger station, No. 611 joined its fellow class J locomotives at work. They hauled N&W's Powhatan Arrow, Pocahontas, and Cavalier passenger trains, running 676 miles (1,088 km) between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio. They ferried the Southern Railway's (SOU) Birmingham Special, Pelican, and Tennessean, running 209 miles (336 km) between Monroe and Bristol, Virginia. They also hauled mail trains and local passenger trains. On June 29, No. 611 went to the Shaffers Crossing engine terminal in Roanoke for its first monthly maintenance and an inspection of its right-side cylinder head.
On September 24, 1952, No. 611 double headed behind sister locomotive No. 613 with the Eisenhower Special presidential campaign train from Columbus, Ohio, to Kenova, West Virginia, with brief whistle stops in Ohio at Chillicothe, Portsmouth, and Ironton. Aboard was Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former U.S. General of the Army who would win election as president of the United States seven weeks later.
In November 1955, after No. 611 had run a total of 30,628 miles (49,291 km), it was given a scheduled repair at the Roanoke Shops. Each time No. 611 received major repair work, some of its parts were missing or required further work, so the Roanoke Shops crew would have to interchange similar parts from its out-of-service sister locomotives, excluding Nos. 600 and 613. No. 611 eventually held most of No. 605's running gear parts.
On January 23, 1956, the locomotive derailed near Cedar, West Virginia, with the late westbound Pocahontas. The engineer was killed and 60 passengers and crew were injured. The locomotive was extensively repaired and returned to service the following month. The accident was the country's last major steam-powered revenue passenger train wreck.
Around February and early March 1958, the class J locomotives' tenders were outfitted with a cupola for the head-end brakeman to sit in, along with pipes to connect auxiliary water tenders and thereby eliminate stops to replenish water. On March 31, Robert H. Smith retired as president of the N&W; Stuart T. Saunders succeeded him a day later. Unlike his predecessor, Saunders had no interest in running steam locomotive operations and began to dieselize the N&W by ordering 268 new GP9 locomotives from the Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) company. However, he had not yet received the passenger GP9s needed to take over the class J locomotives' passenger duties and instead leased some EMD E-units from the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) and Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) railroads during the summer of that year.
The class Js were reassigned to local freight service on the Norfolk Division, running between Norfolk and Crewe, Virginia, along with occasional trips to Lynchburg, Virginia. They also hauled scheduled freight trains on the Scioto Division, between Williamson, West Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio.

### First retirement

The class Js' retirement began with No. 604 heading for the scrap yard on October 24, 1958. However, when the ACL E-units returned to their railroad to handle heavy winter traffic in Florida, some of the class J locomotives, including No. 611, briefly returned to passenger service until they were replaced by N&W's new passenger GP9s, which arrived at the end of 1958. Some of the class Js continued to haul local freight trains on the Norfolk Division until their boiler flue time certificate expired around 1959. Ultimately, the class J locomotives ran more than 3,000,000 miles (4,800,000 km) in revenue service.$^{:2}$
   "I am writing this again to urge that you give really serious consideration to keeping one operational class J steam locomotive on your roster permanently."
In January 1959, No. 611 was taken out of revenue service and stored alongside its fellow sister locomotives Nos. 603, 606, 608, and 609 at Bluefield, West Virginia, waiting to be scrapped. But Washington, D.C. lawyer W. Graham Claytor Jr., began trying to convince Saunders that No. 611 should be retained in working order; he noted that the locomotive was in good condition with an extended boiler flue time certificate, thanks to the extensive overhaul that followed its 1956 wreck. As vice chairman of the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), Claytor requested that No. 611 be moved under its own power back to Roanoke. This was done on May 22, and it was stored at the Shaffers Crossing roundhouse to await its opportunity to pull an excursion train.
On August 30, 1959, Appalachian Power Company (APCO) vice president W. Graham Claytor Sr., the father of Claytor Jr., borrowed No. 611 to haul a special excursion train from Roanoke to Norfolk, enabling the passengers of APCO employees and their families to travel over to Virginia Beach, Virginia, before returning to Roanoke on September 2. On October 18, No. 611 traveled to Petersburg, Virginia, where it hitched up to a Washington, D.C. Chapter NRHS excursion from Washington Union Station and hauled it to Norfolk. On October 24, No. 611 pulled the Rail Museum Safari excursion from Roanoke to Williamson, and back. Upon returning to Roanoke, the locomotive went to the Shaffers Crossing roundhouse, where it was officially retired from N&W's operating locomotive roster on October 27 and stored alongside M class 4-8-0 No. 475. On November 3, Saunders announced that No. 611, which still had some serviceable flues in its boiler, would not be scrapped, but used as a standby stationary boiler at the Roanoke Shops.
In May 1960, the N&W ceased to operate steam locomotives in revenue service, becoming one of the last major Class I railroads to do so. In April 1961, photographer O. Winston Link offered to purchase No. 611 for $5,000; the N&W replied that it was not for sale. A year later, the locomotive's boiler flue time certificate expired and it returned to storage at the Shaffers Crossing roundhouse. In late May that same year, Saunders abruptly donated No. 611 to the Roanoke City Council; Claytor donated $500 for its upkeep. In spring 1963, No. 611 was cosmetically restored and put on static display at the new Roanoke Transportation Museum in Wasena Park, which opened on Memorial Day that year. In late 1966, at Claytor's request, SOU president D. W. Brosnan launched the railroad's steam excursion program with Ms class 2-8-2 No. 4501 running excursion trips, including additional N&W trackage.

### First mainline excursion service

   "Nothing I have done has given me more pleasure since coming to the railroad as taking the 611 out of its tomb at the Transportation Museum."
During the 1970s, there was speculation about returning No. 611 back to operation and the Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS began to put this plan together. Graham and his brother Robert even rooted for them and a meeting was arranged by the Chapter officials to seek permission from N&W president John Fishwick to perform a hydrostatic test on the locomotive. Fishwick agreed, but he refused to let No. 611 run on N&W trackage. Two weeks after Fishwick retired on September 30, 1981, his successor, Robert Claytor leased the locomotive from the Roanoke City Council for $5,000 per year. On October 16, No. 611 was removed from display on temporary tracks and moved to the Roanoke Shops, where it was inspected and prepared for its trip to the restoration site. It was discovered that the locomotive's bearings were already greased up, thanks to some N&W crew workers who had secretly entered the Roanoke Transportation Museum on its closing days in January 1981. On October 22, the locomotive left Roanoke; three days later, it arrived at the SOU's Norris Yard steam shop in Irondale, Alabama.
The restoration work, performed by SOU master mechanic Bill Purdie and his team, began with supervision from retired Roanoke Shops foreman Paul Housman and ex-N&W draftsmen Mark W. Faville, who provided some of the original N&W class J design drawings.$^{:10}$ No. 611's injectors, dynamo, and other mechanical appliances were completely rebuilt. The firebox sheets, and flues were replaced. It was discovered that the water in the locomotive's feedwater heater was frozen and it causes the feedwater pump to crack, so the latter had to be replaced with a new one taken from class A 2-6-6-4 No. 1218. Some new parts were fabricated, including the crosshead guides and boiler staybolts. Two of the locomotive's left-side rod bearings were refurbished by Timken. The locomotive's original Westinghouse 8-ET type brake system was replaced with a new 26-L type brake stand to accommodate easier repairs and replacement parts. The cab interior was sheathed with varnished hardwood. A radio speaker system was added inside the cab to enable the locomotive crew to communicate with the train dispatcher. The locomotive's original single-beam headlight was replaced with a vertical dual-beam headlight for the crew having better visibility at night. The restoration work, which cost around $600,000, would be Purdie's last contribution before he retired at the end of 1982.
On July 5, 1982, No. 611 was steamed up for the first time in 23 years. It took over excursion service from Southern No. 2716, which was retired due to firebox problems. During that time, the N&W and SOU railroads merged to form the new Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), retaining the steam excursion program and doubling the trackage available for No. 611 to run on. Robert Claytor became the first chairman and chief executive officer of NS; he would serve through 1986. After completing test runs from Irondale to Chattanooga, Tennessee, on August 15 and 16, 1982, No. 611 departed for Roanoke on August 20 with Robert Claytor as the engineer and his son Preston as the fireman in the cab. After some whistle stops in Anniston, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and Salisbury, North Carolina, the locomotive arrived in Roanoke on August 22 in time for the city's centennial anniversary, where Claytor made a public speech in which he called No. 611 "Roanoke born, Roanoke bred, and Roanoke proud". As a result, the locomotive became an icon of Roanoke's railroading history.
On Labor Day weekend of 1982, No. 611 began its inaugural excursion run, pulling the NRHS Roanoke Chapter's Centennial Limited train from Roanoke to Norfolk, Virginia. The locomotive was to be turned on the Lambert's Point Yard turntable for the return trip to Roanoke, but it derailed on the sharply curved approach track, which was modified after the N&W steam era ended. A pair of GE C30-7 diesel locomotives were called in to haul the return trip, while No. 611 was rerailed and towed to Roanoke to be repaired. On September 6, No. 611 made a one-way excursion trip from Roanoke to Alexandria, Virginia, with Graham Claytor running it. On October 19, No. 611 went to Bluefield and Iaeger, West Virginia, where it was tested to be turned on the wyes in preparation for the round-trip excursions from Roanoke to Bluefield and Iaeger on October 23, 24, and 30. On Thanksgiving weekend, No. 611 hauled its last 1982 excursion, which was called the Oyster Bowl Special and ran from Roanoke to Norfolk and back. During that time, ex-N&W locomotive foreman Frank Collins served as No. 611's primary engineer.
In 1983, No. 611 continued to pull more public and private excursion trips for the Norfolk Southern steam program, including an NRHS excursion, where it double headed with Savannah and Atlanta 750 on RF&P trackage from Alexandria to Richmond, Virginia, on July 17. Afterwards, the locomotive hauled the longest one-way excursion trip from Richmond to the Midwest, where it ran some excursion trips out of Chicago, Illinois; and St. Louis, Missouri, on Chicago and North Western (C&NW) tracks as well as ex-Nickel Plate Road (NKP) and Wabash (WAB) rails that N&W acquired back in 1964. After the 1983 season, No. 611 went back to Irondale to have its firebox repaired and staybolts replaced before resuming excursion service in April 1984.
On May 19, 1984, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) named No. 611 a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and presented a plaque to the Roanoke Transportation Museum. On August 11 and 12, the locomotive pulled more excursions on ex-NKP rails, including between Erie, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo, New York, for the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society. On August 19 and 20, it double headed with Nickel Plate Road 765 from Erie to Ludlow, Kentucky. On November 10 and 11, No. 611 visited Jacksonville, Florida, to haul the Suwanee Steam Special round-trip excursion from there to Valdosta, Georgia, for the North Florida Chapter NRHS.
In June 1985, No. 611 ran the longest one-way NRHS Independence Limited excursion trip from Roanoke to Kansas City, Missouri. Two months later, the locomotive hauled a special Ohio State Fair excursion from Kenova to Columbus; in the cab was Walter T. Carter, a long-retired N&W engineer who had run one of the class J locomotives on the Powhatan Arrow 28 years prior.
In early 1986, the locomotive was given a thorough overhaul that included repairs to its running gear and receiving a new ashpan. On that same year of May 18, No. 611 was pulling an NS employee excursion train from Norfolk to Petersburg, Virginia, through the Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk, Virginia, but the consist struck a faulty switch on the mainline, damaging 14 cars, and injuring 177 passengers. After the wreck, NS decided to limit its steam locomotives, including No. 611, to 40 mph (64 km/h) while pulling excursions on their rails.
During the Roanoke NRHS convention in August 1987, No. 611 pulled a round-trip excursion train from Roanoke to Radford, Virginia, where it ran side by side with the recently restored No. 1218, which was pulling an empty 50-hopper car train; the locomotives later double-headed at Radford. After 1987, Collins retired; his assistant Bob Saxton would serve as No. 611's primary engineer until late 1994. A maintenance period saw No. 611's flues replaced; it returned to service in September 1988.
In June 1989, No. 611 joined Nickel Plate Road 587 to haul the Roanoke NRHS Chapter Independence Limited excursion trip from Cleveland, Ohio, to Roanoke. On September 16, No. 611 ran two round-trip excursions from Roanoke to Radford and Lynchburg, Virginia, pulling a matching set of ten Tuscan red passenger cars, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Powhatan Arrow re-equipment.
In early 1991, the Norris Yard maintainers replaced No. 611's crown sheet and tires and overhauled its trailing truck. Upon returning to service, it joined No. 1218 and No. 4501 on a triple-header, hauling a 28-car passenger excursion train from Chattanooga to Ooltewah, Tennessee, on November 3, during the NS steam program's 25th anniversary. While No. 4501 took a few coaches to Cleveland, Tennessee, and then back to Chattanooga, the two N&W steamers hauled the rest to Atlanta, Georgia. After the 1991 season ended, No. 611's tender was fitted with coal boards to increase its capacity, which enabled the locomotive to run more than 300 miles (480 km) without stopping for coal.
In late October 1992, No. 611 ran two round-trip excursions from Charlotte to Asheville, North Carolina. The first, on October 24, ran via the Old Fort Loops. The second, on the following day, brought 20 passenger cars over the Saluda Grade, the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade in the United States. On the advice of NS Piedmont Division superintendent Eugene Greene, the consist was split up at the bottom of the grade to prevent the couplers on the passenger cars from breaking while climbing the steepest part of Saluda Grade. Three assisting EMD SD40-2 diesel locomotives pulled the first 15 cars, while No. 611 pulled the last five. The latter briefly wheel slipped and stalled for a few minutes near downtown Saluda, then finally reached the top of the grade. The locomotives and cars were reassembled in the Saluda siding for the rest of the trip to Asheville and the return trip back to Charlotte.
In July 1993, No. 611 pulled the NRHS Roanoke Chapter's 19th annual Independence Limited excursion, which arrived from Knoxville, Tennessee, by SOU No. 4501 at Richlands, Virginia, bound for Fort Wayne, Indiana. Upon arrival in Fort Wayne, the excursion was transferred to NKP Nos. 587 and 765, which took the train to Chicago for that year's NRHS convention. Sometime after 1993, No. 611 was added to the National Park Service's Historic American Engineering Record. In June 1994, No. 611 joined a double-header excursion run with Frisco 1522 for the annual NRHS convention in Atlanta for a series of trips to Chattanooga and Macon, Georgia.

### Second retirement

On September 28, 1994, a consist was being moved at the Kinney Yard in Lynchburg for a planned NRHS excursion to Richmond, which was to have been led by No. 611 in early October. The consist derailed, damaging nine passenger cars, two of which were deemed unrepairable. The accident led NS to raise its liability insurance from $10 million to $25 million. On October 29, NS CEO David R. Goode announced the decision to end the steam program due to rising insurance, maintenance costs, low spare system capacity, and delayed freight traffic.
On December 3, 1994, No. 611 hauled the last NS steam-powered excursion trip from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chattanooga and back. On December 5, No. 611 set out for Roanoke with brief stops in Atlanta that day and Salisbury on December 6. After it arrived in Roanoke on December 7, No. 611 had its fire put out for the final time after 12 years of excursion service with NS. The locomotive's boiler flue time certificate expired in early 1995. Additionally, Preston Claytor removed No. 611's original whistle for safe keeping.
No. 611 sat in storage at the Roanoke Shops until October 1995, when it was returned to the Roanoke City Council. It was put back on display at the Roanoke Transportation Museum, which had been renamed the Virginia Museum of Transportation Museum (VMT) and given a new home in the former N&W Roanoke freight station after its original location was destroyed in the 1985 Election Day floods. The locomotive sat under the Robert B. Claytor and W. Graham Claytor Jr. Pavilion, whose namesake brothers had died in 1993 and 1994, respectively.
In June 2003, No. 611 was reunited with No. 1218, which was partially reassembled and cosmetically restored from its cancelled 1992-96 overhaul. In 2007, Nos. 611 and 1218 were put on temporary display at the Roanoke Shops to commemorate its 125th anniversary. At that time, No. 611's original whistle was on loan to the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan, where it was temporarily used on the Pere Marquette 1225 steam locomotive. On May 8, 2010, No. 611 was put on temporary display in front of the former N&W Roanoke passenger station, now known as the O. Winston Link Museum for National Train Day. In 2011, the Roanoke City Council nicknamed No. 611 The Spirit of Roanoke, which the VMT inscribed under the cab windows. On April 2, 2012, the Roanoke City Council donated Nos. 611 and 1218 to the VMT.

### Second mainline excursion service

In 2011, NS CEO Wick Moorman brought back the steam program under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation that No. 611, nicknamed the Queen of Steam, might again be restored to operating condition. On February 22, 2013, VMT executive director Bev Fitzpatrick and the officials formed the Fire Up 611! committee to study the feasibility of returning the locomotive to active service. Three of its members had worked with No. 611 since the 1980s and 1990s: chairman Preston Claytor, volunteer firewoman Cheri George, and Steam Operations Corporation president Scott Lindsay.
On June 2, 2013, the VMT and NS tested No. 611's bearings and found that the locomotive was in excellent condition to be restored. On June 28, VMT officials launched the Fire Up 611! capital campaign. The group aimed to raise $3.5 million by the end of October to acquire a maintenance facility for the restoration. After they fell $1 million short, NS donated $1.5 million to the committee, drawing on the proceeds from the auction of a Mark Rothko painting.
In April 2014, after raising money from nearly 3,000 donors in 19 countries, the Fire Up 611! committee struck a deal with the North Carolina Transportation Museum (NCTM) in Spencer, North Carolina, to use the ex-SOU Bob Julian roundhouse to restore No. 611. The committee also made several key appointments to the locomotive's mechanical team, including three people who had previously worked with No. 611: ex-SOU general foreman of steam Douglas S. Karhan, ex-NS steam department foreman Robert Yuill, and NS senior general foreman Bob Saxton.
On May 24, 2014, No. 611 was towed out of the VMT; it was moved to the NCTM the next day. Moorman removed the first bolt from No. 611 at the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend, ceremonially beginning the restoration work. On June 2, the actual work was begun by the Steam Operations Corporation with the help of 75 volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio. By July 1, the locomotive had been stripped down. The restoration work included installing new flues and rear flue sheet; boiler work; and repairs to the locomotive's trucks, tender, superheaters, boiler staybolts, cross-compound air pumps, safety valves, running gear, and air brakes. It met the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) safety guidelines and certification requirements. On July 25, the Fire Up 611! committee and the NCTM offered behind-the-scenes tours of No. 611's restoration progress.
On February 23, 2015, No. 611's boiler passed a hydrostatic test; it was test-fired on March 31. The locomotive was then reassembled and repainted with paint donated from Axalta. On May 9, No. 611 moved under its own power for the first time in nearly 21 years. On May 15, Claytor resigned his position to protest the VMT board's decision to engrave No. 611 with the words "The Spirit of Roanoke"; he was replaced by executive search consultant Jim Stump. On May 21, the locomotive completed a round-trip mainline test run from Spencer to Greensboro, North Carolina.
On May 23, 2015, during the Send Off Celebration event, ten guests paid $611 each to drive the locomotive. On May 28, the NCTM and Trains magazine held the Fired Up! photo charter runbys with the locomotive pulling replicated 1950s freight and passenger train consists, alongside ACL E6 No. 501, which was temporarily re-lettered "NORFOLK AND WESTERN" to replicate one of the leased ACL diesel locomotives that N&W used to replace No. 611 and the other class J locomotives on their passenger trains. On May 30, No. 611 began its homecoming trip back to Roanoke with Moorman, now the former NS CEO, at the throttle. The next day, the locomotive was reunited with the inoperable class A No. 1218 and class Y6a No. 2156, which was on loan from the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis for display at the VMT until 2020.
On June 6 and 7, 2015, No. 611 hauled its first 21st Century Steam excursion in Virginia, running The American from Manassas to Front Royal on ex-SOU tracks. The locomotive then returned to ex-N&W rails, hauling the Cavalier excursion from Lynchburg to Petersburg on June 13 and 14. On June 15, it hauled a short freight train bound for Spencer, where it began its monthly boiler inspection at the NCTM. On July 1, it returned to Roanoke, where it ran two round-trip excursions: the Powhatan Arrow to Lynchburg in the morning and the Pelican to Radford in the afternoon during the Independence Day weekend. Then NS ended its 21st Century Steam program, although No. 611 continued to pull various excursion trips over NS trackage.
In February 2016, No. 611 received new front leading wheels and axles made by the Brenco Product Engineering. Afterwards, the locomotive ran two round-trip excursions with the NCTM: The Virginian from Spencer to Lynchburg on April 9 and the sold-out Blue Ridge Special from Spencer to Asheville the next day. On April 11, No. 611 partook in another NCTM photo charter runby along with ex-Lehigh Valley Coal Company 0-6-0 No. 126. On April 23 and 24, the locomotive ran The Roanoker round-trip excursion from Greensboro to Roanoke via Altavista, Virginia, on ex-Virginian Railway (VGN) mainline. From mid-May to early June, it reran the previous year's Powhatan Arrow, Pelican, and American round-trip excursions. Afterwards, it returned to the NCTM for the summer events of cab rides, caboose rides, in-cab experiences, visitors sounding the locomotive's whistle, and short passenger train rides around the museum. On August 8, No. 611 returned to Roanoke under its own power for display at the VMT. On Labor Day weekend, it was steamed up again for the VMT events of cab tours and photo sessions with N&W GP9 No. 521. On September 7, No. 611 returned to the NCTM again for more events of cab rides, caboose rides, and in-cab experiences before returning to Roanoke on October 24.
On January 6, 2017, the locomotive returned to the NCTM for its annual FRA inspection. On April 8, it ran The Virginian round-trip excursion and the next day's Charlotte Special round-trip excursion from Spencer to Charlotte in the morning and a second round-trip excursion, The Piedmont Limited from Spencer to Greensboro in the afternoon for the NCTM. Afterwards, No. 611 took part in NCTM's 100 Years of American Steam event, which marked the unveiling of the restored 4-4-0 Texas steam locomotive. After the event, No. 611 reran the two round-trip excursions; The Roanoker from Greensboro to Roanoke on April 22 and 23 and The Cavalier from Lynchburg to Petersburg on May 6 and 7. On May 23, the Virginia General Assembly officially named No. 611 as the Official Steam Locomotive of Virginia. On Memorial Day weekend, No. 611 ran its final mainline round-trip excursions out of Roanoke; The Powhatan Arrow to Lynchburg and The Pocahontas to Radford. The locomotive's excursion economic impact was reported to be at least $4 million per year. These were the last contributions of VMT executive director Bev Fitzpatrick before he retired at the end of 2017.

### Post-NS excursion service

In 2018, No. 611 was unable to haul mainline excursions due to new restrictions on private charter trips imposed by Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson. So VMT operated the locomotive as a traveling exhibit; it visited the NCTM for its annual FRA routine maintenance and smaller events. On September 26, No. 611 returned to the VMT under its own power, but was thereafter forbidden to run on the NS mainline under its own power because it lacked a positive train control (PTC) system. The VMT sought donations to equip No. 611 with PTC.
In 2019, VMT sent No. 611 to the Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, for the five-weekend N&W Reunion of Steam events from September 27 to October 27. Lacking both the PTC and cab signaling system, No. 611 was paired behind a diesel locomotive for the trip to Strasburg. Upon arrival, No. 611 joined another ex-N&W steam locomotive, No. 475, for the first time since 1959. The first weekend of November found No. 611 back at the NCTM for in-cab experiences and caboose rides.
In early 2020, No. 611 was restricted to static display at the NCTM by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was steamed up during the autumn season for in-cab experiences, cab rides, and caboose rides. In late May 2021, the locomotive returned to SRC for weekends of excursions, in-cab experiences, cab tours, hostling tours, and whistle-blowing. On July 2, No. 611 was sidelined by a broken leaf spring in its trailing truck, which was repaired in time for the next weekend excursions. In early October, No. 611 went into the SRC workshops for its annual FRA inspection and maintenance to its boiler staybolts. In 2022, it participated in more SRC events: in-cab experiences on September 30-October 2, cab tours on October 7–9, photo charters on November 9–10, and excursion rides on November 11–13.
On January 31, 2023, No. 611 was put on temporary outdoor display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, near the SRC. From May 21 to 29, it participated in The Farewell Tour weekend events of in-cab experiences and excursion rides at the SRC. It left the SRC on May 31 and returned to the VMT for display on June 2. On June 24–25 and July 22–23, the VMT offered behind-the-scenes tours around the locomotive and its history.
On September 14, 2023, No. 611 traveled from the VMT to the Virginia Scenic Railway's (VSR) Victoria Station in Goshen, Virginia. On September 30, the VMT and VSR offered in-cab experiences for guests to operate or fire the locomotive along the Goshen industrial track. On October 6, the locomotive hauled VSR's weekend Shenandoah Valley Limited round-trip excursions through the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests between Goshen and Staunton, Virginia. Running on the Buckingham Branch Railroad (BB) tracks, these were the locomotive's first fall foliage excursions through Virginia since 1994. As there was no turntable or wye for No. 611 to turn around at Staunton, a pair of BB diesel locomotives were placed on the rear of the excursion train for the run back to Goshen. On the night of October 27, No. 611 was sidelined by a broken boiler staybolt; the BB diesel locomotives filled in for the next day's excursions. On October 29, No. 611 was repaired; it hauled some of the last Shenandoah Valley Limited weekend excursions on that day and from November 3 to 5. On November 7, the locomotive returned to Roanoke, where it idled at the VMT, whose president Will Harris retired on June 27, 2024.
On December 14, 2023, No. 611 was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR). It was also added to the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places around February 2024. In 2024, the locomotive began a maintenance period.

## Accidents and incidents

* On December 2, 1950, No. 611 collided with a Ford automobile at a railroad crossing near Franklin Furnace, Ohio, while hauling the Pocahontas train No. 4.
* On May 14, 1952, No. 611 crashed into a tractor-trailer truck loaded with ice cream at a railroad crossing in South Point, Ohio, while hauling the Pocahontas train No. 3. The locomotive's front end was covered with ice cream but was undamaged; it continued its trip to Cincinnati.
* On June 20, 1953, No. 611 was pulling The Cavalier when it struck a bakery truck at a railroad crossing in Chattaroy, West Virginia, injuring the truck driver.
* Four days later on June 24, 1953, No. 611 was pulling the Powhatan Arrow train No. 26 when it ran into the end of a tractor-trailer truck at a crossing near Ironton, Ohio, denting its bullet nose and crushing its front footstep on the fireman's side. It was repaired shortly afterwards.
* On the evening of December 7, 1954, No. 611 was pulling the Powhatan Arrow train No. 25 when it collided with a 1941 Ford sedan at McDermott, Ohio.
* On July 26, 1955, after No. 611 departed Cincinnati with the Cavalier train No. 16, it ran into a 1952 International truck at the city's Canal Ridge Road.
* On a cold winter night of January 23, 1956, at 12:51 a.m., No. 611 derailed with the late Pocahontas train No. 3, pulling 11 cars at more than 50 mph (80 km/h) around a 30 mph (48 km/h) curved track along the Tug River near Cedar, West Virginia. The locomotive slid down the embankment of the river and toppled onto its left side along with its tender and the first six cars while the last five cars remained on the rails, undamaged. The engineer was killed, while the fireman, eight other crew members, and 51 passengers were injured. The accident gave No. 611 cosmetic damage to its left side, where its skirting panels, running boards, valve gear parts, and other appliance parts were completely torn off. The damage to the locomotive and its tender was estimated at $75,000. The locomotive and the six damaged cars were all repaired and put back into service. The tender received dents, which was later removed during the locomotive's 2014-2015 restoration. However, its sand dome retained a large dent.
* On November 18, 1956, No. 611 struck a 1952 Buick automobile at Lincoln Street, while running light engine from Roanoke, Virginia, to Portsmouth, Ohio.
* On May 18, 1986, No. 611 was at the head of a NS employee excursion train from Norfolk to Petersburg, Virginia, pulling 23 cars through the Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk, Virginia. Some were heavyweight and open-air passenger cars that lacked tightlock couplers. The train was running at 58 mph (93 km/h) with Robert Claytor at the throttle when two of the passenger cars struck a faulty switch on the mainline. They derailed, taking 12 other passenger cars with them. The locomotive, the first six cars, and last two cars stayed on the rails undamaged. Of the thousand or so employees and family members aboard, 177 were injured; 18 of the most seriously injured were airlifted to hospitals in nearby Norfolk for treatment. Eleven of the derailed passenger cars were repaired. The two damaged open-air cars, the Missionary Ridge and Queen and Crescent Club, were scrapped and another, the W. Graham Claytor, Jr., was donated to the VMT. After the wreck, the heavyweight passenger cars and open-air cars were retired from mainline excursion service since it was too difficult and expensive for them to be retrofitted with tightlock couplers. The Great Dismal Swamp wreck was the worst accident in the history of the NS steam program.

## In popular culture

* Some of O. Winston Link's N&W steam-era nighttime photographs and audio recordings feature No. 611 during its revenue service, including:
** Link's Christmas Time at Seven-Mile Ford, Virginia photo shows No. 611 pulling the Pelican passenger train across the Holston River bridge near Seven-Mile Ford, Virginia, on the night of December 28, 1957.
** On June 1, 1958, Link sat with his audio tape recorder in the mail car behind the locomotive's tender as it pulled the Cavalier train No. 15 from Roanoke to Williamson, recording the audio sound for his The Fading Giant: Sounds of Steam Railroading Vol. 2 album.
* Norfolk Southern's 1983 promotional documentary video Going Home showed the locomotive's first restoration and homecoming trip to Roanoke in 1982. The Ballad of 611, a song written by the David Niblock Band, can be heard in the documentary.
* The beginning of the 1984 National Geographic documentary Love Those Trains showed No. 611 hauling a private legislative excursion to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in September 1982.
* In the early 2000s, No. 611 was depicted on the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles' Railway Heritage license plate.
* The Great 611 Steak Company restaurant in Roanoke is named for the locomotive, which appears on the restaurant's roadside sign.
* No. 611 was featured in the 2015 children's book Dash Dupree and the Queen of Steam.
* The 2016 feature-length documentary 611: American Icon chronicles the history of the locomotive.