Norfolk and Western 611
Norfolk and Western 611, also known as the "Spirit of Roanoke" and the "Queen of Steam", is a Norfolk and Western (N&W) class "J" "Northern" streamlined steam locomotive built in May 1950 by the N&W's East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia. It was one of the last steam passenger locomotives built in the United States and represents the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology. No. 611 was assigned to haul the N&W's premier passenger trains between Norfolk, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio as well as ferrying the Southern Railway's passenger trains between Lynchburg, Virginia and  Bristol, Tennessee. In 1959, it was retired from revenue service and donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) in 1962, where it sat on static display as the sole survivor of the fourteen class J locomotives. In 1982, N&W's successor, Norfolk Southern (NS) restored the locomotive back to operating condition for use in excursion service as it became the star of their steam program, pulling excursions throughout the eastern United States. In 1984, No. 611 was dedicated as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was often served as the symbol  to Roanoke and its railroading history. In late 1994, the locomotive was retired again and moved back to the VMT when NS discontinued the steam program due to liability insurance. In early 2013, the VMT launched the "Fire Up 611!" committee to raise enough money of $3.5 million to restore the No. 611 locomotive to operating condition once again as it returned to excursion service in mid 2015. In 2017, the Virginia General Assembly officially designated the 611 as the official state steam locomotive in Virginia. In 2019 and 2021, No. 611 visited the Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) in  Strasburg, Pennsylvania twice and ran several excursion trips alongside another ex-N&W steam locomotive, 4-8-0 No. 475. History. Design and development (1941-1945). During the outbreak of World War II, the Norfolk and Western's (N&W) roster at the time consisted of aging E class 4-6-2 "Pacifics" and K class 4-8-2 "Mountains" that were not capable enough to handle the increased passenger traffic. As a result, the N&W railroad needed a more powerful passenger steam locomotive and the streamlined class J 4-8-4 "Northern" was developed with a total of fourteen of them  built by the N&W's East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia between 1941 and 1950 to handle passenger trains over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Designed with driving wheels, of tractive effort, and an operating boiler pressure of , the class Js were the most powerful passenger steam locomotives as they operated upwards of per month and several logged over . Their streamlined appearance was designed by N&W Tool Supervisor, Franklin C. Noel and were painted black with a Tuscan red stripe and golden yellow linings and letterings. From late 1944 to early 1945, one of the Js, No. 610 was on loan  to the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), where it was tested to haul 15 passenger cars at more than over the flat terrain on the Fort Wayne Division between Crestline, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. Because of their power and speed, the class Js were among the most reliable steam locomotives as they run evenly on the mountainous and relatively short route of the N&W. They along with the articulated 2-6-6-4 class A and 2-8-8-2 Y6 freight locomotives were part of N&W's "Big Three" steam locomotives and represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology. Revenue service  and first retirement (1950–1959, 1962-1981). N&W built No. 611 as the twelfth member of the class J and placed it into revenue service on May 29, 1950, at a final cost of US$251,544. It was one of the last batches of three class Js for the N&W, making them the last steam passenger locomotives built in the United States. During revenue service, No. 611 and the other class Js were assigned to haul the Norfolk and Western's "Powhatan Arrow", "Pocahontas", and "Cavalier" passenger trains between Norfolk, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio as well as ferrying the Southern Railway 's "Birmingham Special", "Pelican" and "Tennessean" between Lynchburg, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee. On September 24, 1952, No. 611 and sister locomotive No. 613 were both assigned to haul the special Eisenhower train from Columbus, Ohio to Kenova, West Virginia for the presidential election of former U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Under the management of Stuart T. Saunders in the late 1950s, the N&W began to dieselize by experimenting the first-generation diesel locomotives with fuel and maintenance cost. They leased several sets of EMD E6s, E7s, E8s from the Atlantic Coast Line and Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroads to replace  their class Js from passenger service. The class Js were relegated to freight service until they were all retired and scrapped between 1958 and 1959, with the exception of one (No. 611). On that latter year, No. 611 was selected to haul two "Farewell To Steam" round trip excursions; one from Petersburg, Virginia to Norfolk, Virginia on October 18 and the other from Roanoke, Virginia to Williamson, West Virginia on October 24. Three days later, the No. 611 locomotive was retired from revenue service and served as a steam generator at the East End Shops, the same place where it  was built, until its boiler flue ticket certificate expired in 1962. Because of the locomotive's excellent condition after being repaired from its 1956 accident, attorney and railfan, W. Graham Claytor Jr. convinced the N&W to donate the 611 to the Roanoke Transportation Museum in Roanoke, Virginia, where it sat on static display at the Wasena Park. First restoration and excursion career (1981–1994). In October 1981, Graham's brother, Robert Claytor, who was president of N&W in its last months, announced that he was very interested in adding the No. 611 locomotive to the Southern Railway's (SOU) steam excursion  program, which had begun in 1966 by then SOU president Graham Claytor. After being removed from static display, No. 611 was moved to the Southern Railway's Norris Yard Steam Shop in Irondale, Alabama, where it was going to be restored to operating condition. During the restoration, the locomotive's firebox sheets were renewed along with the flues replaced. Many of the 611's mechanical appliances such as the injectors, dynamo, and feedwater heater were rebuilt. Some new parts were fabricated, including the crosshead guide shoes from a pattern mold and the boiler staybolts from die casting. Two of the  locomotive's left side rod bearings were refurbished by the Timken Roller Bearing Company. On July 5, 1982, No. 611 was steamed up for the first time in 23 years and overtook another locomotive, Southern No. 2716, which had its excursion career ended due to firebox problems. During that time, the N&W and SOU railroads merged to form the new Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and Robert Claytor became the first chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of NS until 1986. This doubled the length of trackage available for No. 611 to run on. After completing successful test runs from Irondale , Alabama to Chattanooga, Tennessee on August 15 and 16, 1982, No. 611 made its ferry move back to Roanoke on August 20 with Robert Claytor as the engineer and his son Preston as the fireman in the cab. Upon arrival in Roanoke on August 22, Claytor made a speech to the citizens of Roanoke and signified the No. 611 locomotive as "Roanoke Born, Roanoke Bred, and Roanoke Proud". On Labor Day weekend, No. 611 began its first excursion trip, pulling the Roanoke Chapter National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) "Centennial Limited" train from Roanoke to Norfolk, Virginia. As one of the  last, most prominent, and most distinctive locomotives assembled in Roanoke, No. 611 often serves as a symbol for Roanoke and its railroad history. In 1983, No. 611 continued to pull more public and private excursion trips for the Norfolk Southern steam program including an NRHS excursion on Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) trackage from Alexandria, Virginia to Richmond, Virginia where it double headed with Savannah & Atlanta 750 on July 17. Afterwards, one of 611's excursion trip took the locomotive up to the Midwestern United States, where it ran some August excursion trips out of Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis , Missouri on Chicago and North Western (CN&W), ex-Nickel Plate Road (NKP), and ex-Wabash (WAB) trackage. On May 19, 1984, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers dedicated No. 611 as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and it has since been added to the National Park Service's Historic American Engineering Record. In August of that year, the locomotive once again ran more excursions on ex-NKP trackage, where it double headed with Nickel Plate Road 765. 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. During the Roanoke NRHS convention in August 1987, No. 611 pulled a round-trip excursion train from Roanoke to Radford, Virginia, where it joined side by side with the recently restored class A No. 1218, who was pulling an empty 50 hopper car train and later double headed with No. 611 at Radford. In June 1989, No. 611 joined Nickel Plate Road 587 to haul the Roanoke NRHS Charter "Independence Limited" excursion trip from Cleveland, Ohio to Roanoke, Virginia, where the latter locomotive would join No. 1218 to make some excursion trips  down in North Carolina the following month. On the same year of September 16, No. 611 ran two round-trip "Powhatan Arrow" anniversary excursions from Roanoke to Radford and Lynchburg, Virginia, pulling a matching set of ten Tuscan red passenger cars, marking 40 years since the re-equipment of the "Powhatan Arrow". On November 3, 1991, during the Norfolk Southern steam program's 25th anniversary, No. 611 and No. 1218 teamed up with Southern Railway 4501 on a triple-header run-by, hauling a 28-car passenger excursion train from Chattanooga to Ooltewah, Tennessee, where the latter would take a  few coaches for a complete round trip back to Chattanooga, turning around at Cleveland, Tennessee. Afterwards, the two N&W steamers would complete the rest of the trip to Atlanta, Georgia. In October 1992, No. 611 ran two round trip excursions from Charlotte, North Carolina to Asheville, North Carolina; one on the 24th over the Old Fort Loops and other on the 25th, where it conquered over the Saluda Grade, the steepest railway grade in the United States. In June 1994, a year and a month after the death of Robert and Graham Claytor, respectively, No. 611 joined a double header  excursion run with St. Louis–San Francisco 1522 for the annual NRHS convention in Atlanta, Georgia. At the same time of September 28, there was a switching yard accident in Lynchburg, Virginia, involving the 611's excursion consist of nine passenger cars being damaged, causing a shortage and the consequent need for more passenger cars. As a result, David R. Goode, who was the NS CEO at the time, announced the decision to terminate the steam program due to rising insurance costs, expensive costs of steam locomotive maintenance, 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, Tennessee and back. The next day, No. 611 set off to return to Roanoke, reaching there on December 7. That evening, upon arrival at Shaffer's Crossing in Roanoke, No. 611 had its fire put out for the last time, making it the last steam locomotive to operate on the NS system in the 20th century. Second retirement (1994–2013). After 12 years of excursion service with Norfolk Southern, No. 611 sat in storage at the East End Shops until October 1995, when it was donated  to the City of Roanoke, and put back on display at the Roanoke Transportation Museum (currently known as the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) and located at the former N&W Roanoke freight station), where it sat underneath the Robert B. Claytor and W. Graham Claytor Jr. Pavilion shed. In June 2003, No. 611 was reunited with No. 1218, which was partially reassembled and cosmetically restored from its cancelled 1992-1996 overhaul. In 2007, the 611 and 1218 were both temporarily put on display at the East End Shops to commemorate its 125th anniversary. In 2011, the Roanoke City Council named  No. 611 as "The Spirit of Roanoke" and the VMT had the name inscribed underneath both sides of the cab windows. On April 2, 2012, the City of Roanoke officially donated both the 611 and 1218 to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Second restoration and excursion career (2013–present). In 2011, Norfolk Southern's management under CEO Wick Moorman brought back the steam program, under the name, "21st Century Steam", leading to speculations if there were plans to restore the 611 to operating condition once again. As a result, VMT officials formed the "Fire Up 611!" committee on February 22 , 2013, to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. At that time, No. 611 was nicknamed the "Queen of Steam". Members of the committee included some who had worked with No. 611 since the 1980s and 90s; chairman Preston Claytor, volunteer firewoman Cheri George, and "Steam Operations Corporation" president Scott Lindsay. The former would later resign himself from his position in 2015 due to his disagreement of having the No. 611 locomotive's "The Spirit of Roanoke" moniker inscribed. On June 2, 2013, the VMT and NS tested No. 611's roller bearings  and determined that the locomotive was in excellent condition to be restored, thus on June 28, the VMT officials launched the "Fire Up 611!" Capital Campaign to raise $3.5 million by the end of October before restoring the No. 611 locomotive. However, in October 2013, the committee's funds were under the $3.5 million needed to construct a maintenance facility and for the restoration of No. 611. There were sufficient funds to begin the restoration though, so they decided to keep working on the remaining funds of $2.5 million. Shortly after, Norfolk Southern donated $1.5 million  of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the committee. In March 2014, after raising enough money of $3.5 million, several key appointments were made by the "Fire Up 611!" committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum (NCTM) in Spencer, North Carolina to use the ex-Southern Railway Bob Julian roundhouse as the facility to restore the 611. On May 24, 2014, the No. 611 locomotive was towed out of the VMT and moved to the NCTM the next day to take part  in the "Streamliners at Spencer" event the following weekend. During the event, NS CEO Wick Moorman removed the first bolt off the No. 611 locomotive and the restoration work began on June 2, 2014. The overhaul performed by the "Steam Operations Corporation" was made to meet the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) current safety guidelines and certification requirements along with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio. This includes installing new flues, boiler work, repairs to the engine truck, tender, superheaters, flexible staybolt caps, running gear, and air brakes. On February 23 , 2015, No. 611's boiler successfully passed a hydrostatic test and was test fired on March 31. After the steam test, the locomotive was being reassembled and repainted with a new coat of paint donated from Axalta. On May 9, 2015, No. 611 moved under its own power for the first time in nearly 21 years and successfully completed a main line test run from Spencer to Greensboro, North Carolina and back on May 21. On May 28, the NCTM held photo runbys with No. 611 leading passenger and freight consists, plus night photo session. On May 30, 2015, No . 611 began its homecoming trip back to Roanoke with now former NS CEO Wick Moorman at the throttle. The next day, the locomotive was reunited with the static display class A No. 1218 and class Y6a No. 2156, which was on loan from the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis to be on display at the VMT until 2020. The locomotive ran several excursions in Virginia for the 21st Century Steam program during the summer of 2015 such as "The American" from Manassas, Virginia to Front Royal, Virginia on June 6 and 7, "The Cavalier" from Lynchburg to Petersburg  on June 13 and 14, "The Powhatan Arrow" from Roanoke to Lynchburg and "The Pelican" from Roanoke to Radford on July 3, 4, and 5. At the same time, NS ended their 21st Century Steam program, although the No. 611 locomotive continued to pull various excursion trips over NS trackage. During 2016, No. 611 had its front leading wheels and axles replaced with newer ones made by the Brenco Product Engineering. Afterwards, the locomotive ran two round trip excursion trips in partnership with the NCTM; "The Virginian" from Spencer to Lynchburg on April 9 and "The Blue Ridge Special" from  Spencer to Asheville the next day. On April 11, No. 611 partake in another NCTM photo charter runby along with Lehigh Valley Coal Company 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) main line. From May to June, the 611 reran the "Powhatan Arrow", "Pelican", and "American" excursions just like last year. On April 8, 2017, the locomotive ran "The Virginian" round trip excursion again 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. At the same time, the Virginia General Assembly officially named No. 611 as the "Official Steam Locomotive of Virginia". In 2018, No. 611 was unable to perform any main line excursions due to Amtrak's management under CEO Richard Anderson forming the newest restrictions on private charter trips. However, the VMT was able to put on alternate events for No. 611 by making the locomotive visit the NCTM for its annual FRA routine maintenance, cab rides, caboose rides, in-cab experiences, whistle blowing, and  short passenger train rides around the museum. Moreover, the VMT is presently in negotiations and talks with various entities in order to set up excursions and events for the No. 611 locomotive. Presently, one key concern is the gradual introduction of the Positive train control (PTC) to the US railroad network, for which the VMT is asking for donations. In 2019, the VMT went into partnership with the Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) in Strasburg, Pennsylvania to have the No. 611 locomotive visit there for the five weekend "N&W Reunion of Steam" events in late September and the rest of October , reuniting with another N&W steam locomotive, 4-8-0 No. 475, who was also residing at Strasburg. This would mark the first time since 1991 two ex-N&W steam locomotives were operational. While being moved to Strasburg, the No. 611 locomotive, lacking both the PTC and cab signalling system, was being assisted by a diesel locomotive. After the Strasburg events, the 611 returned to the NCTM for the first November weekend of in-cab experiences and caboose rides events. In 2020, No. 611 was unable to perform any special events and remained on static display at the NCTM due to  the COVID-19 pandemic. The locomotive was steamed up again for more in-cab experiences, cab rides, and caboose rides events during the autumn season. During 2021, the locomotive returned to SRC, running on selected excursion weekends. The 611's first 2021 Strasburg excursion trips were originally scheduled for May 21–23, but these were cancelled due to the locomotive having some malfunctioning issues to its mechanical stoker, which was later resolved just in time for the May 29–31 trips. On July 2, No. 611 was temporarily taken out of service due to a broken leaf spring in its trailing truck. It  was eventually repaired and continued to haul more selected excursion weekends until October 3, when the No. 611 locomotive stayed at Strasburg for its annual FRA inspection and maintenance to its boiler staybolts.