The N&W Class J #611 was restored at the NC Transportation Museum. They also have the largest surviving roundhouse there. I haven't been there yet, but it would be a good day trip to run up there since it is only about 3.5 hour away. Unfortunately the 611 is not there now. Looks like it was in Strasburg, PA last fall.
In reply to T.J. :
The #611 is definitely worth seeing in person. There's a reason that the #611 is called "The Queen Of Steam." The boys at Roanoke knew what they were doing when they built her, and every other N&W locomotive. I remember reading a funny story where author/Trains editor David Page Morgan was talking to a Timken salesman, who was going on about how roller bearings were the next big step for steam locomotives and he asked the Timken salesman if they had sold any to the Norfolk & Western and the salesman replied "Oh, we didn't even contact the N&W. What can we tell them about how to make a steam locomotive?"
In reply to NickD :
I had to update my post. Looks like the NC museum has some out of date info and 611 is in Strasburg, PA for the winter, not in NC.
In reply to T.J. :
I saw it in Strasburg, when I was there this fall. I didn't know it was even there, so I was pretty surprised when we went to do the shop tour, and there it was sitting to the side of the shop getting washed. Unfortunately, I was there on a Friday and they were only running the #611 on weekends. I was busy Saturday and Sunday, so I couldn't come back the next day either. Still, they were running #90 that day, which I have a bit of a personal connection with.
In reply to T.J. :
I am not a real train guy, but I usually stop at the N.C. transportation museum when passing by it. Very good museum. A few photos below Shay in the roundhouse, water tower, and a sandblast rig from the maintainance shop.
Learned that "my" engine (see the first page), ex-Colorado Great Western, now Strasburg, #90 not only suffered 2 collisions that flopped her on her side and killed the fireman both times, it also survived a roundhouse fire that the GWR had and was used to yank other equipment out of the burning roundhouse. This is how it looked after the fire. Strasburg's head of operations said when they first aqcuired the #90, it definitely had a bit of a lope to it going down the rails and was pretty tweaked.
Why do I like Strasburg #90 so much? Getting to sit in the engineer's seat as a kid is a big part of it. Also, there's the rarity factor of it: 2-10-0 Decapods were never a popular engine in the US, outside of the Pennsylvania, with only 13 surviving and 2 operating. And the fact that, other than a few years in the '60s its been on the job pretty much non-stop since 1924. I also think it's just an "honest" engine. It's not a streamlined thoroughbred like the #611, or a massive bruiser like the Big Boy #4014 (it's even on the small side for a Decapod), or loaded up with all of the best and greatest tech liked Nickel Plate #765. It's just a basic workaday engine.
A 1925 photo in Loveland, CO. This would be shortly after her delivery. The cab in later photos is slightly different, and according to Strasburg it's a pretty crude affair. The thought is that either after 1 of it's 2 times it was laid over on it's side, or after the GWR's roundhouse fire, it had a new cab installed that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy threw together.
A 1957 photo of the #90. The front cab window, as well as the opening out on the running boards, appears different from the original builder's photo. By this point it had had both of it's rollovers, not sure when the roundhouse fire occurred.
A color photo from Loveland, 1963. By this point it had been retired from active service for a couple years and was being used in excursion service by the CB&Q. With the freight cars behind it, this must have been some sort of photographer special. It was also sometime in 1963 when Strasburg's head of motive power rode on an excursion behind it and struck a deal to purchase it when it was retired.
Sometime in 1980 on the Strasburg, looking essentially the same as she does today. The funny thing is, despite being small for a Decapod (9 feet shorter than a PRR I1sa), it was the largest locomotive on both the Great Western Railway of Colorado and the Strasburg.
A rare night photo.
Hauling freight on the Strasburg for a photo shoot. The Strasburg does handle about 10 cars a week of freight, and while they usually use a diesel switcher, they do occasionally take one of the steam engines down to grab the cars, just for fun.
Donebrokeit said:
That's Grand Trunk Western #5629. That was the Richard Jensen locomotive that got scrapped in the 1980s, sadly. The only consolation was that there were a few other Canadian National/Grand Trunk Western Pacifics preserved, but that was a running operating locomotive
Strasburg #90 also has 3 surviving sister locomotives from back in her Great Wester Railway of Chicago days. Also, pretty impressively, 2 of the 3 are currently operable, with the 3rd operational until recently and undergoing a slow overhaul.
GWR #60 is a 2-8-0 Consolidation operating on the Black River & Western in NJ
Heber Valley #75 is another 2-8-0 and is out at the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City, Utah. It was last operated in 2002 but is undergoing a restoration
#51 is the 3rd and final engine and is a bit of an odd bird. It was run into the '80s on the Fillmore & Western, but then was acquired by a private owner. It pops up occasionally but is rarely seen. From what I've read, the owner of it, owns a terminal yard and once a year fires it up and runs it around the facility at low speed and parks it back inside. This photo is from RailExpo 1986 in Vancouver.
Strasburg keeps a pretty nice little fleet, along with #90. SRC #31, a former Canadian National 0-6-0, was the first engine to return steam power to the Strasburg in the 1960s. They tore it down for an overhaul a few years ago and have been so busy with customer work that they haven't had time to really work on the #31. On top of that, the #31 was pretty rough riding, and beat the tracks up as well, and with other engines on hand, its not a huge priority for them. When I was there, the cab was sitting outside the shop, and the boiler was off the frame.
Strasburg #89 is an ex-Canadian National 2-6-0. Its history is a bit of an unknown, but Nelson Blount, who founded the original Steamtown, picked it up in the '60s and it was a favorite of his right up until his death. It came to Strasburg in the '70s and has been their main locomotive since. It's just the right size for their operations. It has a PRR "Banshee" whistle on it, which is cool
Strasburg #475 is an unusual beast, one of Norfolk & Western's M-Class 4-8-0 "Mollies". There are only a handful of them left and it's the only operational one in existence. It's also Strasburg's oldest engine in existence (built in 1906) and one of their more recent acquistions, coming to them in 1991 in very rough shape
Also on the property is Reading #1187, one of only 3 Camelbacks to survive. They ran it back in the 1960s, but even then it was too small, and Camelbacks are sort of dangerous equipment. They parked it in 1967, and it has sat at the railroad museum across the street since then, looking a bit bedraggled these days, but there plans for a long-term cosmetic restoration.
Canadian Pacific 4-6-0 #972 is even worse. They received this engine from Rail Tours Inc. in Jim Thorpe after the RTI couldn't afford the repairs that Strasburg had been performing. At one point they considered restoring it to operation but it apparently needs every last nut and bolt, and they don't have much interest in it.
They also have an EMD SW9 that belonged to the New York Central. They acquired it in 2018 to replace their retired GE 44-tonner and handle the small freight renaissance that they are currently experiencing (~10 cars a week).
They also are working on an LIRR/PRR G5 4-6-0 with a 48-year lease once its operating.
In reply to 914Driver :
That Otto Kuhler-streamlined Pacific is impressive, but so is that station in the background
NickD said:A 1957 photo of the #90. The front cab window, as well as the opening out on the running boards, appears different from the original builder's photo. By this point it had had both of it's rollovers, not sure when the roundhouse fire occurred.
Just realized that in this photo, it has a smokebox extension that isn't present in the 1925 photo or in today's configuration. Notice how the boiler sticks out farther over the pilot, and how far set back the smokestack appears. Not sure when they added it or when it was removed. A smokebox extension was kind of like a raised-port cylinder head or a tunnel ram, where the air headed through no longer had to make such a sharp turn and it minimized turbulence inside, causing a stronger draft for better steaming. This was less prevalent on eastern railroads, who had access to better grade coal. A lot of western railroads, who operated on lower grade coal until oil-burning became a thing, installed smokebox extensions. I'm assuming Strasburg likely removed it during one of the overhauls, as they use high quality coal, plus it would get the #90 back to it's as-delivered appearance.
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