Norfolk and Western No. 611

Norfolk & Western No. 611, also known as 'The Spirit of Roanoke' and 'The Queen of Steam', is a class J 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive built by the Norfolk & Western Railroad (N&W) themselves at their Roanoke Shops in May 1950. It has 70-inch diameter driving wheels, is capable of 80,000 pounds of tractive effort, and is the only surviving example of fourteen class Js built by the N&W. It was retired from regular service in 1959, restored to operating condition in 1982, retired again from excursion service in December 1994, and restored again back to operation in March 2015 where it has operated in excursion service ever since.
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== History==
No. 611 was built in May 1950 by the Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virginia and was retired in 1959 (as one of the last steam locomotives to be retired by any US or North American Class 1 railroad). 611 has been in two derailments total. During its service with the N&W, an engineer ran it at excessive speeds while pulling the Pocahontas around a bend in the Tug River outside Cedar, West Virginia. 611 suffered only minor damage was repaired shortly and returned to service. It was restored and returned to service in 1982, operating until 1994 on its final run day of December 7, 1994.
On May 18, 1986, one of the passenger cars being hauled by 611 on an employee special got caught in a switch and derailed outside Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia. Twelve cars derailed, and blocked the line for a good amount of time. 611 again only took minor damage and was soon repaired. The locomotive was finally retired from excursion service one month after a major derailment (not involving 611) in a yard which heavily damaged several excursion cars. In October 1994, the steam program was announced to be discontinued due to liability insurance. 611's last run was December 7, 1994, on the 53rd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor explosions. It was placed on static display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia from 1995 to 2014.
611 was test-fired on March 31, 2015 and later returned to service on May 23, 2015 where it made its first test run and movement under its own power for the first time in 21 years. 611 then made a homecoming run back to Roanoke, Virginia on May 30, 2015. However, 611's return to the mainline came to an abrupt end in April 2018 when Amtrak altered its insurance policy, effectively banning all private passenger car movements, special photo charters, and special mainline steam excursions from running on their regular routes in order for them to make sure that their regularly-scheduled trains maintain on-time performances without any delays or distractions from private passenger car movements and special photo charters or mainline steam excursions. This also affects almost all other operational mainline steam excursion locomotives in the United States, including NKP No. 765, SP No. 4449, MILW No. 261, and AT&SF Nos. 2926 and 3751. Because of this, 611 was limited to operating only at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. However, in 2019, 611 operated excursions at the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, Pennsylvania between late September and late October alongside the Strasburg Railroad's own N&W No. 475 as part of their N&W Reunion of Steam event. 611 later returned to the Strasburg Railroad in 2021 where it again operated excursions between late May and early October. In early November 2021, 611 went under maintenance at the Strasburg Railroad and operated again at Strasburg in late 2022.
In February 2023, the Virginia Museum of Transportation, in collaboration with the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, announced that they will place 611 on temporary static display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania for the remainder of the spring of 2023. On May 15, 2023, 611 was moved back to the Strasburg Railroad in preparation for one last pair of excursion runs at Strasburg, after which, it will return back home to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. On May 31, 2023, 611 left the Strasburg Railroad for the final time towed by Norfolk Southern diesels bound for the Virginia Museum of Transportation. In August 2023, it was announced that 611 would operate fall excursion runs at the Virginia Scenic Railway in Staunton, Virginia. It was fired back up again on September 14, 2023 and later arrived at the Virginia Scenic Railway on September 28, 2023 where it will operate on the railroad's weekend Shenandoah Valley Limited excursions between Goshen and Staunton, Virginia from late September to early November 2023.
==Trivia==
*During its retirement from revenue service, No. 611's original N&W style Hancock longbell 3-chime whistle and both sides of its slide valve head covers were removed for the locomotive to become a stationary boiler.
**During its 1982 restoration, No. 611 was fitted with Robert Claytor's personal Hancock whistle that came off one of its sister locomotives. However, the whistle was mounted on the external dry pipe near the center of the boiler which resulting it in making an awful screeching sound during 1987 to 1990.
**In 1990, the broken whistle was repaired and relocated back to its original position in front of the cab around 1991 until it was taken off after 1994.
**In 2015, No. 611 was fitted with a Union Pacific style Hancock whistle that belongs to Cheri George. This was due to Robert's son Preston, who currently owned the 611's 1980s-90s whistle, resigned himself from chairman of the Fire Up 611! committee due to his disagreement of having the locomotive nicknamed the Spirit of Roanoke. 
***In 2016, it was replaced with Scott Lindsay's personal Hancock whistle.
**In 2023, No. 611 was refitted with another Hancock whistle, which came from a Northern Pacific 2-8-8-4 locomotive.
*In 1992, No. 611's tender have received an extended coal bunker.
*611 appears in TM Books' "I Love Toy Trains" series, most notably in the second installment, as real time video shots of it were compared to an O-scale counterpart while Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor-I (known as Allegro Con Brio) played in the background and also Walt Disney's Fantasia 2000. 
**This replaced the cowboys segment in "I Love Toy Trains 2" and was reused again for "The Best of I Love Toy Trains, Parts 1, 2, and 3".
*611 also appears in Glory Machines Volume 2 and Pocahontas Glory Volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 from Herron Rail Video, Blue Ridge Steam, and Rails to Roanoke - The 1987 NRHS Convention from Mark I Video.
*611 was the original choice the pull the American Freedom Train. 
**At one point Ross Roland considered asking to use 611 to pull the Freedom Train.
*In May 2017, 611 was officially designated as the official state steam locomotive of Virginia by the Virginia General Assembly.
*In 2019, 611 temporarily resided at, and visited the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, Pennsylvania in September and October for four weeks for a reunion with another N&W steam locomotive, No. 475. It later returned back to the Strasburg Railroad between late May and early October 2021.
*611 was featured in a 2016 feature-length documentary called "611: American Icon" which represents the history of the locomotive and its restoration.
*611 was featured in the 1983 film Going Home, as well as Shining Time Station.
*In 2020, No. 611 was unable to perform any special events due to the COVID-19 pandemic as it was on display and occasionally operates at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina.
*As of late 2021, the Virginia Museum of Transportation is considering on installing Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on 611.
* This locomotive briefly appeared in the 2015 DW Documentary "A train ride through American history – New Orleans to New York".
* 611 made an appearance in the documentary "the modern coal burning steam locomotive".
==See also==
*Gallery
==References==
https://www.freedomtrain.org/american-freedom-train-m-lionel-o-gauge-lineup.htm
Category:Tender locomotives
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